Why, raise Guinea Pigs Verses Rabbits?

Guinea Pigs verses Rabbits, -- just because I am "terminally" curious, [and know nothing about Guinea Pigs], I am wondering, what would be the benefits of raising Guinea Pigs, instead of Rabbits. Are they more feed efficient ?, or can they be raised successfully on feeds rabbits cannot use well. Maybe some of you who know these things can share.

I haven't had guinea pigs for decades but in my experience they were delicate little things prone to colds and skin infections. Ive done a few necropsies and there wasn't much meat on mine, mostly guts.

They live in a colony much more civilly than rabbits - we had 2 boars and 7 sows share a pen at one time. Ours didnt gnaw wood and we didn't need to worry about them digging or jumping out - our pen walls were only 18 inches high We couldn't over winter ours outside and since they didn't have a potty corner so you couldn't just spot clean but had to do the whole cage - very time consuming.

I think they would do better in a more arid area - Southern Ontario is damp and cold in the winter and hot and humid in the summer.

You can pen a bunch of guinea pigs in a fairly small area. It really just depends how much cleaning you want to do. They grow fast. They can eat pretty much anything. They do need fiber but you can throw all sorts of vegetation in there without the adjustment period of rabbits. In their native land where they are used as food in areas that can't raise large livestock the guinea pigs are fed on table scraps and what they find growing. Sometimes they are penned near the house and sometimes they are even left to run in and out of the kitchen. People put in little adobe huts in their kitchen for the guinea pigs and just throw the scraps at them and let them eat outside. Which is another thing. If you can keep them safe from predators they do not run away. Build them shelter and provide food and they will make it home base. Ours even knew that the chainlink fence was the barrier of the yard and staying inside it was safer. They would duck out when you were trying to catch them but ducked back in a few feet up the fenceline. You can free range guinea pigs except that everything in existence wants to eat them.

http://www.meat-food.com/allfile/techpa ... lidae,.pdf

Farm raised guinea pigs have a dressing percentage of 65%
and the meat contains approximately 21% protein and 8% fat
(there was no indication by Nuwanyakpa, Lukefahr, Gudahl,
and Ngoupayou (1997) whether this fat included subcutaneous
fat or not)

I didn't weigh the dressout percentage on my pet guinea pigs, show guinea pigs, and the one round of crosses of those 2 groups but the organs and bone versus meat didn't seem any worse than with rabbits. They do have more fat and more fat under the skin instead of in the abdomen. Skinning them is a little hard. Where they are raised for food they are scalded like a regular pig. I haven't found guinea pigs to be all that sensitive. Give them hay, make sure they have vit c, and the only weakness they have is they aren't the most temperature tolerant. If you give them a large pen with a variety of obstacles and maybe some differences in surface like grass versus dirt or sand they regulate their body temp better than in a cage.

Here is a link to a thread i did on another forum. Just my phone now since my laptop crashed and i lost more links i had on it. But heres the link and a whole lot of the links and info i had gathered. Then posts of when i had em. I want to get into em again but want to have a setup all ready before i start up again.

http://www.permies.com/t/19371/rabbits/ ... at-journal

Guinea pigs are easier then anything to raise to and care for. They do just fine for me outside 24/7 even in the winter. Pups don't survive pupping in the winter though and it's best to bring pregnant sows in from January to end February if breeding over the winter.

Normal litter size is 3, have raised that average in my herd to 4, often five. I've had as many as seven born and survive in a litter though the two runts took forever to grow to a sellable size. Often first time moms have a dead pup or three in a litter, bred back to back dead pups rarely occur (at least in my herd).

They hit the ground running and are SO easy to care for even if momma dies. Pups are sellable at three weeks and males need pulling out if you don't want them breeding momma (some mature sooner than that even). Some advocate learning pups in with momma longer but I've had pregnant sows so I always pull the boars as soon as they act remotely interested.. often at just over 2 weeks.

Mites can be a problem. But you can breed for resistance to them. (or at least aim to breed a pig that doesn't stress out as easily and therefore become as susceptible to them).
Never had breathing issues.

They tame easily enough if handled regularly.

Generally solid floors are recommended though I've run them on wide spaced wire floors without issues, regular 1/2 x 1 i would NOT recommend (broken leg bones).

VERY easy to colony raise. Gestation is so long you can breed back immediately at pupping without harmful effects on the sow. Having a boss sow makes the herd run smoother.. two boss sows well... not so easy.... though adding a dominant senior boar helps that out nicely.

