Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
gastrointestinal problems, or in extreme cases, death. You can also check with grocery stores
to see if they have leftover produce.
If you are trying to feed your pigs an organic diet, you probably will want to avoid feeding
them meat scraps, unless your meat scraps are certified organic. Pigs love eggs, and it is fine
to feed them eggs, shells and all. If you have hens on your farm, you will have a constant
source of eggs for your pigs. However, discourage your hens from laying their eggs near the
pigs. Pigs quickly will learn to follow the hens and eat their eggs if they can get to them.
If your pigs are allowed to forage, they can find many tasty things to eat on their own. Pigs
that eat acorns and chestnuts will have particularly flavorful pork. However, you should try to
keep your pigs away from areas where black walnuts fall because these can be toxic to your
pigs. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) has a good
website with photos of more than 400 toxic plants (
www.aspca.org/pet-care/poison-control/
extension services agent or someone from your local university's agriculture or biology de-
partments. They will be able to identify plants for you.
The following plants are known to be poisonous to pigs, so learn to identify them and keep
pigs away from them or remove them from your property:
• Black-eyed Susans
• Jimson weed
• Lambs quarters
• Nightshade
• Pigweed
• Pokeberry
• Spotted water hemlock
• Two-leaf cockleburrs
Grains
Most of your pig's diet probably will come in the form of grain. Most grains have high con-
centrations of energy, so they help your pig gain weight more quickly. You can grow your
own grains as crops, which is an economical way to feed your pigs, you can buy grain from a
local feed mill, you can purchase commercial feeds that rely heavily on grains, or you can
have custom grain mixes made up for your pigs by your local feed mill.
