# Table Scraps?



## scrambledmess (Oct 24, 2010)

Can feeder pigs be feed only table scraps?  I have a source where I can get a lot of left over meals.   Has anyone done this?  If it can't work, why not?  Thanks!

We haven't gotten our hogs yet.  We will be getting some spring of 2011.


----------



## freemotion (Oct 24, 2010)

They may not grow as fast but they will be cheap!  I am feeding my pigs on free food now, haven't paid for food in one month and they are the picture of health.  Not as big as they'd be if confined and fed hog grower pellets, but so what?  If I wanted that, I'd just go buy pork at the grocery store.

Variety is the key, and access to pasture so they can balance their diet.  Make sure the scraps are mostly healthy food and not all white bread and sugar, which is not good for anyone.  Mostly veggies.

I am journaling what my pigs are eating on the sister site, www.sufficientself.com  So far, so good.


----------



## jhm47 (Oct 24, 2010)

In most states, it is illegal to feed uncooked gargage to hogs.  It may even be a federal law.  Trichinosis is the culprit, and it comes from feeding uncooked garbage.


----------



## freemotion (Oct 24, 2010)

If you are not selling the pork, you can do whatever you want!  Just cook the scraps well if you are nervous about it.  And don't accept pork scraps.  Veggie trim from restaurants is ideal.  If there is trichonosis in the scraps, there is an epidemic in your area.


----------



## PattySh (Oct 24, 2010)

I have a source for clean  restaurant trimmings (vegies and fruits) a bit of leftover bakery items and leftover nonplated food(never served). Food is brought home almost daily so it's always fresh.  I keep it in a cooler in the barn if it is more than I can feed right out. I would never use anything off from a plate that people have eaten off from an outside source. I do however feed my pigs leftovers occasionally  off my family plates when there is no one sick, examples being leftover cereal, few bites of toast etc. They get leftover goats milk more than 3 days old which they love, if it's older and sour even more enjoyed! I actually cook the vegie/fruit trimmings for t hem in the winter. We have two pigs, a sow (now preggers) and a boar. They get each about 3 qts of grain plus the "scraps" as topdressing. Both are in great shape and they love their food. We feed our freezer pigs when raising them same method. Our meat is for home use and not sold. This method gives them variety, keeps them happy and in good health. It is also pretty cheap to feed them and the meat was delicious and pretty lean.


----------



## scrambledmess (Oct 24, 2010)

I was going to get scraps from where I work (a nursing home).  They throw so much food away.  I thought I would be able to collect that and feed to the hogs.   I saw posted why not to give raw food, but why not cooked left overs?


----------



## PattySh (Oct 24, 2010)

You don't want to feed them food scraped off from plates because of disease transmission. If it's trimmings from a kitchen or restaurant pans of food never served and still fresh it's ideal. Our trimmings go right into a plastic bag and are taken home daily and unserved food is right out of a refrigerator.  Pigs will eat most things  humans will however don't feed highly spiced food, onions etc to pigs you will process for meat. You can feed them pasta, cooked meat and mild flavored cooked fish, cheese and yogurt, limited bakery items, cooked eggs etc.  Pigs can eat and do enjoy raw vegies and fruits (pineapple skins a huge fav! ). Never feed spoiled or moldy food. We are lucky to have access to kitchen trimmings of very high quality produce from local  organic farms. On the other hand a diet of surplus donuts and white bread will just make your pigs fat not healthy, so it's common sense. Feed them a healthy diet, lots of water  fee choice and they will be healthy  pigs.


----------



## GBov (Dec 7, 2010)

Why not plate scrapings?  What diseases can go from our plates to the pigs?

I do remember seeing a Dirty Jobs episode where a pig farmer got truck loads of restaurant leftovers (all of it, plate scrapings and all) and cooked it all up and then served it to all his pigs.  And yes, the meat was sold on the open market.

Starting off on a learning curve here, havnt even gotten our piggies yet so lots to learn in the next few weeks till they get here


----------



## freemotion (Dec 7, 2010)

If you bring it all to a boil, I can't imagine what danger there could be....you are not selling the meat, so you can do what you want with it, just do your homework and be safe!


