What not to give to nutria. Feeding nutria. Alternative types of feeding

To get high-quality fur and meat, you need to properly think through your diet.

This takes into account the animal’s age, physiological characteristics and type of feeding. The conditions of their maintenance are also important. So, what to feed nutria in winter?

In summer, nutria eat succulent and green food, which is rich in vitamins and minerals necessary for their full development and variety. In winter there is no such possibility. Therefore, you need to approach the preparation of your diet very carefully. This will allow you to obtain high-quality fur, as well as meat, despite harsh weather conditions.

The winter diet should include succulent and dry food. Dry food is presented in the form of tree branches, straw, and grass meal. The straw is pre-chopped. It is given out three times a day. If the air temperature drops sharply, then much more hay is needed, since it is used as bedding. As for branches, they are issued once a week. They gnaw off the bark from them.

Also in winter, the diet includes succulent food. Often this is also. To normalize nutrition, animals are given wet mash consisting of grain, bran, and various feedstuffs. Salt, chalk and fish oil are used as mineral feed. Small balls are made from the mash, which are placed inside the cage in different places.

Your winter diet should contain foods that are rich in nutrients. This will preserve the productivity of animals. Meals should include:

Roughage. Used to normalize digestion and saturate the body with vitamins. Such feed is often used for bedding.
Juicy food, which is presented in the form of carrots, beets and other root vegetables. They are issued dry. Feed is provided in limited quantities, even though it is a favorite treat for animals. The fact is that they do not contain many nutrients and various vitamins.
Wet mash. For preparation, grain, herbal flour and potatoes are used. Food waste and boiled milk are added to the mash.

Feeding methods

Animals are fed in different ways:

moistened mash
dry granulated food
compound feed

To prepare mash, use crushed concentrate or wet feed. Grass, hay meal and various succulent feeds are also added. Food is given out twice a day in equal portions. It is placed in special feeders.

As for dry concentrates, they are given together with succulent feed in a 1:1 ratio. In winter, the mash becomes thick. When using dry feed, it is worth considering that this method of feeding requires serious financial costs. Of course, they fully justify themselves, since the weight gain is close to 30%. Food is placed in the feeder for several days. At the same time, the nutria must always have sufficient water in its cage.

The combined method involves the use of steamed or moistened grain in combination with other types of feed. In the evening and during the day, the animals are given root vegetables or hay. In the latter case, hay should be given out in small heaps once a day. Juicy food is given raw. At the same time, they are thoroughly cleaned of dirt. In cold weather, the portion is divided into 2 doses.

Feeding methods should not be changed suddenly, as unusual foods can lead to upset.

What not to feed nutria

What should you not feed? When compiling a diet for animals, it is worth considering that there are foods that should absolutely not be given to them. Particular attention should be paid to the following ingredients:

green tops of potatoes, carrots, beets and other root vegetables
hot food
spoiled or stale food
plants that contain toxic substances
sticky cereal

Including such foods in your diet, even by mistake, can lead to upset. In the future, this leads to more serious diseases.

Nutrition for pregnant and lactating females

Before mating animals, it is necessary to review their nutrition. Nutria should be well-fed, but in no case overfed. Otherwise, the mobility of males will be limited, and fertilization will be unsuccessful. So, what to feed at home during pregnancy?

During pregnancy, the need for food increases. As a result, the amount of feed increases by 30%. The diet includes succulent food. Much attention is paid to protein substances of animal origin. Minerals and multivitamins are also important here. If a pregnant nutria has extremely high weight, then it needs to be reduced. To do this, she is given hard-to-digest roughage.

It is worth noting that a few days before giving birth, the female’s appetite deteriorates significantly. Therefore, you should not be nervous about trifles.

Before and after giving birth, the female does not eat anything in the first days. But soon your appetite will return. The amount of feed is increased depending on its need. So, if the female begins to eat more, then the portions should increase accordingly. Despite such nutrition, the weight of nutria still decreases by 10%. This is the norm. Therefore, there is no need to panic.

