Guinea pig breeders

Does anyone have experience raising guinea pigs for meat?  Any sources for the giant super-cui used in Peru?

Supposedly they can jump 3 feet high!

The difference in size isn't all that much.  An adult male GP weighs about 2 lbs, the super-pig weighs about 2.2 lbs.

Sue

I read that the super cui get up to 7 pounds.  I also read that they eat rabbit crap. 

you mean literally? or you think bunny food is nasty? that is interesting. I heard of people raising pigs on cow poop. not for me (the poop or the pigs that eat cow poop)

The Stupid American Farmer Syndrome (SAFS) will feed anything to anything, animal-wise.  Beef feedlot owners watched the BSE problem in England, the reason for it was clear, and yet they still fed cattle renderings to cattle.  When it showed up here, they continued to do it, until the law forced them to do otherwise.

In China, people with pigs make little roadside toilets for passersby. They make them as attractive as they can.  The human waste drops down to the ground, and the pigs have access to it through the opening left in the back for that purpose.

Humans and pigs have a lot of common diseases, more so than with most animals.  It looks like a good disease vector to me.

Why would anyone want to feed animal waste directly to another animal?

Sue

that is disgusting. I am all for economic feed sources but there are somethings that simply go to far. the practice of animals eating their own species is not abnormal. wild pigs will eat their downed brethren and chickens will too. obviously cows though are not carnivorous and for that reason along with all other domestic herbivores I don't think the practice of feeding them any animal derived product, regardless of where it comes from, is appropriate. their systems have not developed to accomodate it. dogs and pigs and such can eat nasty things and not get sick and i would suspect thier system to be better at destroying disease carrying organisms that they might consume in the process. there are similiar diseases in wild ruminents in the U.S.  and they have contracted it in the wild (unless it was given to them by deer feeding...entirely possible) and the risk of contracting something of this nature comes with the carnivorous territory. but like CAE in goats the industry pushed the disease past the natural ability to proliferate by its wholly unnatural practices. of course they are still not exactly sure what is causing the bse. I think i ran across something recently in the news about this. they aren't sure if the prions are the culprit or the byproduct of the original pathogen. somthin like that.

Yes, it is disgusting.  And many of the farming practices in China is the reason that most influenza tend to originate there.  I see no problem with thorough composting of human waste, but direct use is begging for trouble.

It isn't the natural raising of animals that causes so many problems, but the UNNATURAL raising of animals using factory conditions and inappropriate feed.

Everyone knows that cows eat corn, right?  Well, corn has never been a natural diet for cows.  It started when there was a corn glut, and the USDA thought it would be a good idea to feed it to cattle to get rid of it.  Cattle apparently can't digest the starch in the corn because they are ruminants, not chickens or turkeys.

And when I said that the cause of BSE was clear, I just meant that they knew it came from feeding infected cows to non-infected cows.  At the microscopic level, I don't know.

And even natural cannibalism in other animals can lead to the spread of disease.  If a dog dies of rabies, and it is eaten by a coyote, a bear, an opossum and some rats, it's possible that all of them (with the possible exception of the opossum) could come down with rabies.  That's probably why rabies is always endemic in the wildlife.  Even here in Thurston Co., the director of Animal Control said that 10% of the bats checked for rabies are positive.

Humans may have the highest intelligence on the planet, but we're lagging WAAAAAAY behind in common sense.

Sue

I meant literally.  They eat rabbit droppings. 

So they fed cow poop to cows.  If the cows that pooped were eating naturally.  If they were eating the finest, healthiest, most organic vegetation, would their poop be better to eat?

Do the cows, or guinea pigs, or whatever animals, have enough common sense to not eat something that might kill them?  I guess if they had a choice they would eat the safe, healthy stuff. 

I also read that guinea pigs keep mice and rats at bay. 

Starving animals will probably eat almost anything.

Aquariums like Sea World capture marine animals like killer whales and dolphins, starve them into submission, then feed them to train them.  Dead fish is probably just carrion to them, but they can't control what they're offered.

Many/most animals won't eat what isn't good for them.  People with cattle around here hate tansy, because they say the tansy poisons the cattle if they eat it.  But cattle won't eat tansy unless there's nothing else.  The problem is not the tansy.

When I bought my chickens, I was hoping they would eat the bane of my existence, bittercress.  But no, they hate it, and will carefully eat all around it.  I have wild foxglove that pops up everywhere.  My chickens don't touch it. Nor the rhubarb.

