Debate on Veggie amount

[urockstar]

People on here say 1 cup per pig per day... although now I have a third pig (14 days old today!) and obviously smaller than the rest, she gobbles up veggies really well but obviously Marley and Bean must need more than her. The vet gave me a sheet that said 1 cup per 4pounds ...

So I'm really confused. I don't really know if I'm giving them enough. What I've basically been giving them daily is a full plate of romaine lettuce, cilantro, green and yellow bell peppers, and usually 3 baby carrots for each of them (I have to go pick up more carrots though, so the past few days that hasn't been on the menu) --- I give them a paper plate full in the morning and a paper plate full in the evening.

I mean it looks like a good amount but I don't know if it really is for three pigs. Especially since the baby is getting bigger (270g already).

However I'm worried to give too much as it could cause diarrhea. I mean how do we really know when it's too much? Plus, they all tend to steal from each other, so I don't know if one pig is getting more than the other.

So I know this has probably been posted before but I'd really like to know if my amounts seem good. Usually I will also throw them a few more small cut up pieces of pepper before I go to bed as a snack to get through the night.

[newpiggiemommy]

How long does it take for them to finish the plate of veggies?

I give a paper plate full of veggies to my piggies as well (twice a day). I have 2 piggies about 6 months old, and 3 new born babies (7 days old). I give them a plate in the morning (before my eyes are even open) and another plate at night (on my way to bed). They also cry for veggies throughout the day, but rarely get them (sometimes they may get a little romaine as a treat).

I think if your piggies gobble it all up pretty much right away, and it is not sitting there going bad then you are doing fine!

[Jenni_Feathers]

I have never really measured out how much I give my piggies but I do know that it is more than 1 cup each. They each get a cereal bowl filled with a leafy green (it changes daily between Endive, Green Leaf and Romaine Lettuce) and then with the carrots, tomato, cucumber, and bell pepper stacked on top of it. They get 1 cereal bowl of it in the morning and 1 at night, so it ends up being about 1 per pig.

Also you should only have 1 baby carrot for each peig, carrots are more of a treat veggie, they are okay to give daily but in small ammounts.

[steve_and_pigs]

I've been wondering this too. It is hard to know what these amounts are, I mean, what is a cup of lettuce? Grams or ounces would certainly be better, or better yet, grams per kilogram (of pig). What is a plate or bowl of veggies? It really depends on how you chop them and how heaping full the container is, not to mention the size of the particular dish.

newpiggiemommy asked "how long does it take them to finish?". Should I just give them all the green veggies they can eat in 15 minutes (??), twice per day, plus a carrot piece or some other treat??

[urockstar]

Originally Posted by Jenni_Feathers

Also you should only have 1 baby carrot for each peig, carrots are more of a treat veggie, they are okay to give daily but in small ammounts.

Yeah, I worded wrong. I said 3 for each of them, but I meant I give 3, one for each of them.


But it's true about the lettuce amount being confusing. how can you really measure a cup of lettuce when... well lettuce is kind of fluffy. right now I have heart of romaine or something, which I'm noticing they're not too into, because stop and shop didn't have the baby romaine leaves they LOVE... and with the romaine leaves there would be a lot more that would fit in a cup than the hearts of romaine. If this makes any sense at all...


Seems like a plate full in the morning and a plate full at night are good enough. They usually get a little bit at lunch time as well when my mom comes home.

[Ly&Pigs]

If you are giving each a couple good sized leaves of lettuce, a baby carrot, about an 1/8th of a bell pepper or more and other stuff then you are giving a good amount.

[steve_and_pigs]

Originally Posted by Ly&Pigs

If you are giving each a couple good sized leaves of lettuce, a baby carrot, about an 1/8th of a bell pepper or more and other stuff then you are giving a good amount.

Is that per meal (breakfast, dinner), or per day?

Is a whole outer romaine leaf a "good sized" leaf, or is that more like two leaves?

Thanks.

[C&K]

I don't see how overdoing it, provided it is highquality good for guinea veggies is going to harm them. Now, there may be no benifit to overdoing the veggies, but certainly it is not going to "harm" them or give them diarrhea.

