Nutrition for pellet free piggies

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Deleted member 146245

I have decided to not feed my girls pellets and wondering how to give them complete nutrition without them. I plan on a variety of fruit and veg (more veg), various sprouted grains, variety of freshly picked grasses, weeds and hay. This is what they get in their every day diet excluding the sprouts. I have heard the sprouts are good for vitamins and minerals, my main interest being that supposedly two articles thought they were good for vit C. Although I cannot know for sure as I have found limited info on sprouts for pigs. I will not be taking them off the pellets until I know how to feed them properly without them.
*I know many will disagree with pellet free diets, everyone has their reasons. I agree to disagree. This thread purpose is not to talk about pellets*
 
We actually have many members who choose to feed a pellet free diet, so I don't think anyone is likely to disagree with his concept.

Basically as long as they have unlimited amounts of good quality hay and a limited amount of fresh veg (see the diet guides for ides) they will be fine.
Pellts should only make up a very small amount of their daily food intake anyway.

Personally I would avoid sprouted grains as I don't think they are necessary, and grains aren't really part of their natural diet anyway.
They will receive more than enough Vit C from hay/grass and Vit C rich veggies like peppprs.
 
I replace regular commercial pellets with ones that are 100% grass when I do opt to feed pellets.

I would also avoid sprouted grains, some sprouts are fine (pea shoots, sunflower shoots etc) but sprouts have very concentrated nutrition and a lot of them pack a good deal of things like calcium I them, which while a necessary nutrient, isn't something you want to go overboard with.

I personally try to give a wide range of foraged wild plants when I can, and for their veggies they get at least 5 different veg to give a good variety. I also grow some of my own, theyre more nutritious as they haven't travelled half the country!

Go for different hays too, remember just because it's brown doesn't mean it's bad, it's just been sat in the sun longer which increases its vitamin D content. I use a good quality meadow hay all over their cage and every evening give them a good handful each of a different type of hay so orchard, ings, rye, readigrass, some safe chaffs etc
 
Hi, I don't feed my piggies pellets either except for the cold pressed grass ones once a week (less often in summer). They get unlimited hay, fresh grass and wild forage when avilable, veggies and in winter Readi grass (or similar) I do not feed sprouted seeds/grains. I have fed them this way for many years and all their nutritional needs are met.

Personally I do not rely on hay for vitamin C. While fresh grass contains a lot of vit C, traditionally made hay in the UK is dried and turned in the sun for a couple of days then stored (and gradually used up) until the following year. As vit C is destroyed by heat and storage I don't feel confident about the levels in hay and have been unable to find data whenever I have tried. Mechanically dried hay from companies such as Hay box can be cut when greener and dried quickly at optimal temperature and humidity levels, so I would expect it has more vitamin C than traditional hay but less vitamin D.

I agree with @Eriathwen that there is nothing wrong with brown hay. It is how it often is in the UK due to our climate and growing conditions.
 
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