I've read where livestock have been offered both conventionally-grown feed in one trough, and genetically-modified feed of the same type in the trough right next to it.  They always ignore the GM feed, and always eat the regular feed.

I don't think that most animals will eat the waste of another animal if good feed is available.  (Although dogs and cat poop may be an exception.  sigh.)

Sue

I think this topic (animals eating the poop of other animals) should get a thread all to itself.  (having chickens eat cow poop is a large positive - not all poops are the same!)

As to guinea pig breeds for meat:  You would think there would be SOMEBODY in the US that would offer the breeds for this.  Did google turn up much?

Steve Nicolini wrote:
I meant literally.  They eat rabbit droppings. 

So they fed cow poop to cows.  If the cows that pooped were eating naturally.  If they were eating the finest, healthiest, most organic vegetation, would their poop be better to eat?

Do the cows, or guinea pigs, or whatever animals, have enough common sense to not eat something that might kill them?  I guess if they had a choice they would eat the safe, healthy stuff. 

I also read that guinea pigs keep mice and rats at bay. 

the cows were fed parts of other cows. specifically the spinal cord parts which is thought to house whatever it is that causes bse. there are some things that animals know not to eat, generally by using their regular senses. such as things that have a particular taste they avoid. in evolutionary terms (even within domestication) if a cow ate foxglove it was a goner so cows instinctively know not to eat it (nothing magical probably the taste of certain compounds in the plant). They will sometimes eat things that are bad for them (rabies example) animals sometimes won't eat what IS good for them. for example animals deficient in selenium or copper will not eat a high selenium or copper mineral mix any more readily than one with out those minerals. they have evolved to get their minerals from the things they eat not seek them out individually. they didnt have to develop a taste for individual minerals. their bodies adapted to the availablitiy of nutrients in their natural feed. that is why salt is in mineral mixes for animals, because most animals actively seek the taste of salt when they need it. you could say the brain is wired to seek salt.

I dunno about the gm food and animal selection. my bs meter goes off there. but that is a whole gm thread we already hijaked this one and turned it into a poop eating thread!

I don't think the chickens eat the actual cow poop when they're rotated through cow pastures like Joel Salatin does.  They kick the cow pies apart and eat the developing larvae of parasites and fly maggots.  Regular fly larvae can hatch out from freshly laid eggs in a matter of hours, depending on temperature and moisture.

Sue

Steve, I was out and about yesterday and passed an Asian market.  If they are shipping thousands of these super pigs to the U.S., I suspect they might be shipping them to Hispanic markets.  If you have some of those anywhere around you, you could stop in and talk to them. 

Sue

The chickens do eat the bugs, yes!

And .....


That is no ordinary poop!  It's fermented hay dregs.  To some animals, cow poop is delicious stuff.  Already partially digested, plus fermented, it is way better than grass!  And chickens definitely eat grass!

Pigs eat cow poop.  The poop itself.  And, it is supposedly quite good for them!

my dogs can't wait to get out and eat horseapples. has there been any analysis of the nutritional qualites of cow poop? can't believe I'm asking this question.........

I'm pretty sure I once read something about how cow poop was one of the most nutritious things for pigs.  I can't remember where I read it, or even when ...

I remember seeing some article of how to raise cows and pigs without feeding them any sacked feeds, with the cows grazing and the pigs eating the cow poop. but people will do all sorts of things ...... hmmmmmm google time.

Steve,

Ya gotta see this. I found this blog on weird meat and I thought he might talk about eating guinea pigs! Well, he didn't eat guinea pig, but he has eaten LOTS of very, very strange protein. The author, a former vegan, is doing it to examine our cultural food differences, which I think is kinda cool. http://www.weirdmeat.com/2004/04/weird-meat-master-list.html. (Warning: not for the squeamish.)

Rat:  it tastes like chicken! 

Well, when do we start eating guinea pigs?

I think my guinea pig infatuation is dying down... but now I am very interested in deer penis wine!

Jocelyn, that was pretty cool.  I have heard of people eating many different insect species but chicken feet is new to me. 

Has anyone ever imported a pet from South America? 

"Has anyone ever imported a pet from South America?"

A few of the llama and alpaca people might be able to tell you about that.

Sue

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0BTctUfPvI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuXKGuxB9Zc

paul wheaton wrote:
I think this topic (animals eating the poop of other animals) should get a thread all to itself.  (having chickens eat cow poop is a large positive - not all poops are the same!)

