Yes, I'm serious. I heard they are easy to keep, reproduce quickly, are quieter than chickens, don't stink, taste like rabbit, and live off garden scaps. Although it may seem a little weird in the midwest, if it's practical, I"m going to try it someday. Does anyone raise these for food, or has anyone ever eaten them?
Guinea Pigs as livestock
I know people who lived in Peru and ate them. Skewered on a stick. Said they tasted very good. Yum!
Actually I've heard that they are in increasing demand in Lantino ethnic markets. There was a report last year on Public Radio about it. Find your market and I think you can sell them pretty easily.
Hamsters have more white meat.
I can only imagine the noise of a hundred of the little buggers. My two sound like a siren every thime they hear the fridge door open.
Of course I doubt you'd ever have them attack you like a rooster.
Seriously though, I'm having trouble seeing the advantage over rabbit. If they taste like rabbit, why not raise rabbit? I found them amazingly easy once we got going and it only takes one for a meal.
Hi jylgaskin. I don't know that there is any advantage---on NPR they said that it was something that people from some South American countries had grown up eating and they missed it. A little taste of home, I guess. Someone, somewhere, I think the Midwest, was raising them, processing them, freezing them and sending them out all over the country to specialty markets. There was suppose to be a growing demand.
Yuck! I've never heard of eating those!
MollyD
I know they are popular in South America. My husband ate it from a street vendor, but gosh, it seems like a lot of work for something you can serve on a cracker. (he said it wasn't something he'd cross the street for.)
They are great little animals though, we have almost always had a couple and in the summer they live off of grass outside. We have a portable dog kennel that we move around the yard.
Never once thought of them as food for people....do know they are in short supply from vendors selling frozen snake food. I think you are looking at the wrong market to sell your ambitions to. ....can't believe I had an opinion on this one. LOL
When I first read this I was shocked. I love these little guys and actually raised them for several years. I had never really stopped to think of them as food, but now that I do I guess it makes sense. People from South America and Asia eat them just as we do rabbit. They have been taught that G pigs are a food source. Now, that those populations are growing in our country, so is the need for the source of their food. That is why they choose the G pigs over rabbit, the way we would naturally choose the rabbit first. As the demand gets higher they start buying them throgh our pet trade, and in return they would become a lot more popular amonng pet breeders. Just like goats. There was little to no industry for goat meat in our country thirty years ago. Now that we have more hispanic communities the goat market has went crazy in some parts of the country. It doesn't seem that strange that they eat goats. There is no way I could ever eat either one, I was never taught to think of a goats and G. pigs as food. To each his own.
:( Sorry for the typos, in a hurry to get my quail out of the storm.
I don't mean to sound like I know it all, that is just my opinion. It just makes sense to me so I thought I would share my ideas.
No, talley_wacker--you said it perfectly! I've also heard that the kid market has boomed for the same reason you gave. On my way to work there is a big tractor trailer on the side of the highway with "Se Vende Chivos" painted in hand lettering and a phone number below it. Most people driving by have no idea what it means. I don't think I could eat a guinea pig or goat either--but then I don't have to:0)
Catscan you do have to realize that it's not all hispanic people who eat goats and guinea pigs. The signs you are reading are by Mexicans for Mexicans. All who speak Spanish don't come from the same culture.
The people I know who eat goats are all mainstream Americans :-) Not members of what is usually referred to as ethnic groups!
MollyD
Another "ethnic" group that eats goat meat is your Middle East people. Since they have been eating goat meat for centuries, it stands to reason that when they emigrated to this country, they would bring their eating habits with them. And, of course, the Greek people also eat goat meat on a regular basis. That is what the original gyros are made of.
GG
GG is right on both counts! I've had gyros made from goat myself. I've also had goat at Pakistani restaurants. Very tasty!
MollyD
I just want to make it record that I was not implying that only hispanics eat goat. I was simply using them as an example. It is just like India and cows. Can you imagine how they look at us for eating them? We all have our own customs.
Oh, I know Molly! My neighborhood is about 25% Pakistani/75% Hispanic so we are pretty diverse. Actually, I live a block from a mosque. It is just funny that the sign is on the highway and none of my Anglo friends know what it is for. In fact DH loves goat and his ancestors came over on the Mayflower...but when I was reading up on fiber goats the literature kept saying there was an increasing market for unwanted male kids because of the influx of immigrants from countries that are use to eating it. Similar to the way Americans started eating broccolli after WW2 when the GIs who had been eating it in Europe came back with a taste for it. I think it is great when we diversify! But I still don't want to eat a guinea pig....all the ones I've known were named Squeaky, Foxglove, Diana.....:0)
No guinea pig for me! I still see them as only pets ^_^ Now if I were starving I might forget that! I didn't know that about broccoli !
MollyD
We also didn't have dandelions until they were brought here by Europeans that knew them as greens in their native countries. Now, if we want FREE greens, all we have to do is dig them up before they bloom and clean and eat them. Yum!!
Like Catscan says, diversity is good.
GG
I had no idea that is where we got the taste of broccoli either. I guess dandelions are like polk salad when it comes to naturally growing greens. I found this website while looking in to raising G pigs for market, http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?t=24789. Check it out.
