[Gpdd] CARE Feeding question.

[Penny Charlesworth]

Lynn,

I am so glad that your "girls" ( I hope that they are still girls ) have not suffered from eating those tomato leaves. You will find that everyone has their own method of feeding their piggies. I have been told that my way, in England, is a lot different from the American way and that I give my herd lots of things that would be unheard of there. I can't speak for other countries but for what it is worth, this is how the Piggyfriends are fed.

Pelleted feed has only recently become available in England, introduced to avoid selective feeding but I do not use it. I used to mix up my own dry feed, bowls of which are left constantly in the pens to enable nibbling between meals. Now I can buy this ready mixed.

My herd starts the day with a chunk of carrot each and whilst they are eating this, I wander round the pens, checking that everypig is eating up and looks in good health. I fill their bowls, give them all a chunk of another veg and start cleaning out all the pens, putting a pile of freshly cut grass in each pen as I go. They all have lots of fresh hay with each cleaning out and fresh bottles of water.

I usually come home at lunchtime, when they expect more food, sometimes something that I have foraged during my work as a gardener, maybe a veggie slice or something fresh from the garden.

They are fed again in the evening after work, at around 6pm. Another pile of grass, assorted leaves, veggies, sometimes a slice of melon or apple cut into small pieces. They consume vast quantities of veggies and there is never anything left to throw out but if there were, it would be taken out of the pen before bedtime, which is usually accompanied by a late night snack before lights out.

A new piggy soon learns that shouting at the slave will produce more veggies so life is really one long meal for the Piggyfriends, with time out for a nap. An old book of mine states that " you cannot overfeed your guinea pig " and generations of Piggyfriends have shown this to be true.

And yes.....they do eat tomato, but only the round bit at the end.

Penny and the Piggyfriends.