You need to be very careful when planning your diet. The main thing is to ensure the production of milk in sufficient quantity for feeding. It is very important. After all, in the first two weeks, babies live off their mother's milk. If it is not enough, it can lead to their death.

Milk is highly nutritious. This is due to the fact that it contains a large amount of fat. To ensure high quality milk, the female's diet must consist of certain foods rich in these elements. In addition to milk, puppies are given a mash consisting of mixed feed and various root vegetables. The lactation period of nutria ends after a month and a half. Until this time, puppies are completely transferred to artificial feeding.

Approximate diet for pregnant women in winter:

beets – 350 g
corn or barley grain concentrate – 180 g
cake - 12 g each
fishmeal – 10 g
salt – 2 g
herbal flour – 30 g

In the last month of pregnancy, you need to monitor the condition of the female. Her obesity will lead to the fact that the offspring will be born weak or even dead.

Nutrition of young animals

During the first days of life, puppies feed exclusively on mother's milk. After this, mash, which consists of mixed feed and root vegetables, begins to be introduced into the diet. When the female's lactation ends, the young are transplanted. At this moment, the main thing is to correctly plan their diet.

To protect the young body from stress, the diet consists of products that were given to the female during pregnancy. Of course, the amount of feed will be slightly less. This lasts until the young nutria are 4 months old. The diet includes:

compound feed to which hay or grass meal is added
dry feed with the addition of a small amount of weed grass
concentrates of various types of feed, which contain a sufficient amount of protein and protein

It is not allowed to feed animals exclusively with beets, grass or hay. As a result, this leads to deterioration in the quality of the skin and meat. Also, with such nutrition, the ability of animals to further reproduce is reduced. Such individuals are most often slaughtered.

To simplify feeding, both young and old individuals, it is recommended to use feeders, which can be purchased at the store or built with your own hands. Bunker-type structures are very popular. You can put food in them in quantities that will last for several days.

What to feed nutria in winter - on video.

Under natural conditions, nutria live near bodies of water, so their diet consists of aquatic plants, tree bark, and occasionally leeches and river mollusks. When kept indoors or commercially, these animals can feed on cereals, grass or hay, root vegetables and even fresh food waste. Since they are sensitive to frost, in winter there is a need to increase the caloric content and nutritional value of feed. Using granulated food in combination with vitamin supplements solves the problem, but you can create a competent diet at home.

The summer diet of nutria is not much different from that required by rabbits. They eat vegetables and fruits, cereals (oats, barley, mash), as well as freshly cut grass with a small amount of animal products. Winter is a period of vitamin deficiency. Under natural conditions, they are poorly adapted to frost, since they are herbivorous rodents. They absorb tree bark and those plants that retain nutritional value in the cold, but at home such food is not enough. It is important not only to maintain the number of nutria, but to maintain their feeding in such a way that they retain thick fur, and the females continue to produce offspring.

If in summer nutria receives vitamins and minerals from fresh fruits and vegetables, then in winter they must be added additionally. In addition, the calorie content of the diet must be higher, since animals spend more energy to stay warm. Balanced feeding of nutria should combine protein foods and root vegetables, a small portion of green food, as well as purchased vitamin supplements. The best option is granulated food special for this type of animal. It contains all the necessary substances in the right proportions, and there is no need to prepare food daily.

Experienced nutria owners can give some advice on feeding nutrias in winter:

despite the fact that nutria seem to be omnivorous and can consume food waste, rotten or moldy food will not suit them - it is important to monitor the quality;
Concentrates (mixes of different types of grain) are best given warm so that the food does not freeze in the cold;
an alternative to summer green grass is not silage, but high-quality hay;
there is no need to be afraid to add those foods that nutria do not eat in nature - meat and bone or fish meal, salt, chalk, yeast;
It is important to weigh animals - those pets that are lagging behind in weight gain should be isolated and fed separately.

Despite their thick fur, nutria in nature do not tolerate frost well. They feed mainly on plant foods and underwater plants, so they live only near those bodies of water that do not freeze in winter. The difficulty of their domestic reproduction in winter is to create a diet in such a way that the quality of the animals’ fur does not deteriorate and their fertility does not decrease.