As to guinea pig breeds for meat:   You would think there would be SOMEBODY in the US that would offer the breeds for this.   Did google turn up much?

I was just researching this very thing, and happened onto this thread actually.... 

as for the poop as food talked about in this thread... it happens its always happened. It CAN be safe... likely needs more research.... but I wouldnt dismiss it out of hand, animals do this in the wild for good reason.

Look into black carp in one of those neat guilds of fish the asians do.... they actually eat mainly the poop of other animals. They apparently end up the tastiest one of all the various carps in the system!!! the other fish only digest so much of the nutrition available, so that particular type of carp evolved eating other fishes partially digested poo. It doesnt have to use as much  energy to digest its food. there are other factors to...

  Im totally going to try my hand at raising guinea pigs by the way.... Only drawback is the vitamin c, but I can handle that... otherwise it seems like an amazing animal for a homesteader with limited land.....

  ?ase don the numbers given in this thread, 2 pounds for regular ones, and 7 for the newly bred super ones.. Id honestly prefer smaller ones. I thought they were smaller then 2 pounds actually, I thought it was single serving. I love the fact I can eat them fresh and dont need to freeze them or anything..... i want to eliminate the bulk of my need for a fridge. So i can just get by happily with a small efficient one.....

I am not touching the other poops (no pun intended) but rabbits in the wild consume thier own poop to further extract the nutrients. Thier system is set up to where a lot of good stuff passes through and it can only be fully digested/made use of by consuming and processing it agian.  This is one of the reasons rabbit is the only poop I know of that can be directly used on plants without potential harm to the plant.

Hello,

I  haven't been on this forum in awhile and missed this topic.  We raise guinea pigs for meat in our backyard in Portland Oregon.  Very easy livestock.  The vitamin C issue really isn't an issue for us.  We get lots of free scraps from the local produce market each day and there is plenty of green veggies loaded with vitamin C.

Like Silverseeds mentioned, no need to freeze.  Easy fresh meat. Any questions, I will be happy to respond.

Oh, one more thing.  We raise the regular "pet-sized" guinea pigs.

many animals eat horse manure.  a horse farm is actually an excellent place to raise free ranged fowl on.  the fowl you raise there will be the absolute best in quality and condition.  been there done that.  its not just the horse manure they consume of course, but it definitly helps.

Hi All

Did you ever find a super-pig provider?  If not, I have a connection for setting up an import.  I am not ready to do so, so someone who IS immediately interested would be helpful.  As to the whole poop thing.  A lot of species are naturally carpophagous.  More to the point GP poop is essentially similar to fish pellets so some people have taken to hanging their cages over aquaponic fish tanks to create and "easy feed" stack.

Hogs have been used for poop disposal for millenia, since they are omnivorous.  That does create that nasty zoonotic parasite cycle, but they are so notorious for it that even today, when modern practices have almost eliminated that in commercial pork, nobody will eat pork rare.  Still, I would compost human or pig poop with Black Soldier Fly or with some other method that gets rid of the disease vector.  Herbivore poop is more readily usable and both rabbit and guinea pig can be used right on a garden.

Fire keeper, I would be interested in your contact's info.  Do you know offhand if the guinea pigs are the 2+ lb size or the larger ones that go up to 7 lbs?

I have a guinea pig for a pet, and vitamin c has never been a problem.  She gets the tops off all our strawberries.  Of course we only have one, but I'm sure there are lots of veggies with vitamin C that could be planted.

My contact is with the American University that is working with the University that has restored the breed back up to most of it's ancient weight.  The process of getting the import seems time consuming and a little pricey.  If I were not over-commited elsewhere I would jump on it anyway, since the cost will recoup itself out of selling breeding sets.    Given enough time I would probably also out-cross them to get a giant hairless, since there is no market for GP fur.

If I could get the contact info or maybe you can pass mine on to your friend.  And trust me, you don't want to mess with raising those inbred, delicate skinnies! 

And FrugalQ, I agree about the vitamin c.  If you are giving fresh greens, even just grass and parsley then you don't have to worry about vitamin c supplements. 

If anyone is in the SF Bay Area or even just travelling through on a regular basis and would like to work together on a breeding program to produce some very large guinea pigs please let me know.  I have just gotten started with my foundation stock.  Just sows so far and I am looking high and low for a big, burley boar.

I've set up a forum for some of the people interested in coordinating genetic importation and exchange for these meat Cavies  PermieCuy@Yahoogroups.com