----------



## freemotion (Dec 7, 2010)

Oh, and my pigs were slow growing all summer....we had a record-breaking heat wave and drought....but have been packing on the pounds since it turned cold.  I cook up two big field pumpkins for them morning and night and add stuff to the pot to cool it down.  They suck that warm food down so fast!  And turn free pumpkins into cheap bacon for me.  It is a great deal.  They get a few pounds of fermented whole corn and some dairy from my goats, and anything they scrounge up from their field (acorns we piled in there, sweet corn, rotting pumpkins, and anything they root up) and I try to get some greens for them, even if it is just a couple pounds of grass and weeds picked when I go walk the dogs, or beet greens and other garden waste as I finish harvesting the last of the root veggies and clean up old cabbages and buggy collards and kale.  The neighbor offered me two rows of turnips this week, so the tops will go to the pigs, too.

They got many pounds of dogfood recently when a friend's dogs weren't reacting well to the food she'd bought in very large bags...it was mostly corn.  They LOVED that!  Soaked in the warm pumpkin juices and milk, of course.

Free bacon.  It doesn't get any better!


----------



## RIRss (Dec 28, 2010)

I have alot of papayas trees in my yard and was wondering if I could give that to my pig when i get her? The chickens love them when there rip or even just green. I dont know what they are good for but i know they taste good.

Any info will help

Thanks,
RIRss


----------



## sevenmile (Jan 4, 2011)

Pigs love most fruits and veggies and nuts.  Don't know why a nice ripe papaya would turn them off.  I know I would go for one right now....

I toss all kinds of fruit/veggie type things to my breeding stock, but only as a supplement to their regular feed, the proper balance of nutrients and amino acids is pretty important in my experience.

 They REALLy love crunching down black walnuts out in the pasture all fall.

I was disappointed to discover in my research that Horse Chestnut _Aesculus hippocastanum_ is not good to feed to hogs, those trees are So prolifiic.


----------



## LavacaW (Jan 4, 2011)

Saw pigs actually tied to papaya trees in the Cook Islands to fatten up on what fell...


----------



## LilyD (Jan 17, 2011)

Before we got our feeder pigs this year I researched them through our local extension service and was told that in the US it's illegal to feed pigs that are meant for consumption any meat products. They said that the meats can contain trichinosis (sp) which is a parasite that can be passed on to humans when they eat the meat. I talked to some of the grocery stores in the area and set up large bins to pick up veggies, bread and cheeses and milks that have passed their expiration dates but are still good. I usually get a 30 gallon can full every other day or so and we add that to what the pigs are eating in grain each day. Also in the winter they absolutely love love love warm corn meal mush cooked on the stove or cooked plain oatmeal anything of that nature. We also cook all our veggies other than the leafy greens so that they are soft. They really prefer if everything is soft and mushy when they eat it rather than hard. 

Hope this helps,
Lily


----------



## cmitchell (Apr 15, 2011)

I have some left over steak that my 2 legged family won't eat. Can I feed it out to the pigs?


----------



## freemotion (Apr 15, 2011)

Some will freak out at this but I'd toss it to 'em in a heartbeat.


----------



## GBov (Apr 15, 2011)

freemotion said:
			
		

> Some will freak out at this but I'd toss it to 'em in a heartbeat.


Yep, throw it to the pigs or the chickens, either one will love it


----------



## RIRss (Apr 16, 2011)

Ok can I feed the pigs carrots from the school that are in indivdual packs from the school lunch room? And what type of nutriention do they have..

thanks,
RIRss


----------



## freemotion (Apr 16, 2011)

Sure, feed 'em the carrots.  They will likely eat them better if you simmer them a bit, but experiment.  I throw veggies in piles and they often ignore them until they go mushy and sour, then they inhale them.


----------



## RIRss (Apr 16, 2011)

Well now since the pigs like them so much when there cold I useing them to move them to the pasture everyday and they chase me until I give it to them. 

Thanks,
RIRss


----------



## burntmuch (Apr 16, 2011)

My pigs like cold carrots. I just scored a source for""" FREE"""" produce from a grocery store. The pigs love the cabbage & lettuce theyve gotton so far,


----------



## RIRss (Apr 16, 2011)

Yeah I have a cuban store that has a produce section and since im cuban I sweat talked  the guy and told him I would give him a ham for all the produce for the year and he said heck yeah.. Lucky me the store 3mins from my house so every friday all the produce that doesnt sell goes to me and man do my pigs LovE it..

Thanks,
RIRss


----------