Types of winter feed

The diet of nutria in winter can be varied and complete if you approach this issue responsibly. Food must be prepared fresh every day, and if the animals could not cope with yesterday’s portion, the leftovers are removed from the cages. The diet should contain 3 types of food:

protein - a highly energy-intensive component, represented by cereals and their mixture (up to 200 g per adult animal per day);
the source of fiber is succulent food and root vegetables, which also contain vitamins (in combination with mash, up to 400 g per adult is enough);
purchased vitamin and mineral supplements - according to instructions.

If feeding is done correctly, this can be seen in the condition of the animals. They gain weight during the winter and their fur becomes thick and shiny. Female nutrias in nature give birth all year round and produce 2-3 litters. In winter, fertility does not normally decrease due to frost. If the diet lacks any components, the offspring will be born weak and unviable, and the female may eat her own young.

Concentrates

The main source of energy in winter is mash. This is the name for complex feeds based on cereals and additives. They are prepared before each feeding; it is advisable to give the food warm. According to statistics, nutria that feed on dry grain in winter often lose weight and are unable to produce healthy offspring. Spontaneous abortions occur in females, young animals are stunted in growth and development, and the entire population experiences weight loss and gastrointestinal dysfunction. If food is given boiled or steamed, the animals’ digestive system works normally, and they do not suffer from a lack of vital energy.

One recipe for nutria mash that will satisfy all protein and nutrient needs:

cereals or a combination thereof (oats, barley, wheat bran);
boiled potatoes or peelings - can be a separate component or replace cereals;
legume grains - give after pre-soaking in water for 8-12 hours;
fish or meat and bone, as well as herbal meal;
bran, meal, flaxseed or sunflower cake;
Mineral supplements or vitamin premixes can be added separately.

Mash can be prepared from fresh food waste - cereals, potatoes, and other boiled vegetables. They are ground into puree, herbal, fish or meat and bone meal is added, and then small balls are formed. This shape is convenient for animals; they take the balls in their paws and eat them. Thus, the cost of feed for the livestock is reduced, since the animals do not trample it and do not scatter it around the cages.

Nutria are fed with concentrates twice a day, and young animals up to 3 months of age should increase the multiplicity to 3 times a day. For this purpose, it is convenient to keep young animals separately from adults.

During the winter, it is useful for nutria to receive part of the concentrated feed (up to 20%) in the form of sprouted grains. For these purposes, you can use oats, wheat, barley or other grains. They are germinated in large boxes in warmth and under conditions of abundant watering. A week after the sprouts emerge, they can be fed to nutria, by which time they will reach about 6 cm in height. This food will not only be a source of protein, but will also replenish the supply of vitamins during the period of winter deficiency.

Juicy feed and root crops

Nutria need rough and succulent food because in nature they eat hard bark and gnaw through the stems of plants and algae. If you do not give them the opportunity to use sharp teeth, this will affect the general condition of the animal, including the quality of the fur. In winter, animals have the opportunity to obtain all their nutrients from hay, vegetables and fruits, and root vegetables.

The diet of nutria must include a variety of foods:

hay (reed, sedge, meadow mixtures) - it is placed in the nesting compartment 3 times a week, and the remains are distributed on the ground, mixed with bedding;
branches of deciduous and fruit trees (willow, oak, maple, aspen, acacia, apple tree and others);
root vegetables - carrots, sugar and fodder beets, turnips.

You don’t have to worry that in winter, nutria are left without the nutrients found in fresh grass. They are all preserved, and the animals can be fed with high-quality hay. Moreover, when fresh grass is dried, most microorganisms die, and the food becomes safe for the body. The greatest number of feed poisonings and digestive disorders occurs in the spring. It is at this time that the transition to young grass occurs, and some of its species are poisonous to nutria.

