Easy to grow, low impact meat - cuy, AKA Peruvian Guinea Pigs
Posted by javacat@reddit | preppers | View on Reddit | 7 comments
We think of guinea pigs as pets, but in some areas of Latin America, they're considered a delicacy. They're high in protein and low in fat.
If you're concerned about fresh meat should the SHTF, consider raising guinea pigs. I ate it when in Peru and it was tasty...thought it tasted more like chicken than rabbit. Mine had been roasted and then marinated in a stew which likely helped it from tasting dried out.
Here's some links for more info.
Various opinions on what guinea pigs taste like.
To help start a home guinea pig farm, Heifer International typically supplies a family with one male and seven females. In just months, such a collection may have doubled in size. Woods says a guinea pig herd consisting of two males and 20 females can sustain itself while providing meat for a family of six.
Cuy has a similar taste to a rabbit or wildfowl. It is typically served whole, either fried, roasted or grilled, with rice, potatoes, corn and hot sauce on the side. A flattened fried cuy is called "cuy chactado," and most visitors who sample cuy seem to prefer the fried version. But if eating guinea pig is definitely not your thing, there are many other traditional Andean foods and dishes to try, such as chupe de maní (peanut and potato soup), humitas (fresh corn tamales), quinoa and kiwicha (an edible flowering plant) and of course a huge variety of potatoes.
manfredwarmuth57@reddit
Interesting book which you can download here:
https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/1831/microlivestock-little-known-small-animals-with-a-promising-economic-future
Microlivestock: Little-Known Small Animals with a Promising Economic Future (1991)
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 1991. Microlivestock: Little-Known Small Animals with a Promising Economic Future. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/1831.
manfredwarmuth57@reddit
Does anybody know where to get the large Cuy that were originally bred for meat at the La Molina National Agrarian University in Peru (adults way up to 2 kg). They established a breeding program in 1972 with the goal of producing large varieties for meat production. All the large Cuy seem to be going back to that breeding effort
The large Cuy have spread all over South America. They are probably in Mexico as well. You can find them in Germany
But does anybody know of a US source
manfredwarmuth57@reddit
The main problem w. rabbits is that they
borrow
have lots of sicknesses
For example, you can easily loose your entire flock to mixemitosis
(moskitos spread this virus - vaccinations are very expensive)
May be Cuy can get another set of sicknesses,
but I hope not
conorathrowaway@reddit
As someone who watched their sister keep these as pets I just want to say that they need a lot of fresh food. They need a substantial amount of vit c to stay alive so unless you’re able to get/grow carrots and fresh lettuce these are going to be pretty hard to keep as food.
javacat@reddit (OP)
They've been raising them in Peru for thousands of years as food...and here's a forum talking about raising guinea pigs as meat.
When I was in Peru I didn't initially realize all the guinea pigs I saw at the various markets were meant to be meat...I just thought they were a popular pet!
I knew several people who fed their guinea pigs whatever food scraps they had including fish skin left over from making ceviche. Put a fence up in the backyard, a place of them to shelter and don't mow the lawn. Guinea pigs get all the moisture they need from the grass and weeds they eat, and grass will provide them with the Vitamin C they need.
ebaymasochist@reddit
No, they won't and no it will not. They will need supplimental vitamin C and do not always cooperate with this. Just because you put in oranges or peppers does not mean they will consume it equally. Grown pigs will bully the smaller ones out of food, so plan on having a shitload of containers to separate them and prevent inbreeding as well. We are not able to have the larger guinea pigs in the US because they are considered an invasive species if they escaped. The pet varieties in the US are too small to raise for meat. There's only a few ounces on each one. This is just what I learned after making the god awful mistake of trying to raise them
Intotheaby@reddit
At what age is butcher day? They seem to be slow to grow...