Things like sweet peppers cliantro and romane / red or green leaf lettuce are pretty neutral for them, it is hard to overdue it. Just make sure that you don't leave left overs that they don't eat in the cage.

Other veggies, like carrots or parsley should be limited because they may cause problems down the road, again I doubt they would give the runs though.

Iceburg lettuce is absolutely no good in any amount, it can make your pig sick, the pig is better off with no veggies then fed this type of lettuce, so don't use it even in a pinch. Other then that, you should be good to go.

[Ly&Pigs]

Originally Posted by stephenlawrence

Is that per meal (breakfast, dinner), or per day?

Is a whole outer romaine leaf a "good sized" leaf, or is that more like two leaves?

Thanks.

That would be for one meal. But the second meal, you don't want to add in more carrot because carrots needs to be severely limited to no more than one baby carrot per pig per day, preferably one baby carrot every 2-3 days just because it's more of a treat veggie and doesn't contain a lot of anything except A and oxalic acid.

The key to a good diet is variety. Pigs often get bored eating the same things every day, so mix it up a bit. Try different varieties of lettuces (all but iceburg). Add things in on a rotating basis. Kale is a great source of C so it can be fed 2-3 times per week in smaller amounts because of the high calcium content.

For good meal plans, see the sample menu thread. It's in this forum section in the sticky threads.

An outer romaine/green or red leaf would be a good sized leaf. The inner leaves are much smaller and 2-3 of those would make one good sized leaf.

[urockstar]

Originally Posted by C&K

I don't see how overdoing it, provided it is highquality good for guinea veggies is going to harm them. Now, there may be no benifit to overdoing the veggies, but certainly it is not going to "harm" them or give them diarrhea.

Things like sweet peppers cliantro and romane / red or green leaf lettuce are pretty neutral for them, it is hard to overdue it. Just make sure that you don't leave left overs that they don't eat in the cage.

Other veggies, like carrots or parsley should be limited because they may cause problems down the road, again I doubt they would give the runs though.

Iceburg lettuce is absolutely no good in any amount, it can make your pig sick, the pig is better off with no veggies then fed this type of lettuce, so don't use it even in a pinch. Other then that, you should be good to go.

No, I think too much of any veggies would/could definitely give them diarrhea, otherwise why did I read on here if they DO have diarrhea to cut down on the greens for a day? Too much of anything is never good. But I think I'm giving them good amounts. I don't give them carrots that often, lately I've only been putting 2 carrots in there a day to split between the 3 of them. They do love the carrots though! That's usually the first thing they go for.

I keep seeing Arugala (might be spelling that wrong) at the store and think about picking it up but don't really know what it is or if it's good. It's just another lettuce right? Last time I was at the store they didn't have any of the baby romaine leaves and only the Arugala leaves... can someone tell me if this is good, so next time I will pick this up instead for variety.

[Ly&Pigs]

Read the nutrition charts. It will answer your question on arugula.

There are cases in which pigs get diarrhea but it's not all veggie related. Sometimes it can be caused by illness. You don't want to give one pig a whole head of lettuce in one day but 2-4 leaves a day is plenty. Then in addition to that you would give a nice variety of other things.

[urockstar]

Didn't think I had seen arugula on their but I see now! Thanks. Been meaning to ask, what about orange bell peppers? They're not listed on the chart and Shoprite sells them... was going to buy but again wasn't really sure. I only ever get green and yellow, but thought orange might be a nice change, if it's one that can be given daily, unlike the red bell pepper.

[Ly&Pigs]

All colors of bell pepper are fine to feed. The orange fall somewhere in between the yellow and red so will have a higher sugar content than yellow but not quite as high as red. They are not on the charts because I could find no nutritional info on them at the time I made the charts.

[LouisesPigguns]

The nutritional charts are excellent and I have used them many times. I give my pigs six vegetables a day. I was giving them 10 a day but it was too much and it was a learning curve.

My Sow Fleur was getting quite obese but I reduced it down and they seem happier now and not as full up.