Additives are products of animal origin and purchased mixtures that are used in the manufacture of mash. They contain vitamins and minerals necessary for the growth and development of animals, as well as to increase their fertility. There are also standards for feeding supplements depending on the age of the nutria and the time of year:

table salt is needed all year round - you can add it to mash or steam the hay in slightly salted warm water;
chalk - added to porridge in small quantities both in winter and summer;
fish oil - useful in late winter and early spring;
yeast - 2-5 per nutria in winter, it is better to boil them so that they do not cause rapid fermentation of the feed;
flax seed - useful for young animals and productive animals in the amount of 20-30 g per individual.

All supplements are useful and necessary for nutria, but it is important to maintain the proportions of micro- and macroelements. Thus, when feeding fish or meat and bone meal, animals will not need additional salt and chalk.

Watering mode

With the onset of frost, watering of nutria is gradually stopped. When the temperature begins to drop, water is provided only during the day and removed at night. During the period when the temperature is stably below zero, there is no need to give water. Animals replenish their moisture supply from succulent feed, vegetables and root crops. Additionally, you can place pieces of ice or snow in the cages.

You can feed nutria with commercial concentrates- This is a good option because the granules combine all the necessary nutrients, vitamins and minerals. However, it is worth choosing one of these options. The digestive system of animals adapts differently to natural and pelleted food, and when they are combined, the production of gastric juice and digestive enzymes is disrupted.

Energy nutritional value of feed

It is impossible to competently create a diet without calculating the nutritional value of feed and its energy value. These indicators depend on the age of the animals and their physiological state. On average, nutria should receive the following amount of kcal per day:

suckling young animals - 200-250 kcal;
grown young animals - 140-180 kcal;
adults - 110-180 kcal.

During the winter period, you can not change the caloric content of the diet, but monitor the condition of the animals. Their metabolic processes may slow down, and then the nutria need less energy. This can be determined if the food in the cages is not completely consumed, but the animals do not lose weight. The nutritional value is increased for young animals, pregnant and lactating females.

Feeding nutria in winter differs from the summer diet. Animals gradually switch to roughage and root crops, and they will receive green mass only with the onset of spring. If you feed them in a balanced manner, frost will not affect either the quality of the fur or the productivity of the animals.

The process of preparing winter porridge for nutria. Advice on its composition and additives, as well as the purpose of their introduction into the diet.

Nutria is a rather specific animal, and therefore requires special maintenance, the cost of which is not least influenced by feeding. Feeding nutria, balanced and well-formulated, will help achieve excellent breeding results. After all, the economic part of this issue, one way or another, will account for half of all capital investments that are allocated for conducting this type of activity.

Nutria are naturally found in bodies of water, therefore, they feed on a variety of plants that can be found on the shore. In practice, nutria eat reeds, tree branches, shoots and roots of plants, which contain sufficient amounts of glucose and starch. The only drawback of natural nutrition is the lack of the proper amount of fiber necessary for the full functioning of rodents.

Home breeding of such animals is not known for any problems, since these rodents do not require any one special food, such as the koala, which feeds exclusively on eucalyptus leaves. Rodents eat literally everything. However, when breeding and wanting to obtain a quality product - meat, fur, it is necessary to understand the importance of factors such as nutritional content, volumes, cost and storage of feed intended for a large number of animals.

Nutria, accustomed to aquatic plants, will not have enough hay, vegetables, or tree branches, so it is recommended to add root vegetables, grain concentrates, and ready-made feed. A nutritious diet, which will include all the necessary and useful components, will have a beneficial effect on the growth of individuals and the condition of females during pregnancy.

Video - Feeding nutria

Principles of feeding during the warm period

During warm periods of the year, these animals do not have problems with food. Due to the wide variety of fresh food, the nutria diet menu changes on a daily basis. For feeding, you can use everything that rodents eat in the wild.

Important! A short list of unwanted foods:

shoots of wild plants;

These animals do not eat tree branches - linden, ash, bird cherry.

If there are grapes planted on the site, old one-year-old shoots can also be used as food for rodents. As a rule, they need to be pruned in late summer and early autumn. Due to the high nutritional value of this product, nutria will be able to replenish their energy balance. In addition, such shoots can be prepared for the winter in dried form.

