Part of designing sustainable agricultural food systems is to test out the best ways to raise your livestock for the least amount of money. I have pellets freely available for trace minerals, as they are balanced. I also found that feeding hay twice a day drastically cuts down on the feed that they eat. I was filling the feeders once a day.

But a part of me knew that spent grains from home brewing were being used to feed livestock like cows, pigs and chickens. Generally considered a waste product, the sugars and carbohydrates are washed out, leaving the fiber and proteins behind. So, even though most guinea pig pet websites say never to feed grains to your piggies, I have decided to give it a try. Not a lot of research has been done on guinea pigs as livestock.  More on the nutritional aspects and the reasons I chose what I did in the following post or two.

The guinea pigs adore the stuff. It is high in moisture, slightly sweet, and they literally fight themselves to get it. I feed in controlled amounts, as it can start growing microbes if left out for a long time. However, I have to fill feeders every other day or three days now.

It took 19 lbs of grain to created our last 5 gallons of beer, and we froze most of the grain in ziplocs until we can use them. Perfect way to recycle a waste product.