wheat grass?

unicornvr

Post   » Fri Mar 24, 2006 9:01 am


Anyone know anything on the nutritional content of wheat grass? We get wheat grass flats (1'x2' with 2-3" grass shoots) for our pigs and they adore them and munch all day. I was wondering if anyone knows the calcium content and whatnot of the grass. Also, how often/much can they eat?

Cavies-and-Kids

Post   » Fri Mar 24, 2006 9:22 am


https://www.guinealynx.info/hay_chart.html

Wheat is on the hay chart here, I am just not sure what kind it is that you have, by type the Ca: P ratio seems to fluctuate between 0.7 : 1 to 1.9 : 1.

zookeeper
Even Booze Hags Give

Post   » Fri Mar 24, 2006 9:54 am


C-and-K, wheatgrass is not the same as wheat. It is a species of pasture grass.

I'm not sure of the Ca content, but I do believe it's fine for piggies.

EllieMom

Post   » Fri Mar 24, 2006 10:42 am


I decided to research this a little since my girls love wheatgrass so much (and business has been really slow lately so I have a lot of time on my hands). I found out that it's hard to get real definitive information on the nutritional content of fresh wheatgrass although there's a plethora of info on tablets and juice.

After combing through a bunch of healthfood sites, these are some of the things I found:

Most of the wheatgrass we see is from red wheatberry seeds, which is very close to barley in terms of nutritional content.

It looks like the Ca:P ratio should be pretty good (1.07:1). It's high in Vitamin C and fairly high in protein (approx. 30%), which are some of the things I look for. It's also quite high in Vitamin K and is one of the more alkaline grasses.

Two watch-outs are 1) it's high in iron so it shouldn't be fed everyday and 2) if you're growing it yourself or using flats, be careful about mold.

I started to get excited when I saw an article about guinea pig health and wheatgrass, until I noticed the date of publication—1938.

Cavies-and-Kids

Post   » Fri Mar 24, 2006 10:58 am


C-and-K, wheatgrass is not the same as wheat. It is a species of pasture grass.

Ooops, my bad! :-)

I started to get excited when I saw an article about guinea pig health and wheatgrass, until I noticed the date of publication—1938.

That is hilarious!

User avatar
lisam

Post   » Fri Mar 24, 2006 12:01 pm


Are you sure wheatgrass isn't wheat? I've read that to grow wheatgrass you plant wheat grains. So that would be wheat. And the wheatgrass I buy at the health food store has been started from wheat seeds as well.

unicornvr

Post   » Fri Mar 24, 2006 12:36 pm


Just a note on mold - I get the flats from a health food store. They trim what they need for juicing and dispose of the rest. The flats only last a day or two before we notice mold. People should be very careful and attentive about this!

cutemomomi
Obey My Authority

Post   » Fri Mar 24, 2006 4:42 pm


My piggies adore wheatgrass, but they only gets them once a week - partly because I only 2 trays, and partly because our McMac tends to have "wetter" poops when he gets too much wheatgrass.

Image

We buy seeds at the farmers market, comes $1/pound, and we can get 4 trays out of 1 pound of seeds.
We keep them outside too, we find that it was a mold magnet when we kept them inside last summer. We also find they tend to grow faster outdoors, and have had not a mold incident since then.

User avatar
crystalight33

Post   » Sun Mar 26, 2006 1:30 am


Seeing this post prompted me to do some research on chia pets. The seeds they provide grow "salvia columbariae, a member of the watercress family" according to their website. I looked on the forages page and couldn't find anything about watercress. Chia also makes 'cat grass' which is a 'sweet oak and wheatgrass mix'. Again, I'm not sure if this is okay for my boys. I was thinking it would look cute to have my piggies eating sprouts off a chia pet, but I'm not sure if watercress is piggie friendly. Also, as popular as chia pets are, I'm thinking they must be idiot-proof, which would help me and my not-so-green-thumb.

I guess I'm asking if chia's watercress would be edible or if I should just try to grow some wheatgrass instead?

User avatar
newwave_polly

Post   » Sun Mar 26, 2006 2:16 am


Watercress is edible, but my pigs don't think so. They've tried it, and the verdict is they don't like it.

If you wanted to go with the chia pet, you wouldn't have to use their seeds. Other seeds would work too.

It's pretty easy to have a potted herb garden too. I've only got a patio garden in pots, but through the growing season, we've got lots of goodies for the pigs to eat.

jgaff78

Post   » Sun Mar 26, 2006 9:27 am


I think the idea of the chia pet is cute too, but I don't think the sprouts off of it are anchored extremely well are they? Just seems like one feeding would destroy the whole thing. Of course, that might just be because I'm thinking of how my girls suck up grasses like spaghetti. Your pigs might be a little more polite than my girls. ;-)

EllieMom

Post   » Sun Mar 26, 2006 11:26 am


I think the chia pet idea is a adorable!!!!

Post Reply