Does anyone raise guinea pigs for meat?

[sapito]

A friends wants to start raising guinea pigs to munch on. Its seems they larger varieties are harder to come by.

Anyone do this themselves or know somewhere I could get info about getting a few babies? Preferably in southern NSW

[bℓσωηG]

Your local petshop should have them, but dont say you want to cook them up lol.. or look in the tradingpost .. Its spring so there will be lots of babies born soon. Rabbits are alot larger.

[sapito]

Most pictures of ones that people eat seem significantly larger than the regular pet shop ones. So i assume there is a breed that is better for eating rather than the little hand sized ones

[bℓσωηG]

.. you could place an ad in the ''grassroots'' magazine for wanting guinea pigs for meat as lots of alternative types read it , unfortunately its not an online magazine but your local library might have one for you to get the classified address from.

you mean one this big?

i would love a pet Capybara

 

[kapitän kamasutra]

The bigger breeds of guinea pigs are called Cuys or Cobayos apparently. I have heared they are more stress sensitive than the pet breeds, but probably still easy to keep. Enjoy your meal!

[shortly]

I know the ones you are referring too Sapito, the large meat breed called the super cuy developed in Chile for the export meat trade.

The pet cavy owners in the UK & the USA had a hissy fit when their countries started importing the meat.

I've heard rumors of super cuys being about but haven actually found any.

The next biggest breed that are commonly available would be the rex & they are also one of the better tempered breeds which is good if you have kids.

Oh and i wouldn't advertise your intentions too widely, the rspca is usually pretty quick to make like hell for anyone eating what they consider to be a companion animal.

[AndyAmine.]

IIRC there is already a thread on this subject, was started about 12 months ago I think.

Only at SAB ehy, this place is awesome.

Edited September 23, 2011 by AndyAmine.

[Palma]

They are common in Peru and yes they are called cuy, "coo - ee", and just hear them you will know how the quetchua chose the name!

As they are small, the skin is not taken off, just the hair, and the pieces are fried.

They are bred in high altitude where they also call them rabbit, and I think that they have them because they grow better than rabbit. They need more than 6 to 9 months to be eaten. They are not so big, so the big ones could be a modern selection, may be not as strong, who knows...

The stress comes from not being used to men as pets are!

[amanito]

I have seen them being sold in Peru and Ecuador. When you put them in your garden they won't run away and eat the grass, you don't have to mow the lawn anymore (I'm not joking). I didn't eat them .. don't know why.

I guess if capybara is called chiguire .. I have eaten it in Venezuela, didn't care too much about it.

edit: if I ever have a farm (my wife doesn't want to ... but I plan on manipulating things ) I'd like to have guinea pigs, rabbits and chickens, they are the fastest and easiest to grow and don't requiere much attention.

The only problem is killing them ....

Edited January 5, 2012 by amanito

[Halcyon Daze]

My colleagues and I are promoting their use in remote areas of PNG. Up there they are often called "rabbits" and are only ever kept for consumption but on a limited scale.

They are quite tasty and make a good alternative to endangered species such as tree kangaroos and cassowaries. They also provide the elderly and less-able with a "job" and "income".

I'd love to get some better breeds up there asap. If anyone knows of any meat breeds in Australia then let us know! cheers

[amanito]

Keep us posted on your progress. I'd love to hear more.

[Stillman]

I have alot of guinea pigs and a few small children so sadly am not aloud to eat them. There are certain breeds which are much larger within the cavy hobby. Long haired breeds like shelties often produce boars up to and over 2 kilo. If you take a long hair boar the biggest you can find and breed it with the largest short haired sow and then breed consequent sow off spring back with the same boar you will see an increase in size of the off spring. the boars are always going to be bigger. But I would think you wouldn't want to eat them after say 3 months as they have a scent gland on there rump and as they come into breeding age like other game I asume the boar meat may be "flavoured" from testosterone. Also if I was going to breed and grow for eating I would have them on a strict grain and chaff diet very little greens, probably capsicum and tomatoe 3 times a week. The most economical way to feed them is to buy a 20 kilo 3 in one horse chaff and a 20 kilo bag of economy horse grain mix. mix it your self and it is a very nutritious food for them. All the grain and chaff would help to bulk them up. My other advice would be to keep female and male separate until breeding time. And follow a breeding program. Perhaps two bloodlines with only 2 Boars and a haram of sows.

