Growing Guinea Pigs for Meat

[reshroomED]

i admit ive only eaten wild rabbit too

if the GPS get a good varied diet and lost of fresh grass as opposed to pellets shouldnt they tatse better?

chicken certainly does

The domestic rabbits I've eaten were all fed vege scraps etc (what I'd think to be a good diet for rabbits, but far from their natural fare), so different to pellets I'd imagine, whereas free-range chooks pick at all sorts of stuff (bugs etc) plus a lot of roughage. Maybe that was the difference.

Also these were NZ rabbits (the big buggers).

My niece's hubby bred them for a few years. They breed well, but free-ranging would be a problem as they'd dig wombat-sized holes if they were anything like our local bunnies re burrowing.

ed

[Prophet]

the problem with guinea pigs compared with rabbits is they are slow to reproduce (and don't produce many offspring) and you don't get all that much meat on them. Rabbits breed more frequently with larger litters and have alot more meat on them. I'm not a big fan of roo meat or crocodile myself.

[teonanacatl]

I like roo. I liked the idea of the guinea pigs as part of a diet, have some birds around aswell as some fish.

[ThunderIdeal]

i just thought i'd mention that, while animals have their place in sustainable land use...

nothing beats vegetarianism for sustainability. aquaculture is also very, very good.

*poke*

why not give red meat the flick altogether? even if you are just going to eat little rat things.

[ThunderIdeal]

re: rabbits

you aren't allowed to have them in some states.

[ThunderIdeal]

re: chooks

chooks actually need to learn what to eat. pellet fed chooks put to forage will not eat many things, whereas organic ones will know they can eat all sorts of things. generally i think they are fed too much grain, when most of their diet should be greens.

[teonanacatl]

hahaha well i like my meat, gives me lots of nutrients and tastes great, id rather just catch my own or grow my own meat.

[XipeTotec]

i saw a show where a black american family stayed in some peruvian highlands i think, where it was hard to breathe the thin air. the highlight was when the subtitles said very plainly "they chew coca leaves, for health".

anyway their main foodsource was guinea pigs and they ate the innards and everything. when the american mother cooked them some chicken they rated it like 5 out of 10 and said that guinea pig is much better.

i saw that, they also had the family wash their hair in the matriarch's piss

[teonanacatl]

luckey i got dreads then

[teonanacatl]

thunder i reckon adding meat is no harder to do sustainably then not adding it, i mean most permaculture gardens use chooks or other animals, one chook everyso often would keep numbers in control and also provides loads of stuff. Not saying a vege diet isnt loaded with nutes but i think I could half my vege/fruit requirement having some meat each day. I think the key would be variety. Were the supermarket system and everything to fail in oz then i would have more food to choose from then you and it would become a need to eat to survive, would that change your food preference?

I gather a few people here are vegetarians, if you are one because you dont like the taste of meat then thats your choice but if you are one because of animal rights reasons whats wrong with growing or hunting somthing yourself for food, I have no problem with that and would rather it over buying meat from supermarket. Lets keep the posts nice and subjective.

Anyway eating a plant is the same as eating an animal.

[Ace]

I reckon I'd have a gnaw on one of the guinea pigs if it were served up nice enough :D I think they actually look somewhat tantalising - at least the one posted earlier in this thread did

Well, I guess I havent eaten since last nite, so I am pretty hungry atm, even my co-workers are looking pretty edible atm haha

[ThunderIdeal]

teo, you might have taken my post the wrong way. it was merely a suggestion and opinion not any form of persuasion. if it came down to survival then i would eat meat, but that is the ONLY scenario. don't forget that vegetarians drink milk, so we don't survive off plants completely like vegans (whom i admire).

anyway, just to clarify my point, if we both had a permaculture system on the same amount of land, same quality of land, then the simple fact is that you would NOT have as much food to choose from as me. i would have fewer animals, so more of your land goes to animal forage. more of my land goes to plants. plants are more productive than animals, per area of land. they can even produce far greater amounts of protein if you use the right plants. the same is true of dairy when compared to meat.

the only way your production would come close to mine is with aquaculture. it may even exceed it, i'm not sure.

i agree with you that it is far better to produce your own meat or buy organic than to get it from a supermarket.

there are many reasons i support vegetarianism, but the greatest reason is this planet. look, large-scale farming is bad. it's one of the biggest disasters in human history, and that includes plant crops. however, meat production takes a larger toll on the environment, especially in australia where hoof-prints do not belong.

most people eat red meat and i don't aim to change that. my opinion is that maybe they eat too much, maybe they eat far too much. it's a culture thing, and a lifestyle thing. my opinion is that it's not a smart thing, a healthy thing, or an eco-friendly thing (except where the meat is organic).

i welcome further discussion but please don't take my comments as a challenge or aggression. believe me, i have enough people attacking my way of life when they don't know shit about shit.. i know better than to do the same and at least i know the (few) shortcomings of my choice.

