Foraging Piggies

[fawnmarie]

[font=verdana, arial, helvetica]I have in my yard what I think is "lawn daisy" (aka English daisy). I don't read that it is common in Florida, but that's what it looks like and the closest I can figure from pictures.

My pigs LOVE it. They LIVE for it. They will gobble the leaves like crazy (no interest in the flowers).

Is this safe for them? I hope so.

They've been gobbling it like crazy, just want to make sure they're are no long term problems with them.
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[font=verdana, arial, helvetica](And yes - it's all untreated)[/font]

[font=verdana, arial, helvetica]Fawn[/font]

 

[Ly&Pigs]

Is there any way you can take a post a picture of this lawn daisy?

 

[fawnmarie]

My husband mowed it all down this weekend, but I will try to find a patch to photo and post.

Thanks for the help.

Fawn

 

[ParanoidEv]

Is this the flower? I have no idea if it's piggy-edible. If it is, I have something to do for a few hours..

 

[fawnmarie]

That looks like it - but the flowers aren't that full. The vegetation looks right.

It's used in a lot of natural medicine & is considered safe and normal forage for "food animals" (i.e. cows, sheep, pigs.).

They certainly do like it.

I know it's not poisonous, but want to be sure it's okay for them to eat at will.

Fawn

 

[suzy_99]

I'm getting confused now. We have daisies, but the leaves on them are different, but the flower is identical and I have been told many times that these are poisonous and that I should never let my piggies near them. Maybe its a different species or something, but I'd like to find out because we have so many in our yard.

 

[fawnmarie]

Okay, I FINALLY properly identified what it is that's growing in yard that my pigs like so much. It's called Bidens pilosa, commonly called spanish needles or beggarticks.

Here is a page on them:

https://plants.usda.gov/cgi_bin/topics.cgi?earl=plant_profile.cgi&symbol=BIPI

And another showing it's food and medicinal uses:

(broken link removed)

Apparently it's a medicinal plant in China, and a common vegetable in Africa, and an invasive weed in the US.

Nutritional Analysis from: https://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/cgi-bin/arr_html?Bidens+pilosa&PRINT

Edible Uses

Leaves; Tea.


Leaves - raw or cooked[177]. A resinous flavour[173]. Added to salads or steamed and added to soups and stews, they can also be dried for later use[183]. A nutritional analysis is available[218].

Young shoot tips are used to make a tea[177]. Composition

Seed (Fresh weight) In grammes per 100g weight of food:
Protein: 17.5 Fat: 17.1
Leaves (Dry weight) In grammes per 100g weight of food:
Water: 0 Calories: 295 Protein: 24.5 Fat: 4 Carbohydrate: 56.4 Fibre: 12.1 Ash: 15.1
In milligrammes per 100g weight of food:
Calcium: 1721 Phosphorus: 273 Sodium: 11 Potassium: 267 VitaminA: 12


More cut/pastes:

(broken link removed)

Beggar ticks or Spanish needles (Bidens pilosa)

This is an annual herb that is a common garden weed throughout much of the world's tropical and sub-tropical zones. Leaves of this plant are sometimes eaten raw when very young, but more often steamed. They are dried for later use in parts of Africa and in the Philippines. In Zimbabwe they are lightly boiled with a little peanut butter mixed in afterwards.


(broken link removed)
"Although the fat content of leaves is generally low, some exceptions are Bidens pilosa (22.5%) "

This is a link to a poster for a Zulu nutritional program showing it's vitamin C another other content:

(broken link removed)

Anyway, guess it's safe, the pigs LOVE it. It's not only cheap, it's totally free and it looks like it might also be very good for them.

Any comment? Did I miss anything?

Fawn

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