But to be perfectly honest the turn around for meat production would be quite slow, your looking at a 70 day gestation for one and then they wouldn't be up to eating size until around 6 months. In that time they would have eaten approximately 100 dollars plus in food Would be good as an experiment but I don't see it as a particularly cheap source of meat, unless you have say 40 sows and then obviously the food bill will be greater but I guess there could be a niche market there too.

The most sustainable and fastest turn around meat product in the world is Japanese quail farming.

They take remarkably small area to keep them in are mature and reeady for slaughter in 6 weeks and have a very lucrative by product there eggs which sell for roughly 3 or 4 dollars a dozen. All you need is an incubator for say 250 dollars and a good breeding program and you have a very high quality gourmet meat product. I've been breeding and eating them for years and honestly there would be more meat on a jap quail then a guinea pig and having had to kill both. Quails are alot easier to knock on the head.

[amanito]

I don't think these animals get a special diet in L-America, they eat grass: which is free. Might be worth the try to see how they taste on that diet.

[Stillman]

The ones they eat are often farmed but house hold feed them kitchen scraps etc I'm looking at it from a feedlot meat raising purpose. ie the shortest period from a to be is specific dietary requirements. You could definitely free range them on lots of grass but this would require a large space as they eat a lot and there diet would still have to be added too if you wanted healthy "pigs"

[OpticalLight]

Although I don't condone the eating of guinea pigs in Australia, specifically, because I think it is un necessary; people are gonna to do what they gonna do.

So, remember to tell your friend to house and feed their guinea pigs ethically if they do decide to go through with this.

Diet

1. One cup a day of vegetables/ per pig, with at least one vegetable being something that is high is vitamin c - guinea pigs, like humans; cannot make vitmin c. Capsicum is particularly high in vitamin c.
   
2. Hay, unlimited amounts; this is necessary to keep their back teeth filed and ground down. Lucerne hay should be avoided as this is too high in calcium, and can lead to bowel problems in guinea pigs in the long run.
   
3. A good guinea pig mix, or pellet mix. Guinea pig mixes bought in chain store supermarkets are crap. Pet barn has a good mix apparently. The Oxbrow company make the best food you can buy for the guinea pigs, but it is expensive. Up to them - guess if they're going to be consuming them they might want them to be nutritionally sound.
   
4. Fresh water
   

 

They need a big fucking cage for their well being - I can't stress this enough. They need to at least be kept in pairs, they are very social creatures.

Clean bedding needs to be provided that is relatively soft for them to walk on, and changed regularly.

If guinea pigs are fed and housed correctly, the pigs will "pop-corn". Pop-corning is when a guinea pig does a little jump into the air with a little spasm occurring at the same time. It's not having a fit, it's expressing that it is happy and in high spirits.

Here's a link regarding what type of cages are adequate to house a guinea pig happily and healthily.

http://www.australia...carehousing.htm

editted - cas it's your friend wanting to do this, not you

Edited February 14, 2012 by OpticalChatpie

[Psylo]

I catch indian mynahs in a trap that sits atop my carport and eat those pesky invaders.

The RSPCA sanctions the removal of these birds but I dont agree with gassing them. So onto the hotplate they go.

[chnt]

as an animal lover, guinea pigs bore the shit out of me.

i'd eat one...

[sapito]

What is unnecessary about eating guinea pigs compared to any other meat or vegetable?

I thought a small, non-hardhooved animals, low food requirements would be great in an australian context?

Ive seen guinea pigs in a small cage with just grass and vege scraps for food. No hay or pellets and they did that 'popping' thing every day so im not sure how necessary all those things are for a happy pig. There was also one that raped the others a lot, kinda weird

[OpticalLight]

What is unnecessary about eating guinea pigs compared to any other meat or vegetable?

I thought a small, non-hardhooved animals, low food requirements would be great in an australian context?

Ive seen guinea pigs in a small cage with just grass and vege scraps for food. No hay or pellets and they did that 'popping' thing every day so im not sure how necessary all those things are for a happy pig. There was also one that raped the others a lot, kinda weird

 

You have a different opinion to me. I guess what I see unnecessary is that they're classed as a pet in Australia. Then again so are some rabbits, chickens and ducks.

Maybe those guinea pigs were just happy to have been getting food.

Anyway, I was just trying to relay some info from which one of the guinea pig societies defines as being the best possible way to keep pet guinea pigs.