Forages Some questions about forages, I need help!

[GuineaPigMania2]

:?: OK, so how do I know if my grass is safe, I don't have another pet apart from fish that could urinate on the garden, but my neighbor's cats sometimes come through my garden so how do I know if they have peed or not? Is is really a big deal if they eat peed on grass if it is washed before giving it to them? And, if a grass has been cut by a lawn mower ONCE, is it never alright to give to Cavy? I want to start giving my pigs some grass and plants (not TOTALLY sure why it is important to them though) in the summer but I'm a little confused :crazy: Any advise would be helpful please!

 

[mari11]

Think about your grass the way a farmer would his paddock - you want green, weed free healthy grass with no chemical residue. if it's been sprayed you stay off it for a while, after it's been cut/foraged you give it a rest and time to grow. (Which doesn't happen with lawn since people like it short) Same as if you were looking for herbs in the shop or garden.
Pee isn't much of an issue after rain, it's mostly nitrogen and phosphorus and will break down and be converted pretty fast. You can water your vegie garden with diluted or undiluted human pee as long as the pee-er isn't sick or on medication. Animal pee isn't that much different. Once it's rained a few times it's mostly gone. Horses avoid the grass patch they pee on for a while, but they pee a bucketload in one spot. Guinea pigs will probably just not eat the grass if it smells weird.

Petrol lawnmowers leave a really small gas residue on the leaves, ideally you'd cut grass for the pigs before you mowed when it's longer anyway. I just grab handfuls of long grass but it's pasture grass, so that's different. No mowing happening at all. If you could leave a small section unmowed and trim with hedgeclippers/scissors/whatever you have, that'd work. Actual lawn clippings after mowing are smushed up and limp, wouldn't feed them those.

If you want to add some leaves, try adding a few herbs/vegies to the garden - coriander, lemon balm, lemon grass, parsley, leaf celery, kale, to start. Have a look at the nutrition charts and see what works for you. You only need to add in a few leaves a day or week to perk the pigs up.

 

[pinky]

I'd like to add that ideally you'd want to maintain a ratio of 1.5 to 2.1 Ca (calcium to phosphorus). Parsley and kale are high in calcium so you don't want to overfeed foods that contain a lot of calcium to adult guinea pigs. Why don't you leave a section of grass uncut that you can harvest? I have a section where timothy hay sprouted up after emptying the leftover hay there. I let it grow and clip it to offer them fresh hay as a treat.

 

[GuineaPigMania2]

Thanks for your help! We have a gardener that cuts all of our neighborhood's gardens but I'm sure he doesn't spray it with anything or have a petrol mower. Thanks again, I think I'll ask my gardener if he could leave a certain spot so the grass can grow long! Are stinging nettles OK to give them?

 

[mari11]

General advice with nettles is to dry them first, which gets rid of the sting - lay them out in a dry shady place and leave for a week. Not something I've tried but we have some around so I'll give it a go. You can do it with dandelion too, so you've got some during winter when the fresh stuff is gone.

 

[GuineaPigMania2]

Dry them means leave them out in the sun or somthing right? I thought you could give them to pigs but wasn't sure - our garden has a lot of nettles in summer/spring time so it would be useful to use them for something

 

[mari11]

Try some in the sun, some in the shade? Other people have said you can feed guinea pigs fresh nettles too, but I've never tried. Mine have chewed on dried eucalyptus leaves, which I wouldn't have thought as remotely yummy, but they still do it sometimes, so...

You can use nettles in soup and tea too if you want to, heat does something to the sting (very scientific term, that one) and nettles are good for you. Just a pain to harvest.

 

[GuineaPigMania2]

Interesting, thanks for your help

 

[GuineaPigMania2]

By the way, there are these weed like things in our garden and I researched it and I think the are 'prickly lettuce' It is a pain pulling them all out when it's time to play outside! Any idea if they pig-friendly? Sorry for all the questions!