Tree Hay and Pigs

Anyone know if tree hay is a viable fodder option for pigs?

Over the past4 years our pigs have always grazed the hedgerows around their paddocks, and especially low new spring/early summer growth and leaves.  We harvest, dry and loose bale/bag fallen Paulownia leaves in Autumn as fodder for our sheep and pigs - they eat it, but like other intelligent critters, they (pigs) don't eat it as enthusiastically as their normal feed or juicy fodder.

Good luck!!

Hi Graeme;  Big Welcome to Permies!
I agree with Nick, your pigs will certainly eat hay but only out of boredom.
I don't believe they would gain weight very well either.
I put down straw as bedding and they in veritably, eventually eat it all.

I think a big factor is "what kind of pigs?"  Heritage pigs with a reputation for browsing and foraging will enthusiastically eat hay.  Some market hogs that are bred to gain 100lbs per month are bred to do nothing but eat, sleep, and poop.  They might be less enthusiastic about hay as a feed source.

We feed our pigs hay alongside high protein feeds, and most days they choose hay as their main feed source.  They love rifling through grass hay for their favorite bits, especially the seed heads or little patches of mint in the hay.  They dried conifer needles and dried leaves as well.  Our pigs don't want to eat the same thing day after day, they like variety.

thomas rubino wrote:I agree with Nick, your pigs will certainly eat hay but only out of boredom.

I can't really agree with Thomas on the boredom issue based on our observations (and ultimate taste), it may not be a "preferred" fodder all the time, but we feed hay and lucerne to our pigs regularly but especially throughout winter and they do well on.  I gave a guesstimate of how much hayage and grazing our pigs have in this other post about fermented feed in the pig forum.

thomas rubino wrote:I don't believe they would gain weight very well either.

With the small numbers we raise, and what we (and the small number of people who buy our pigs) want, the hay and grazing that our pigs have certainly contributes well to their overall finish, leanness and quality of meat... although we have never bothered to raise/feed them in other more intensive ways to meet a target weight in a target time.

thomas rubino wrote:I put down straw as bedding and they in veritably, eventually eat it all.

Again, only from our observations and experience, we see the pigs "eat" their bedding straw - but not consume/digest it... by that I mean that looking at their nest areas the compacted bedding straw seems to be consistently chewed down into chaff - short pieces of straw, and just compacted and compacted, and aerated by their natural desire to root around in it and shape it into hollows, burrows, walls, pillows, etc.  We do not routinely clean out our pigs sleeping shelters just for the sake of it unless the bedpack gets too thick to manage, which is not often as our chickens really do a number on the shelters in unoccupied paddocks.