Making a Substitute for Pellets

daj

Post   » Sun Aug 15, 2021 8:46 pm


Thanks so much for your help. I appreciate your effort. I have to confess it really does seem a difficult proposition to attempt to be mathematical. There seems to be no easy set of numbers, I guess. From your info above and what I've gathered from pellet packages, there is some fairly substantial deviation. But then, I assume averaging them all is the wise thing.

The numbers on flax seeds for example, are given for tablespoons, Quinoa flour per quarter cup, brewer's yeast 2 tablespoons, and the info on pellet packages seems to just be overall percentages for each nutrient. It would probably not be so hard for one skilled in math, but that's not me.

But, all I can do is make my best effort. Probably, my main concern would be giving too much of something, rather than too little. Right now my ingredient list is barley, quinoa and sweet potato flour, flax meal, psyllium, brewer's yeast and liquid C. I think the easiest things to over do it on will be the fat content and the brewer's yeast. Those seem like the 2 things I need to be most precise with. Overall though, between fruit, vegetables, hay and this mix, I think it should be a good diet for them, and it's just a matter of getting the quantities per day right.

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Lynx
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Post   » Sun Aug 15, 2021 9:42 pm


I would not factor in the pellet info because so little information is generally specified in detail. If all you have is a list of vitamins and minerals and not the quantity or form, it will not be helpful.

When you say numbers are given in tablespoons or cups, are you looking at the USDA info? You can also convert it to 100 gram amounts and weigh using a scale so it is much more accurate. Of course, each food item will vary some from a food item stored differently or harvested elsewhere.

Someone more skilled than I am could set up an excel sheet that would do calculations for you.

daj

Post   » Fri Sep 03, 2021 11:29 pm


I still haven't done the more precise measurements because I had to order a more sensitive scale, and I am using up the first batch. I don't see any drawbacks so far. It's like giving them a lump mushy oatmeal, but it's cut up hay soaked in what comes out like an almond or soy milk. It smells really good, like a breakfast cereal, and they clamor for it when it's coming. The only issue so far is that my heavy drinker still needs half pellets because of soft poops. So I am trying to fully transition him very slowly. I wasn't able to get sweet potato flour, so I got cassava flour, although I haven't tried it yet. I figure a half grain, half tuber mix should be better than either one alone. I did decide to get the multi vitamin, but I use less than one drop per pig per day. I might be totally unnecessary, but I thought it would be good in case I am missing anything. The molasses is totally unnecessary. They love it unsweetened.

I definitely don't miss pellets by mail. This takes more time, but I think it's cheaper, and hopefully, it's a lot more wholesome, without any chemical ingredients. I'm sure the hay I use, which I pick free of all the junk like stems, the occasional cricket and brown stuff, is a lot cleaner than what pellets must be made of. Even if they're using good quality hay, I'd assume they are just pulverizing large quantities, with all the junk left in. I imagine it's like orange juice, ketchup, hot dogs or peanut butter, stuff people eat while preferring to not think too much about what might be in it, even if highly diluted.

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Lynx
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Post   » Sat Sep 04, 2021 8:31 am


It sounds interesting! Unsure about the tubers you are using (not ruling them out) - mainly pointing out that if one is looking for a "natural diet", guinea pigs would not be eating tubers. Keep in mind the sweet potato flour may be high in vitamin A, which is a fat soluble vitamin, that can (along with the drops) accumulate in the body.

p.s. I recall reading about what feeds people gave their chickens years ago (I have three pet chickens). To protect them from theft and help them through the winter, they slept under the bed and were given "porridge" during the day. So one never knows.

daj

Post   » Sat Sep 04, 2021 12:08 pm


Well, basically, I wanted to reduce the grain by using half vegetable flour. I just noticed the cassava is pretty high in calcium though. On the tuber question, if they wouldn't naturally have dug for tubers, I would think carrot would be out too, although tubers would be growing deeper than carrots, I think. If I had to stick with just barley and quinoa I would be OK with that, but I'm thinking there probably is one other ingredient out there that would be a good addition. I generally associate grains with arthritis, so I'd like to get a vegetable in without adding too much calcium.

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Lynx
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Post   » Sat Sep 04, 2021 9:20 pm


Good point with the carrot. We make food decisions partly based on what we can get.

According to this chart, which lists items by 10 calorie amounts, sweet potato is not particularly high in calcium (unless you feed a really excessive amount).
https://www.guinealynx.info/chart.html

The barley and quinoa sound like interesting choices.

daj

Post   » Tue Sep 07, 2021 12:18 am


Yeah, the cassava was a careless choice. Now I see it also has 3 x the calories. I'm going to try ordering the sweet potato again.

It seems hard to believe grasses and other greens made up the bulk of pig's diets in the wild, based on my exp. w/ my pigs. Mine got rid of all their skin and itching problems when I cut out all greens except for a leaf of green leaf lettuce per day.

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Lynx
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Post   » Tue Sep 07, 2021 10:56 am


When we think about a diet that is natural, we actually forget about the bugs. So a natural diet is likely much more varied than we imagine. Oh, and the seeds too.

daj

Post   » Fri Sep 10, 2021 4:24 pm


Agreed. I guess pigs can survive on just pellets, hay & water, but I suppose that's how you get 5 years of life. I am hoping for 10 for all of mine.

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ItsaZoo
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Post   » Fri Sep 10, 2021 4:41 pm


I'm interested to see how the homemade diet works out, Daj. I'm trying to figure out feeding choices for my sick piggie, and I've made a few hay smoothie variations with varied results. Today I'm trying baked hay and oat treats with Critical Care, apple, carrot and a little green pepper. She likes the Simple Rewards treats so I thought if I could figure out how to get more hay into something that tastes similar, maybe I could get her to eat more.

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Lynx
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Post   » Fri Sep 10, 2021 8:24 pm


I like chocolate. Not much good nutritionally and no good at all for our gps!

daj

Post   » Tue Sep 21, 2021 11:49 pm


Sorry I haven't checked in in a while. That usually means things are going good. The pellet substitute experiment continues to be a success... so far. 4 out of 5 pigs took to it like they grew up on it. They even go for it before their vegetables, which is surprising. I still don't have my measurements down because it was the first time using a new scale, and I set it to a wrong unit and didn't realize I wasn't measuring grams until I had mixed some of them together. Then it was too late to go back.

My 5th pig had soft poops on the mix (must have to do with the fact that he drinks more than a bottle a day), so I just now tried a batch of them dehydrated. It too came out better than I expected. They are sort of like cookies/hash browns made of hay, (could take pics if anyone is interested) which I chop up with a scissor. Next time I will try a food processor and make it more like an actual biscuit, because I think the dehydrating will go quicker. As is, it only took 6 hours though, after which I bagged them up and stored in the freezer. Hopefully he will be fully off pellets soon. All the rest look good, with good skin and they seem great.

The current ingredient list is barley flakes, quinoa and sweet potato flour, psylium, flax seed and brewer's yeast. The psylium might be questionable, but my vet thought it would be a good idea for a pig with possible interstitial cystitis. I like it because it makes the mix kind of slimy, which helps coat everything. I would highly recommend trying it to anyone who sees a benefit in not using commercial pellets. Personally, I am really happy about being able to control what they are eating, rather than feeding them I don't really know what.

The biggest question marks and points of concern for me are the flax seed and the brewer's yeast. I am not sure how much of either would be ideal for a pig. If anyone has thoughts on this, I'd appreciate the input. It seems to me it shouldn't be too hard to come up with some basic guidelines for a home mix. For me, keeping free of the chemical ingredients and other stuff in commercial pellets, offsets the risk of the unknowns.

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