Pet homes need educating on how to handle to prevent breaking their leg bones.

Pros to keeping em?
easy, can have fast weight gain, eat anything I toss their way, make good critter food, raptor rescue places will say WOOT WOOT if you donate some to them.. they apparently LOVE them for the larger birds, easy colony raising.. SO easy.

Cons to keeping 'em.
misery to skin, no money in them for pets (Unless have a good contract with pet store), they are noisy (unless you actively breed for quieter animals),

Like my pigs but have decided that four-five sows with one boar is enough though at the moment I have no senior boar.. I had people wanting them and hopes that pregnant sows will have a son (or two or three).

so-does anyone have an idea- why would someone want to breed them for food, versus other food animals? why would they be a better choice then Rabbit, or another food animal?

I think everyone did just post why they raise guinea pig over rabbit. If you go to homesteadingtoday forum I made a guinea pig meat thread in the rabbit section that is many pages now with several people experimenting.

Temperament might be a contributing factor as to why people choose GP instead - I've never been damaged by one in any way while rabbits can be little Freddy Krugers - and usually the smaller ones are the worst !

And as others posted
- they are much more tolerant of dietary changes and can eat anything, although some people claim to raise rabbits on cabbage and stale bread, my buns would keel over on such a diet :shrug:
- they live happily in groups/colonies
- they require very little to keep confined - just think of all the money you'd save if you didn't have to have a cage for every female, male and grow-outs

I'm not sure what more you want ?

I think the question has been answered. But to succinctly recap for you.

1. decent meat animal... do scalding instead of skinning though.
2. easier to raise: colony style, easier temperament
3. easier to feed: eat most anything, with a hardier constitution.
4. sounds: some folks adore the sounds they make
5. saving on cage costs: as long as the cage is over 8 inches high they won't climb it (in my experience). you DO require a bottom on the cage though as some guinea pigs are great diggers.
6. many can be trained to come when called... so you can free range them and call them in for special treats (ergo reducing your food bill and allowing you the ability to capture them as needed).

What do they taste like? Are they a darker or light meat ?

I'm not sure what you'd call the meat but it's often described as sweeter than rabbit.

I have seen it described as like rabbit, like squirrel,... personally the one i cooked in the crock pot was bit odd. Falls apart like tender rabbit meat but had that sort of gritty tuna texture. Definitely would go with a fried or grilled cookin next time i get a try at it.

What the easiest method of dispatch for GP? I'm having a hard time thinking they'd be a good candidate for a wringer or broomsticking.

They seem unable to hold their breath and drown within seconds but I know it is a questionable method. I think many people use "bopping". Knock them out and cut the throat before they regain consciousness, if they are going to.

thanks, --I wondered, I have read that feed conversion is terrible, and also read that they grow fast eating almost anything. I have read that they were almost all guts [more places then just Doods comment] and also that they had a better dress out percentage then rabbits. [but people writing these things scalded and kept the head , and skin, as a part of the "usable" portion. Some people say it is a wonderful tasting meat, others say it is definitely not so great tasting, -strong flavored, and it is grainy and or gritty . Some people advocating raising GP start by saying it is not lawful to raise rabbits in their area, so they raise GP's.
thank you, for your responses, I can see where the free range colony thing would be a big advantage , -- with rabbits it is a disaster-
----- along with all that-- how prone are GP's to inbreeding problems? [with rabbits it is a disaster in a short time also]
does anyone know how the feed conversion really is? [compared to rabbits when fed similar feeds]

Inbreeding rabbits is most definitely not a disaster. We have many people here who work with a very small gene pool. I have bred back to the same buck through 4 generations before without issues. My netherland pen colony ran for 4 years with the same buck and an ever increasing population of his daughters, granddaughters/daughters, and so on. Guinea pigs handle it just as well. One time we started with a pair and I'm not sure how many generations of inbreeding we were at when I sold all my guinea pigs to go to college 8 years later. Never a problem. It all depends on if you start with healthy animals and not breeding unhealthy or poorly type animals.

The one i did i rung its neck and immediately cut off the head. I did a video of it on my youtube channel. I think its posted on that thread i linked before. If not search like " youtube cuy butcher dispatch" should brinit up.

Akane is right, inbreeding is a very useful tool. Five of my ten breeding rabbits are sets of siblings and I breed everybunny to everybunny. Sometimes I get wonderful things, sometimes I get freezer filler.

I will say that picking replacements has been harder this year than previously, my average quality has increased substantially.