Thinking about pigs

[Alaskan]

My chickens eat truly almost everything.

My chickens have pelleted food out at all times... so they aren't hungry.... but they rarely get any treats... burnt food and leftover foods are given to the chickens and they love that.

However, it is my understanding that feeding kitchen scraps to livestock in the UK is illegal or at least restricted?

Might not be legal for any animal there in the UK.

I am sure however that you can feed them weeds from the garden. My chickens love weeds.

 

[SpotTheCat]

My chickens eat truly almost everything.

My chickens have pelleted food out at all times... so they aren't hungry.... but they rarely get any treats... burnt food and leftover foods are given to the chickens and they love that.

However, it is my understanding that feeding kitchen scraps to livestock in the UK is illegal or at least restricted?

Might not be legal for any animal there in the UK.

I am sure however that you can feed them weeds from the garden. My chickens love weeds.

Thank you! I had no clue about that! I looked it up and yes, it is illegal to feed any kitchen scraps to livestock

 

[Mini Horses]

I can't believe that!! I mean WHO thought that up?...kitchen scraps have been thrown to chickens and pigs for eons. Thought the butcher your own limits were strict but this is just strange. My chickens and goats love pumpkins and melons. Many have been grown by farmers JUST for animal feeds. Are those things restricted, too?


Glad those aren't rules where I am!

 

[SpotTheCat]

I can't believe that!! I mean WHO thought that up?...kitchen scraps have been thrown to chickens and pigs for eons. Thought the butcher your own limits were strict but this is just strange. My chickens and goats love pumpkins and melons. Many have been grown by farmers JUST for animal feeds. Are those things restricted, too?


Glad those aren't rules where I am!

I think if it is meant for animals its fine, as long as it doesn’t go in to the kitchen. I am allowed to feed plants from the garden as long as it doesn’t go in to the kitchen first.

“This is to prevent the introduction and spread of potentially devastating notifiable animal diseases, such as African and Classical Swine Fever, and Foot and Mouth disease. These diseases cause significant animal health and welfare problems and damage to the economy.”

APHA warns not to feed kitchen scraps to farm animals because of disease risk

Feeding kitchen scraps to farm animals could spread disease.

www.gov.uk

I wonder if I am even allowed to make chicken treats in my kitchen, probably not

 

[farmerjan]

I don't know about over there.... but .... the not feeding scraps here in the USA was designed to not feed anything that could harbor things like trichinosis. So there were some laws passed years ago that garbage from restaurants and such had to be cooked to a certain temp to kill off the possibility of immature trich worms. So I would think that "cooked" treats would be fine because you aren't possibly spreading any diseases.

 

[Mini Horses]

My take. -- no one says people can't eat what you cook. Animal patrol is in overdrive.
If I lived to feed it, it should be fairly safe.... Oh well, my girls love me.

 

[Stephine]

I think if it is meant for animals its fine, as long as it doesn’t go in to the kitchen. I am allowed to feed plants from the garden as long as it doesn’t go in to the kitchen first.

“This is to prevent the introduction and spread of potentially devastating notifiable animal diseases, such as African and Classical Swine Fever, and Foot and Mouth disease. These diseases cause significant animal health and welfare problems and damage to the economy.”

APHA warns not to feed kitchen scraps to farm animals because of disease risk

Feeding kitchen scraps to farm animals could spread disease.

www.gov.uk

I wonder if I am even allowed to make chicken treats in my kitchen, probably not

That law really seems insanely broad. Whatever it was meant to protect against - (parasites or maybe it came out of the scrapies scandal and they want to avoid same or related species canibalism?), they went overboard… I can’t believe they would enforce this for private individuals who just have some chickens for themselves…. maybe pigs if they go to a slaughterhouse, though.
Oh, on the chickens not eating scraps - they are scared of anything new, even if it’s food. If you keep offering it, they will eventually try it and finally eat it up… first time I put a large Sunflower head in the chicken run it took them hours to approach… Helps if you have breeds that are said to be good foragers, they tend to be more curious and braver about new foods.

 

[SpotTheCat]

That law really seems insanely broad. Whatever it was meant to protect against - (parasites or maybe it came out of the scrapies scandal and they want to avoid same or related species canibalism?), they went overboard… I can’t believe they would enforce this for private individuals who just have some chickens for themselves…. maybe pigs if they go to a slaughterhouse, though.
Oh, on the chickens not eating scraps - they are scared of anything new, even if it’s food. If you keep offering it, they will eventually try it and finally eat it up… first time I put a large Sunflower head in the chicken run it took them hours to approach… Helps if you have breeds that are said to be good foragers, they tend to be more curious and braver about new foods.

My cockerel is quite brave when it comes to food, he happily grabbed the noodles and flung them around, which made the pullets exited about the noodles as well. But once they actually tried some and got bored of throwing the noodles around, they just left them

 

[BarnOwl]

I've raised three American Guinea hog gilts as feeder pigs, a smallish heritage breed. I don't breed them and I've never had any boars or barrows. My current two are about 1.5 years old, and they are pretty agreeable. They can be pushy when food is around, but I've never felt threatened or afraid to enter their field at feeding time. I don't handle them often, but one of the three I have had is quite friendly and will roll over and let me rub her tummy. I feed them leftover fruit and produce, but somewhat limit other scraps as they have a tendency to get fat. They get grain once or twice a day, but I don't free feed them, again b/c of the weight gain. They do like to dig a wallow, but the rooting hasn't been terrible. They are a lot of fun. I probably wouldn't keep them just as pets or for eating leftovers, but I wouldn't judge someone who did. They are a slow growing breed and tend not to be processed until around 18 months, which I don't mind as I like having them around.

The kids and I had fun giving them our leftover pumpkins the other day.

 

[LisaManahan]

So we are planning to move to a house with about 4 acres, probably only 3 acres for livestock.

My mother has made noises of we should get a pig for edible waste disposal. I have read on some thread on here that pigs quite happily eat people, are there ones that don’t do this? Is 3 acres big enough if we also want 3 sheep and maybe a horse? Do the need another pig to be happy? Is it actually worth it do get a pig for wast disposal if we aren’t going to eat it?

Also I am in the UK and haven’t done any research in to pigs yet

If you're not going to eat the pig, then no. Get a composter and place all food scrapes in. After a while you can then mix with potting soil for plants.