I was told that pigs will eat their own excrement so you don't have to feed them as much feed. This may be true, but wouldn't it be better to feed them prepared pig feed or garden refuse/extras?

It just seems to me to be a poor way of feeding your animals.

-- Christina Lannen (crlannen@hotmail.com), October 19, 1999

Answers

Pardon the expression, but what a lot of hogwash. The nature of excrement is that it is material that a body can not use. People can come up with a lot of reasons to keep their animals in filth and mistreat them but this one is new to me!!!! An easier solution is to talk to your local grocer and get their discarded produce. Most are happy to find a user! Kim

-- Kim (fleece@eritter.net), October 19, 1999.

I have never ever heard of this!!!!!! ask around at any nearby milk distributorship...where the milk trucks load up and take off from...and see if you can get dump milk too...I raised pigs on this and bagged corn and they were great!!!!!! I don't think I would want to eat pork so much if I thought what they ate was their own excrement...yuck! Good luck!!!

-- Jenny Pipes (auntjenny6@aol.com), October 19, 1999.

Who ever told you this may be confused with cow excretement, (pies) hogs run with grain fed cows will eat the pies, cows do not digest the grain completely, especially whole grain. Hogs will eat nearly anything, garbage, kitchen scraps, milk, whey, gaosts milk, cow pies but, to maximize growth to feed ratio a good grain mix, ground togehter is best, say 25# oats to 75# corn or 75# Barley, but you can rake up acorns and feed them, paenuts anything, let them run and brouse, cook beans, rice, whatever.

-- Bob Henderson (redgate@echoweb.net), October 20, 1999.

If you keep your pigs in a stall you'll realize that they will use the bathroom in the corner the farthest away from their feed.I've never seen them eat their own feces.We get alot of produce from our local grocer for free(old stuff).We also raise a big garden,for us and our pigs.Additionally,we feed them pig food in a pellet form that's non-medicated.We have discovered that they don't like citrus fruit!

-- Barbara (conlane@prodigy.net), November 18, 1999.

I hate to upset any back to the land types here but it is true that hogs can be fed swine solids (manure) if it has been processed to remove pathogens and such. The easiest way to do this is to semi- compost it. If done right the heat from the composting will kill any parasites and pathogens.

I don't recommend this method but you asked.

Speaking from a commercial prospective, swine solids are an excellent cattle feed and are routinely used as such in various parts of the world. There are commercial processes to remove the odor and to render them pathogen free so as to make a suitable feed for cattle.

-- Cornelius Van Milligen (cavm@aol.com), December 22, 1999.

Which is the exact reason I raise my own hogs. Some of these organizations will feed or use any methods to make money. I like to if possible to know what We are eating.

-- Tom Calloway (Calfarm@msn.com), January 09, 2000.

If you have any local grocery stores or bakerys ask if they will save there day old bakery and produce for you .I have 3 stores that do this for me . I feed 10 cows 5 pigs 7 goats and lord only knows how many chickens .This cut down on my feed bills and the animals love it .For pigs you can also ask a local resterant if they will save scraps for you .I'm picking up my 1 slaughtered pig this weekend , hope she tastes good

-- Patty Gamble (fodfarms@slic.com), January 11, 2000.

Well glad to say she tastses great

-- Patty Gamble (fodfarms@slic.com), January 24, 2000.