[loggerbud]

My pigs to eat a lot of there bedding which is baled straw. Is this a bad thing and will this lead to any problems. For example constipation

 

[Muleman]

Hay and straw are fiber, fiber causes quite the opposite of constipation. To answer your question, no it will not hurt them to eat the straw or hay bedding, unless it is bad moldy or similar issue which would apply to any food.

 

[loggerbud]

Ok thanks I lost one earlier this week this week and when I gutted it to see what was in it all I could find was hard poop in its intestine and to be sure the bedding wasn't it. Any idea what does cause constipation

 

[highlands]

Eating the bedding is just fine. Straw won't have as much nutritional value as various hays but it is fiber and it does break down in the bedding pack so that it becomes digestible. Think of pigs out in the wild, a lot of what they eat is rotting wood, forest floor material, etc as well as grasses and other fodders. Instead of straw we use a layer of wood chips and then top it with hay because the hay is more digestible and nutritious than straw. Hay is also cheaper and easier to come by where we are than straw - this varies regionally.

Make sure they get plenty of fluids - freely available water.

-Walter