[devance]

The GP run in line/row when raised which would very hard for a female to accept on slaughtering as very little is gotten for meat but the tiny little bones would forever be in memory when eating a pasta sauce.

Rabbit not such a problem but I wonder.

[Jesus On Peyote]

It has been proven that the only sustainable meat in australia in the terms of what our land can cope with is Kangaroo and Crocodile the later being harder to farm.

Kangaroo taste awesome I think but imagine the fences you would need on your farm!

Thats a good point and can be a whole new thread on its own,Australias natural land i dont think is able to support the population and needs it has today.

I think thats decent reasoning of why when the euros came here the abboriginols where less "advance" for lack of a better word in their agriculture and housing,(citys and the like) coz the land couldent support it then and now its only being supported by the global world.

[Jesus On Peyote]

And i think everyone needs some meat in their diet.

[Freaky Chicken]

Hey,

I have farmed rabbits in a suburban environment with a lot of success.

This was done in Canberra using dwarf lop eared rabbits.

They are really good eating and with a 8 week turn around we managed to eat rabbit fairly regularly.

I think that producing a small amount of food in your back yard is a great idea and rabbits are a great food source for people who don't have a lot of area to work with.

As for guinea pigs I'm sure they will work just as good.

Give it a go people its a lot of fun and you can tan the hides to make all sorts of fur stuff.

[Prophet]

I personally think more types of animals should be farmed or reared for food just to add some more variety. eg different species of deer, Buffalo and other types of wild animals like Antelope. Good way to conserve a species as well if it is being farmed and bred in captivity. I think it would be a good idea to introduce more game animals to australia as well. lol

I gather a few people here are vegetarians, if you are one because you dont like the taste of meat then thats your choice but if you are one because of animal rights reasons whats wrong with growing or hunting somthing yourself for food, I have no problem with that and would rather it over buying meat from supermarket.

some people aren't so open minded teo and tend to get polarised like many animal rights activists who believe we should not eat any animals or not eat meat etc.

[Anodyne]

And i think everyone needs some meat in their diet.

Any particular reason, JoP?

one chook everyso often would keep numbers in control and also provides loads of stuff.

True enough, but eating their eggs will also keep numbers in control & should be just as good for nutrients - there's everything in a egg that you need to make a chook, after all - plus you can get hundreds of eggs from a chook, which is a lot more food than the chicken-meat.

Were the supermarket system and everything to fail in oz then i would have more food to choose from then you and it would become a need to eat to survive, would that change your food preference?

I gather a few people here are vegetarians, if you are one because you dont like the taste of meat then thats your choice but if you are one because of animal rights reasons whats wrong with growing or hunting somthing yourself for food

Absolutely nothing, teo! I'm vegetarian for similar reasons to Thunder, I think - mainly land-use issues (although after 12 years aesthetics have become an issue too). I have no problem with eating meat per se, it's just that I think as an industry it is destructive & wasteful. I totally support eating wild rabbits & roos, keeping free-range chooks on your property to keep the bugs down, and similar. If I was in a situation where being vego was impractical for survival, of course I would eat meat. But at the moment, I live in the middle of Sydney, where I can find pretty much any food I want.

Edited April 29, 2007 by Anodyne

[Jesus On Peyote]

And i think everyone needs some meat in their diet.

Any particular reason, JoP?

Nutrition? man cannot live on bread alone.

im not a nutritionist but im pretty sure some form of meat is needed for survival.

Iv read things about hardcore vegans who had their health damaged ( prolly no more worse then a veg less diet) because of lack of nutrients from the meat, and even after they still refused to eat meat, they where forced onto vitamin pills that gave them what nutes they where missing.

