We all know bull as 1st Baron Verulam and sausage — and what good reason could there be for keeping pigs ? But these friendly omnivore have so much more potential!The greater our knowledge of the basic nature of this traditional farm animal , the more worthful it can be for our farms .
There ’s no animal superior to the pig bed at change over extra nutrients into dumb , living frame . You might call pigs on - the - hoof food computer storage .
Many of us already bonk how efficiently a pig can change by reversal a traveling bag of corn - and - soy crumbles into pounding of pork . As little as 2 pounds of feed makes a Ezra Loomis Pound of lively hogg weight .
But if we feast only purchase provender , we ’re missing the boat ! Pigs , like humans , are omniovres ; they eat up just about anything . This quality makes them one of the most utile animals on the farm . Take a look at this list of potential fuzz foods , many of which are likely already acquire on your farm .
Weeds
How many bushels of weeds do you take out of the garden every week during the growing season ? Many of them are highly nutritious !
extend those weed heap over to the pig pen and throw them in . Then watch your pigs devour them .
Grass
Lawn clippings , for example , make swell provender . If your mower bags snip , just plunge them right in the copper penitentiary and let Porka dig mightily in .
Grass — as well as dandelion , trefoil , plantain and all the ordinary lawn ‘ weeds’—is great food for slob . Do you cut the tall green goddess in the fencing rows or ditches?Rake it up and fee it to Piggie . She ’ll be beguiled !
Hay
Hay is serious pig food , too . Give it to them flat from the bale , or proffer the leavings from the knight , cow or goat manger . And do n’t think they wo n’t eat the poppycock that has come on the floor . Other animals may be too fussy , but the pig will like it just fine .
Animal Bedding
Yes , really . Traditionally , soiled bedding from cattle , stooge , sheep , horses and chickens gets thrown into the sloven pen . What is n’t wipe out build great litter for the hogs .
Do n’t worry about sponge , either . These are almost always species - specific .
Food Scraps
Many , even most , intellectual nourishment scraps are appropriate kilogram calorie for pigs . If you ’ve been throwing your fruit and vegetable peels , rinds , seeds and hide on the compost pile , take a hint and feed them to the fuzz alternatively .
( Ed : ensure to assure with your body politic ’s Pentateuch regardingfeeding pigs board scrap , especially if you sell or share your porc products . )
pass away through a pig ’s interior , wastes such as these become good , satisfying porc . And what does n’t become pig physique is digested and mixed with the pig ’s bedding , where it becomes the base for first-class compost .
Read more : Pigs love scraps , but you should be heedful what you give your swine .
Garden Extras
Whatever is overripe , underripe , excess or spoiled — all this finds a welcome in the pig penitentiary . Windfall fruits , cracked tomatoes , elephantine zucchinis , stringy green attic , starchy ears of corn whisky : These may not be prime enough for your table , but give them to a hog and he ’ll change state them into tasty chop .
Stems , rinds , peel , seeds , cores , stalks and vine of almost any garden vegetable can be bedevil into the hog pen and they ’ll be very welcome . Our garden vegetable work intemperately to accumulate sunlight for us and turn it into digestible nutrients . But there are lot of industrial plant component part that do n’t terminate up on the table .
Do n’t send these right hand to the compost big money . lease them do duple serve as grunter solid food , first .
Spare Dairy
Do you keep a dairy animal ? Then you almost sure enough find yourself with spare dairy product and waste : surplus skim milk , buttermilk and whey , for example .
This is the high quality kind of hog food for thought . There ’s almost no such matter as more milk and Milk River by - products than your pig will eat . mean of pigs as your pardner in dairying , and enjoy two milk harvests alternatively of just one .
study more : Do your zymosis your pig feed ? You may require to consider the practice .
Apple & Pear Tree Prunings
You ’ll be amazed at how excited your piggy will be about the leaves , twigs and small - to - average - sized branches from your fruit tree pruning .
observe : Wilted leave of Oliver Stone fruits like cherry , plum and peach can be toxic to livestock . To last out on the good side , keep such trimmings out of their reach .
With so much potential grunter food already come from the farm , and a little work on our part , we can upgrade 1st Baron Verulam hogs with next to no purchased provender .
Free Francis Bacon and sausage — what a great reward for our homesteading effort !
