Open Grazed Method:
I have built a 6' x 8' shed that is 6" tall as shown in figure 1.0 and placed it on a section of the lawn. The lawn is 50' x 100' of green grass. Guinea Pigs are similar to rabbits in eating habits, they require a variety of chewables to maintain their high metabolism, what I did was to place a container with pig pellets beside the shed. This ensures that during the evening throughout the night until dawn the guinea pig grazes the lawn and while the sun is hot they eat the pellets. The shed houses 20 Guinea pigs, 16 females and 4 males and after 69 days these 14 females gives me an average four (4) pups each. This gives me a total of sixty (60) Guinea pigs in a little over two months. This setup has its advantages and disadvantages.
Figure 1.0- No need to look for grass or green stock for cavies.
- Cavies develop fast as there is always adequate amount of grass available to maintain their high metabolic rate.
- Wider genetic variations as each male has space to mate without the threat of the dominant one.
- Has a therapeutic effect by seeing them on your lawn grazing.
- Less screeching, once there is grass and pellets you will rarely hear them screech.
- They grow bigger. They get the exercise as they traverse between shed and lawn.
- Requires no attention.
- Low mortality rate caused by starvation.
Disadvantages:
- Exposure to predators such as dogs and cats. Dogs prey on the adults and cats prey on the offspring.
- They grazes the lawn to earth. They pull even the root of the grass out of the soil leaving it exposed to erosion.
- During wet weather they carries a pungent smell that will only go away once the area is exposed to a few hours of sun.
- If the lawn is grazed to the finish they will follow the green grass which will lead them beyond the lawn if there is no borders to stop them.
- They drink water slower leaving the water container high risk for mosquito breeding. Unless a bottle can be implemented.
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