[Jesus On Peyote]

True enough, but eating their eggs will also keep numbers in control & should be just as good for nutrients - there's everything in a egg that you need to make a chook, after all - plus you can get hundreds of eggs from a chook, which is a lot more food than the chicken-meat.

Ild draw a parallel to Mj on that one, ( though i agree and love my eggs)

A seed of mary wont have the same goods as a flowered one. ( not sure if thats a valid parallel, plants and animals)

A chick farm would be best, you can farm the eggs and the occasional chicken.

I do not support hunting or eating roos, as they are after all an australian native, only found here. ( and maybe here and there around the shore lines of oz, eg i think pupua has its own species of roo, or a semi roo)

why not give red meat the flick altogether? even if you are just going to eat little rat things.

I find that statement worrisome,why flick red meat but not those little rat things as you call em. Life is life,doesent matter if you kill a sheep,pig or a little rat thing.

Edited April 29, 2007 by Jesus On Peyote

[Anodyne]

Nutrition? man cannot live on bread alone.

No shit, but I do occasionally eat things other than bread.

My diet is high in legumes, dairy, eggs, grains, nuts, & leafy greens, which all have high iron &/or protein levels. I cook most of my food from scratch, so I know what's in it. Occasionally, if I've been sick or extremely lazy & know my nutrient intake isn't high enough, I'll take a supplement. I must be doing something right, because I've managed to survive 12 years without any sort of meat. I get a blood test once or twice a year, and my iron levels have never been low, even though I'm normally getting tested when I'm sick.

Iv read things about hardcore vegans who had their health damaged ( prolly no more worse then a veg less diet) because of lack of nutrients from the meat, and even after they still refused to eat meat, they where forced onto vitamin pills that gave them what nutes they where missing.

From my understanding of nutrition, I think it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to get all of your nutrients from a vegan diet - which is why I'm not vegan. I think B12 was a major lack. But IME, at least many vegos are actually aware of the risks of malnutrition and make an effort to eat healthily - whereas meat-eaters can sometimes just assume that everything necessary for their health is in their sausage sandwich. I don't think it's whether you eat meat or not that determines whether you're malnourished, it's whether you're lazy or not.

A seed of mary wont have the same goods as a flowered one.

No, but plants start absorbing nutrients as soon as the seeds germinate - a chick is developed inside the egg with no nutrient input after the egg is formed. But I could be wrong too.

[Jesus On Peyote]

Yea i agree, lol i was just saying that people need some meat at least.

the supplements you took,where taken from meat bearing foods so its kinda needed,like meat is more natural then suppliments. Im not saying its a better food then land grown food, but its still part of the whole picture.

Humans have been eating meat since weve been humans, so its kinda pointless to stop completely, but its a personal decision so thats cool.

No, but plants start absorbing nutrients as soon as the seeds germinate - a chick is developed inside the egg with no nutrient input after the egg is formed. But I could be wrong too.

No idea on that answer too, but i was meaning it as, if you eat the egg, youll get varied and different nutes and vitimins then if that egg was grown to its chicken state.

Edited April 30, 2007 by Jesus On Peyote

[ThunderIdeal]

And i think everyone needs some meat in their diet.

good luck proving that one, that statement is baseless.

I personally think more types of animals should be farmed or reared for food just to add some more variety. eg different species of deer, Buffalo and other types of wild animals like Antelope. Good way to conserve a species as well if it is being farmed and bred in captivity. I think it would be a good idea to introduce more game animals to australia as well. lol

we should also be farming rare VARIETIES of pigs, chickens etc. it's the same story as varieties of corn etc that man created so long ago...... these days farmers grow what earns them the most money, that goes for plants and animals. so what happens to the less-successful varieties, which might have extremely useful traits, such as growing in a drought. for all you small-scale producers, it will be well worth considering some rare varieties, which could be going extinct as we speak after thousands of years of human use.

i saw this story in class, this russian guy who started documenting the origins of food varieties... his group started saving seeds of rice, wheat etc etc, and they hid them when the war brought great famine on russia. all of them starved, probably along with their families, while their seedbanks were untouched. i can't imagine a stronger dedication to a cause.

im not a nutritionist but im pretty sure some form of meat is needed for survival.

nope. b12 is an issue for vegans. i have read that plant b12 can't be properly used by the body. i don't know if that's true, but i drink milk which contains animal b12. i drink lots of milk. the thought of eating meat or egg became vile to my taste buds years ago, and i've only been at this for 4 years 2 months.

