[loosey]

Sorry for bombarding you all with questions! I'm at work so asking you is a lot easier than trawling the net!

Is there anything in particular with regards to kitchen or garden waste that I shouldn't give to my pigs?!

[Hilarysmum]

Its different here re kitchen waste, but NO MEAT or anything that may have come into contact with meat or that has had meat or fat in the ingredients.  Ie lardy cake  - lard.

No citrus (they dont like it) and
no daffodil bulbs (that one is from Hilary)

[HappyHippy]

As far as I know in the UK you're not allowed to feed ANY waste that has passed through a kitchen (be it domestic or commercial) because of the possible risk of cross contamination from meat products and the affect this may have on the meat when it enters the food chain. I know there are folks who feed bakery waste but IMHO it's just not worth taking the risk and I'm not sure how the 'authorities' would see it 
Mine eat pretty much anything veg wise, but I have to cook stuff like potatoes, sweet potatoes (they REALLY love them!) brocolli, cauliflour etc on an old camping stove in the shed just to make sure I'm not breaking any rules. They love fruit too - especially tomatoes and strawberries, but as HM says not so keen on citrus. Oh, parsnips and onions - think there's something about them not being good for pigs either, but mine never get the chance to have them

[Anke]

Mine are not too keen on turnips, cooked I mean (I get loads of them in my piggie veg box from the greengrocer). Other than that same as Hapy Hippy, I have got an old hotplate set up in my garage on a timer (so I don't let it boil dry....)

[Teresa]

I was really suprised to read that pigs relish milk! i would have thought too much would cause stomach problems?

[Hilarysmum]

It can, dont feed it to young piglets.  For fattening pigs its great up to about 16 weeks of age.  After which it tends to put on fat.  (In my experience at least)

[shetlandpaul]

whick you can't do in the uk.

[cairnhill]

Probably easier to say what CAN you feed them.

I was giving my pigs boiled potatoes and got a telling off from Animal Health because I was boiling them in the kitchen.  She said it was ok if I boiled them in the garage but they could not have anything that had been in the kitchen.   Also Animal Health are very strict about storing pig food.  Must have own containers, buckets and scoops and be far away from any Ruminant food.  I fed weaner nuts and growers nuts and treats such as carrots, boiled potatoes, apple and beetroot that we had growing in the garden.   The pigs were an absolute joy and the meat was outstanding.  They also did a sterling job of turning the land over.  I did let them get a wee bit too big for the butcher though but from a pig costing £50, a few months of feeding proper pig food produced meat worth over £400.

[Rosemary]

Must have own containers, buckets and scoops and be far away from any Ruminant food. 

The implication of this is that ruminant food contains animal products, no? Is that not slightly scary since that's how we got into the BSE mess?

[oaklandspigs]

TS do not always get the rules quite right!

Pig feed can (but rarely does) contain fish which cannot be fed to ruminants.

If you pig feed does contain fish, then you should be able to demonstrate that you have adequate procedures in place to ensure that it is not fed to sheep etc. I don't directly know of any law that says they MUST be kept apart, as far as I am aware it is simply a legal requirement not to feed fish to sheep, and TS would need to prove you were doing so in contravention of the law, rather than that you are creating a risk or potential that this might happen. If someone knows differently (ie a law) then please let us know, i have found nothing so far.

However if you had pig feed containing fish and you showed them an environment where for instance you could not tell them which scoop you used for what, then they could put a case together to say that you must be feeding fish to sheep as you are muddling containers/scoops etc.

Clearly best advice to avoid this would be separate storage, and if there are employees signage etc. might be appropriate, but this would be sensible guidance rather than a legal requirement to my current knowledge.
 
HOWEVER If your pig feed does not contain fish (most don't and the label by law has to say do) then there is no reason why you should not keep the two together, and there is no legal reason to separate as there is no risk.  It is obviously easier for TS to simply say keep apartin all cases.

Now sheep and pigs need different dietary requirements, and you should not generally feed food of one to the other, but this is a health issue rather than a legal requirement, and if your feed does not contain fish, I see no reason why TS should insist on any separation.

[gavo]

But don't forget that pig feed contains trace elements such as copper which WILL kill your sheep it causes liver failure

[oaklandspigs]

Copper is essential for life.

Sheep need 5mg per kg of copper in their diet.  Levels above 25 can cause problems - symptoms are that sheep go lethargic, drink lots and grind teeeth.  Untreated death can occur.  A drench from the vet can cure/aid recovery if promptly administered.

Levels of copper can be higher in pig grower feeds, as it can aid growth performance.  Of 5 labels we have from different feeds we have used over the years, one shows 17mg per kg, two 25mg (inc one grower), and one grower 171mg!

Feeding any of these daily would be likley to create a problem!

Like gavo, I would not feed pig feed to sheep for this reason, but any cross contamination from say using the same scoop between two bins would not create an issue, and say one feed by mistake would be highly unliklely to kill the sheep.