[SallyintNorth]

All the piggy people I've met have cooked any spuds for their pigs, saying that the pigs derive more nutrition from them if they are cooked.  The exception was a farmer who rotated the pigs onto the cleared potato fields so that the pigs would eat up any tubers left in the ground.

Today I was asked whether potato haulms could be safely fed to pigs.  I said I had no idea but I knew some people who probably did!

[Tudful Tamworths]

Firstly, strictly speaking, you can't cook potatoes (or any other food product) for your pigs in your own kitchen. The rules on feeding products which have passed through a kitchen, domestic or commercial, are very clear.

Having cleared that one up, I "believe" that some people cook potatoes and other veg in a separate brazier outside specifically for their pigs. I will leave you to ponder that one....

Anyway, back to potatoes. Most pigs are a bit fussy when it comes to them and won't eat them raw unless they are really desperate (and they shouldn't get to that stage). As a general rule, pigs don't eat what won't agree with them, and potatoes in large quantities certainly don't. They don't digest starch very well - although cooking potatoes does break down the starch to a more acceptable level.

In any case, potatoes aren't a good source of nutrition. Okay, so they might fill the pig up in the same way as barley or bran, but they won't contribute much to overall nutrition.

Please don't feed green or sprouting potatoes. They contain the toxin solanine which can cause stomach upsets - and some pig breeders I know have had pigs killed as a result of eating large amounts. Fortunately, green potatoes taste bitter, so pigs generally have the good sense to avoid them. However, if hungry, pigs will eat anything, so be warned.

Personally, I wouldn't take the chance of feeding haulms/tubers.

[Hilarysmum]

Agree totally with TT as above, but would add, knew a breeder who fed raw potatoes to his pigs - his favourite sow died from a twisted gut, which at the time was put down to excess of raw potatoes.  Potato halms are poisonous.

I do feed still warm cooked pots. in the winter as an addition to the feed, which the pigs do enjoy.  In the summer they would ignore them unless starving.

[SallyintNorth]

I "believe" that some people cook potatoes and other veg in a separate brazier outside specifically for their pigs. I will leave you to ponder that one....

It's true!   Both the other smallholders I referred to had external systems for boiling the pigs' spuds!   One had a gas burner on a timer under a pot made from a modified gas bottle, the other a big old pot and an old-fashioned wood fire.

But it seems from your replies that they have limited nutritional value, and the haulms are toxic.

[OhLaLa]

Legalities aside, and from the pigs point of view:

"Cooked potatoes please, and don't feed us haulms". 

[Sylvia]

Sorry to hark back to the "good old days" but I believe when I was a child Dad would cook up "pig" potatoes (those too small to sell) and feed the pigs with these, skim milk and crushed wheat or barley (those grains also too small for any other use.) Our pigs were also free-ranging so got nourishment from grass etc. I dare say.
I remember enjoying the finished product, anyway

[robert waddell]

we fed potatoes but only as an addition not their main source of food        the only downside was there farts         no ill pigs
the same argument as cut grass  and yes the shaws or haulms are not good for them
this next bit will get you going             a feed manufacturer told me that rations can be made with sawdust     the reason if you have pigs that you dont want to fatten bulk there food out with sawdust they eat it full bellys and contented pigs

[Anke]

When I keep weaners I feed cooked potatoes (collected from the greengrocer as part of a general fruit/veg box that's past it), but did it on a hotplate in the garage, with timer on (otherwise I would forget about them). I think perfectly legal that way, and really you do not want the stink of past-their-best boiling potatoes in your kitchen anyway!

[robert waddell]

past there best potatoes are the ones the pigs fight over         soft and mushy

[SallyintNorth]

 a feed manufacturer told me that rations can be made with sawdust     the reason if you have pigs that you dont want to fatten bulk there food out with sawdust they eat it full bellys and contented pigs

Not a bit surprised.  They use sawdust in dogs biscuits too.  In this case, spent sawdust from the chicken sheds.  I was initially horrifed then realised that chicken poo is full of good nutrients and in the wild the gut contents of prey animals would form a valuable part of the diet for a carnivore.

[robert waddell]

sallyinthenorth       the chicken s**t used to be  incorperated into the chicken feed (it was high protien feed they were getting and an american idea )         it was fresh sawdust that was used in the pig feed          chicken s**t would defeat the purpose

[Bionic]

Sorry this is a bit of the track of the original mail but don't they use wood pulp (which I guess is basically sawdust) in McDonalds milkshakes?

[littlemisspiggy!]

wher else can a conversation go from spuds to s**t just like that..lol very funny!!

i was talking to an old chap who lives next to my field and he says 'when he was a younger man' and working as a stockman he always fed the pigs on lots of boiled potatoes and mixed it with barley meal including the water to make it sloppy,the 6 weeks prior to slaughter he would replace most of the water with skim milk from the dairy (as no one wanted it then!)and he said the taste and finish was far superior than anything he see's these days? so we're going to add this into our last 6 weeks but not completely just mixed in with the pig food and compare to last time..we have made a firepit and got some new large cook pots from a catering wholesalers...

[OhLaLa]

i was talking to an old chap who lives next to my field and he says 'when he was a younger man' and working as a stockman he always fed the pigs on lots of boiled potatoes and mixed it with barley meal including the water to make it sloppy,the 6 weeks prior to slaughter he would replace most of the water with skim milk from the dairy (as no one wanted it then!)and he said the taste and finish was far superior than anything he see's these days? so we're going to add this into our last 6 weeks but not completely just mixed in with the pig food and compare to last time..we have made a firepit and got some new large cook pots from a catering wholesalers...

Watch out for scouring.

[SallyintNorth]

If you've got a local cheesemaker you may be able to get whey, which is still a waste product, and it contains a lot of the protein and a great deal of flavour.  The pork is supposed to taste marvellous and be very tender.