Talley, do you mean poke salat? If you do, dandelion greens are easier to fix. You don't have to boil them three times to get the poison out of the leaves.
GG
^_^
Is it salat? I thought it was salad. I don't eat either one just thought it was neat how people do.
I thought it was poke salad like that 60's tune Poke Salad Annie.
MollyD
"salat" is German for "salad". It may also be an older English form of salad. It is also the word for a type of prayer in Islam. Funny what you learn when you Google:0)
We have tons of Pokeweed growing here. I know it is traditionally eaten in the early spring, but like Granny said it can be very toxic unless you know what your doing. Also carcinogenic. My yard is full of it and I considered trying it but chickened out-- birds love the berries.
And that's why your yard is full of it. The birds love the berries and poo the seeds back out. We have some of it around here, but since I am not sure about it, I won't eat it.
GG
We have it every where in SE Oklahoma. Everyone eats it like tomatoes, even raise it. It's like fried chicken, you're raised knowing how to cook it. If you eat it, which I don't do any greens.
I wouldn't know...I wasn't raised eating fried chicken. Nor was I raised eating greens. Started doing that after I got grown.
GG
I thought everyone was raised on fried chicken. Wow, you learn a little each day.
Just a thought here - I've kept guinea pigs as pets for years and I know they are eaten also. BUT guinea pigs are actually quite sensitive to cold and draft. They are not as hardy as rabbits. I wonder if this would make them impractical to raise on a large scale in a northern region?
As for me and little 'Jennifer', we'll not be getting on
the guinnea pig bandwagon! LOL She was one of my
pets as a child. I've eaten rabbit, and gyro's (love it!)
and cabrito (goat). I've looked at dandilions with a
curious eye, but haven't gone there, yet. To me, most
things are just a step away from being tried, just have
to be in the right mood, and know whoever cooked it
knows what they're doing. All good things in time, and
if I never try it, it must not be too good. LOL
It really depends on how they are raised. I live in Oklahoma and have raised a majority, at times keeping 100 pigs, in an unheated building. It isn't so much the cold, just the drafts that will get them. If they are used to being kept in the house then it's not a good idea to move them out in the winter. Believe it or not, I have found more problems from high heat rather than low temps.
And damp--they really don't do well in cold and damp conditions.
I do know guinea pigs are really sensitive to cold, so wouldn't be as hardy as rabbits. A friend that grew up in mexico said they used to keep guinea pigs loose in the house because the killed and chased out rats, but he never said they ate them.
This message was edited May 13, 2008 1:50 PM
I've raised guinea pigs and I just can't see one of them being able to deal with something as tough as a rat! I can see the rat eating the GP but not the other way around.
MollyD
Well, I can't verify what he told me, but he said they called them cuyos (sp?) and said that's why they kept them.
I did find something under cuyo!
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/1953/cuyo32yg.jpg&imgrefurl=http://foros.directorio.com.mx/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/224605222/m/8131003751&h=375&w=500&sz=21&hl=en&start=1&um=1&tbnid=Ll5LTM39A8OqLM:&tbnh=98&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcuyo%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN
This message was edited May 13, 2008 3:23 PM
I found 3 translations at http://www.spanishdict.com/translate/guinea%20pigs an English to Spanish dictionary.
I think he was pulling your leg :-) Guinea pigs are cute cuddly little rodents.
MollyD
Maybe...but I have seen two males fight and they are mean!
LOL all males are mean within their own species!
MollyD
I had a female that hate cats. I had five runs fixed in the building I kept them in so theycould run lose. One day when I went to feed the cat caqme in with me and got a rude awakening by Betty Boop. I physically get her off the cat. After watching that I would say it may be possible for them to keep rats away, depending on how big the rats are. Like most moms, they will take on anything in the defense of their young.
Wikipedia has an interesting section on guinea pigs as food. Mentions that some universities in South America have been working to increase its consumption in other countries, including the US and Europe by breeding a larger animal and making widely available--Maybe worth looking into if you want to sell them as food?
Wow, rodents for food.... Haven't given that much thought before, although now that I think about it, my Dad did tell me that his mother, my Granny Murphy, made a "mouth watering" possum roast!
....I'm sure glad that was before I came along! :-[
Well.... If you're thinking about raising GPs for meat, why not also try raising Capybara? In Venezuela, the meat of the Capybara can get prices that are almost double that of beef - or so I've read. Capybaras look a lot like GPs, can get as long as 4 feet (the size of a large dog), and has more meat on their bones!! .....Rather than a cage, you'd need a fenced in yard though!! LOL Just for fun, here's an article on Capybaras as a food source.... http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/21/world/americas/21rodent.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
On a similar note, five years ago or so, the state of Louisiana encouraged eating Nutria as a way to thin out the population -- and for a while, famous Louisiana chefs were serving it up in the finest New Orleans restaurants. It (kind of) looks like a small version of capybaras....except with a long tail. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=893207
Euwww!! :-P
Glenda
Glenda, do you eat rabbit? That is also a rodent. But most people don't have any qualms about them.
GG