Laura-CCC4
Senior Guinea Pig
As I am planning to switch my pigs onto a pelletless diet, I have been taking something of a keen interest in the pigs diet this week. I worked out some very interesting info and thought it might interest some of you.
Of course it might not, and I'll look like an eejit thinking my ramblings mean anything...but if there's a chance it helps just one person then it's worth the risk!
When I had 12 pigs, one 22kg box of Oxbow hay lasted 8 weeks. Based on this, I could work out that:
- My 12 pigs ate 2.75kg (2750g) hay per week;
- Each pig ate through 229g of hay per week.
That's a piglooful of semi- compressed hay per week for every single pig!
So now I knew how much each pig ate per week, I could estimate how long the 22kg box would last 14 pigs. Each week, the amount of hay eaten would increase to 3.2kg:
229g x 14 = 3.2kg (3206g)
22kg divided by 3.2kg leads you to the conclusion that one big box of Oxbow hay will now last us a mere 6 weeks.
Of course that led me onto prices and determining whether it's cheaper to buy one box every 6 weeks, or two boxes every 12 weeks. Given that delivery is just under £7 for one box and free for two boxes, there's no argument.
It works out at £10 per week to feed my 14 guineas their hay. It might seem costly but it's excellent quality stuff and you'd only spend the same buying the really not so good stuff from pet shops! (One way it works out cheaper is hay bales from a farm/local supply store, again quality is variable.)
Just got to figure out where to store that extra box. Two boxes of that stuff is only a few kilos off my own weight! :x
Of course it might not, and I'll look like an eejit thinking my ramblings mean anything...but if there's a chance it helps just one person then it's worth the risk!
When I had 12 pigs, one 22kg box of Oxbow hay lasted 8 weeks. Based on this, I could work out that:
- My 12 pigs ate 2.75kg (2750g) hay per week;
- Each pig ate through 229g of hay per week.
That's a piglooful of semi- compressed hay per week for every single pig!
So now I knew how much each pig ate per week, I could estimate how long the 22kg box would last 14 pigs. Each week, the amount of hay eaten would increase to 3.2kg:
229g x 14 = 3.2kg (3206g)
22kg divided by 3.2kg leads you to the conclusion that one big box of Oxbow hay will now last us a mere 6 weeks.
Of course that led me onto prices and determining whether it's cheaper to buy one box every 6 weeks, or two boxes every 12 weeks. Given that delivery is just under £7 for one box and free for two boxes, there's no argument.
It works out at £10 per week to feed my 14 guineas their hay. It might seem costly but it's excellent quality stuff and you'd only spend the same buying the really not so good stuff from pet shops! (One way it works out cheaper is hay bales from a farm/local supply store, again quality is variable.)
Just got to figure out where to store that extra box. Two boxes of that stuff is only a few kilos off my own weight! :x
