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Guinea pigs

 
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Didn’t know where to put this so I thought rabbits were close enough.

Does anybody have resources or experience they are willing to share with raising guinea pigs for meat.
 
pollinator
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See my older thread on guinea pigs for meat. I'd say if you are considering it firstly, get two cheap locally and feed them a while, see if you can butcher them yourself. It might sound silly but not everyone can care for an animal then kill it and eat it. Secondly, this will tell you if you like the meat and want to bother with it. They don't have a lot of meat on them.
That said, if you are in an urban situation and larger animals isn't feasible then I could see the guinea pigs being a good fit. If you like the meat. Don't sink money and time into a whole group and a year of breeding to find out. Trust me on that part haha.
If you have an area or raised beds you can grow forage to cut and feed as a supplement that would be ideal. You'd have to have a fair sized area and a small breeding group. You aren't going to compete with meat rabbits for meat production. They were lots of fun.
feel free to post on the other thread. I'll try to check back if you had any specific questions. I posted quite a lot in my thread.
 
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I've read and researched a lot of pro's and cons of meat cavies.  I watched one little video of a permies couple raising them in cages over a pond that had crayfish in it who fed on the feces.  They're a slower turn-around than rabbits, they reproduce less, but their pro's are easy care and containment.
I personally can't keep an animal in a tiny cage.  My rabbits go colony style on the ground and in special out buildings made for them.  But if they find a way out?  Sheesh.  Off and away!  FREEDOM BUNNIES!  Garden massacre time!  At least they get eaten before they make a real pest of themselves.   GPs?  I haven't tried it, but I've read plenty that they have small territories they're not prone to straying from.  That they can be kept outdoors easily if given enough food/fodder and a safe place to live (and if you can keep them from getting eaten).  They also do well in much smaller areas of confinement if need be than rabbits do, since they're so small.
Rabbits are also really good at drawing blood on me at butcher time.  It wouldn't happen if I wore thick gloves, but I don't like wearing gloves.  My goal is to try and get a butcher round done without getting scratched to shreds, but I rarely meet that goal.  I imagine GPs would be pretty harmless to handle and butcher, as long as you weren't breeding chronic biters.

I've long wanted to get into meat cavies, ideally the big varieties, but whatever I get my hands on when the time comes will suffice.  I would consider them part of "not putting all my eggs in one basket" in terms of meat and livestock.  They seem particularly a diverse prospect in terms of permaculture due to their timid and tame reputations.  

 I already raise rabbits, but they are a fight and a pain sometimes.  Sometimes they reproduce too much, other times not enough.  If I could set up some GPs in an established run or in the aviary or another cat-proof area, and they could feed themselves in the growing season, not make a whole bunch of noise, not demand extra chores from me, and produce meat on their own?  I'm game to try!  Curious for more input here.
 
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