Pigs and spuds

[Poorbuthappy]

Have acquired a ton of waste spuds and have been feeding them to the pigs. A friend has told us that's a no no for pigs. A quick Google suggests there's toxins under the skin that are harmful in large quantities, but some say not a problem unless silly amounts. There's no green ones.

Anyone with experience care to comment.

 

[Suffolk Serf]

Best to cook the spuds if they are a large part of the pig diet.
I have successfully and safely fed them to dry sows as only a small part of the diet.

 

[TripleSix]

Ours have never come to any harm eating a good amount of potatoes

 

[traineefarmer]

We sell plenty of out of grade spuds to small holders with pigs - never had a problem come back. Not sure it's what you want on a commercial unit though.

 

[Gordy1]

A friend of ours fed his pigs on potatoes, mostly the skins, he used to boil them up in an old metal tub, never had any problems with them, this was a long time ago now so don't know if any regulations have changed since.

 

[Exfarmer]

Pigs are susceptible to glycoalkoloid poisons just as we are. Should not be given green potatoes

 

[Stewart Setter]

It seems that feeding potatoes to pigs is fine, as long as they are not green and have not come into contact with animal products. Research also suggests that cooked potato is more palatable and switches off the anti-nutritive factor in the raw potato that impairs the protein digestion.

Further reading on Page 41 http://www.britishpigs.org.uk/Newcastle_handbook_of_raw_materials.pdf