I do not support hunting or eating roos, as they are after all an australian native, only found here.

that's a strange statement. we have many roo species and some are endangered, not due to hunting though. we'd have to be total assholes to send any roos extinct. they are suited to survival in australia. unlike the cows you are happy to eat, they aren't destroying the land.

But IME, at least many vegos are actually aware of the risks of malnutrition and make an effort to eat healthily - whereas meat-eaters can sometimes just assume that everything necessary for their health is in their sausage sandwich.

you said it. the funny thing is how untrue it is - if you don't eat a lot of plant food, you're actually in deep trouble.

Yea i agree, lol i was just saying that people need some meat at least.

i'm not trying to be a jerk here but people don't need to eat any form of animal, including eggs and insects. b12 is the only issue to a non-observant vegan. if you do your research (and you may encounter some kind of meat industry propaganda) you'll see that fish is the only justifiable meat diet for your health because of the omega 3 in oily fish, but in obtaining that you are risking some bio-accumulative poisoining. eskimos are said to be healthy. red meat is pretty much strictly negative, unless you are not taking care of your needs. i don't wanna get myself into a huge discussion but even though we've been omnivorous for many thousands of years, like pretty much any omnivore our body is designed to process plant food. animal products are like a bonus that can help us to survive, and they are credited with helping our brains to develop too. that does not contend the fact that, purely in terms of health and longevity, our body is meant for processing plants. the internal organs speak for themselves jop. think about what happens to meat in a warm environment after 12 hours. since rotting is the only thing that will probably come to mind i'll give you a hint: poisonous substances are released. that doesn't include any poisons added posthumously or during cattle rearing. simple rotting of meat creates toxic byproducts. this counts for me too since i eat dairy. animals designed to survive off of this food have a different digestive arrangement - much stronger stomach acids, much shorter small intestines. our digestive system is actually on the extremely herbivorous end of the spectrum. after that comes the cow, with perhaps the most sophisticated digestive system on the planet.

let me breifly discuss the virtues of spirulina, a supplement that i eat. it is plant plankton. it is the most concentrated form of protein on the planet, 80%, and also contains *almost* every fat, vitamin and mineral necessary for humans. if you eat bread and spirulina, then all you've really gotta do is focus on drinking water and breathing air.

once again, i'm not trying to persuade or challenge anybody, i'm just telling it how it is, because i'm sick of the ignorance surrounding this issue. people LIKE meat, that is why they eat it. there is no need, it is not a survival issue in this country and look at hindu india, they are poor like you wouldn't believe and they're alive and reproducing nicely, without eggs or meat. you will save money and be healthier if you drastically reduce your intake, and you will help the environment too. that's the truth and i honestly want to see any documents you find to the contrary.

edit: they also say that plant omega 3 cannot be used properly, hence the justification of fish-eating.

Edited April 30, 2007 by ThunderIdeal

[shruman]

"if you eat bread and spirulina, then all you've really gotta do is focus on drinking water and breathing air."

U wouldnt want a sense of taste for this diet

[teonanacatl]

Just to be clear i didnt feel attacked, just was sure a debate about such things would occur and wanted to make clear i wouldnt participate if people were taking a im better then you cos im vege or carni what ever.

People can survive perfectly well on fruit and vege diet and i got no probs with that, but could see a greater variety of plants required to deliver all this then if one was growing meat and plants aswell. The whole your not ment to eat meat cos it rots in your belly is silly, rotting the meat allows for more of the nutrients to be released, occurs in all carnivores i know of.

Anyway I cannot see either omnivory or vegetarian being better or worse, straight carnivory or veganism might be worse i dont know. But yeah the body is an adaptable thing and I dont think it would matter which way you went. That said i oftern hear of people saying, ive been vegetarian for x long and then i had a piece of meat and got so sick and blah blah blah, its just what your body is used to as it is adaptable. Same goes if eating alot more fruit then usual or going off carbs then back on.

My system of self sustainability would include a vege garden, fruit crops, as well as things like chickens and other larger animals for their milk or eggs aswell as their manure etc, and would also include fish and some other faster growing animals. Fruit and veg all the time along with some form of meat. As far as im concerned the more variety the better.

Edited April 30, 2007 by teonanacatl