Use of gardening capacity

To feed rodents at home, you can use vegetables and plants from the garden. Among the most common vegetables, it is worth highlighting beet and carrot leaves, but do not forget that they contain a large amount of nutria acid, which is harmful to the body. To neutralize it, you can add a little chalk to the tops. Additionally, the leaves can be dried and set aside as a healthy supplement during the winter.

Jerusalem artichoke is a special delicacy for animals - during the flowering of this plant in the summer, you can add its young shoots to the diet, while in the winter, tubers are an excellent choice. As green mass for nutrition, you can collect fireweed shoots, dandelion leaves, and quinoa. Among grain crops, shoots of peas, clover, corn and alfalfa deserve special attention.

Important! Before feeding the animal fresh plants, it is necessary to thoroughly rinse them with water and eliminate the presence of poisonous plants in the total mass.

Among vegetables and fruits, the diet of rodents can include:

cabbage;
cucumbers;
tomatoes;
zucchini;
watermelon;
leaves of berries and fruits.

Approximate diet plan in summer

In the warm season, animals can get all their vitamins and minerals from natural vegetables and fruits. These are the ones you need to focus on when planning your diet. We present to your attention an approximate diagram in shares per 100 g serving:

beets – 15%;
sugar beet – 10%;
carrots – 20%;
rutabaga – 10%;
raw potatoes – 15%;
cabbage – 25%;
cabbage and carrot silage – 5%.

Additionally, we present a feeding scheme for green food based on servings per 100 g:

meadow grass – 30%;
vetch grass – 30%;
green broad beans – 15%;
willow leaves – 10%;
cattail rhizomes – 10%.

Principles of feeding nutria during the cold period

Among the most nutritious and healthy foods in winter are carrots and beets. In particular, their mixture is of particular value. Nutria eat up to one kilogram per day of this mixture. However, even with a significant predominance of useful elements in the composition of these vegetables, they do not provide all the substances necessary for the animal’s body. The best option is a serving of 400 g of carrots or beets per day.

Boiled pumpkin is another irreplaceable ingredient in the diet of animals. Thanks to its unique component composition, this vegetable can replace numerous root vegetables that are unavailable during cold seasons. It is imperative to monitor the condition of the pumpkin before feeding it to rodents - the presence of mold and rot can lead to serious diseases and a reduction in the number of livestock.

Vegetables such as potatoes are also readily used by farmers to feed these rodents. The only condition is to pre-cook the potatoes and then add the mass to the mash, since raw potatoes have a negative effect on digestion.

Due to the lack of fresh vegetables and fruits in the winter season, in order to maintain the total portion weight in the diet, it is recommended to make mash, including grain crops. However, you shouldn’t limit yourself to just grain. Leftover dairy products, borscht, soups, and boiled porridges are used.

Please note that the final product should be quite thick. Rodents will be able to eat it only when they manage to form balls from the mash so that they can safely hold them in their paws.

Below are recipes for complete wet nutria mash.

Approximate nutrition plan during the cold period

During the cold season, nutria need to be provided with more vitamins and minerals, which they do not receive from their food due to the lack of fresh fruits and vegetables. Consequently, the optimal nutrition option would be a mixture of cereals and summer preparations with the addition of mineral and vitamin complexes. Due to the monotony of the diet in winter, we present to your attention a universal nutrition plan. The scheme is calculated as a percentage of ingredients per 100 g of finished food:

whole or crushed barley (dry/soaked) – 20%;
crushed corn – 5-15%;
wheat bran – 5-15%;
crushed oats (dry/soaked) – 5-10%;
steamed peas (dry/soaked) – 5-10%;
fishmeal – 1-5%;
tripe (dry/boiled) – 1-5%;
cake (sunflower/peanut) – 10-15%;
soy flour – 0-5%;
vitamin-mineral complex – 1%.

Barley is the basis of the nutria diet in winter

Grain and combined feeds

Grain feeds play a fundamental role in the nutrition of nutria. Among the most popular crops are the following:

barley;
oats;
millet;
corn.

In terms of preparing food in winter, these grains can be steamed in hot water to make them softer. In spring and summer, it will be enough to simply soak the grain for several hours in lightly salted water. Nutria, regardless of gender, should be given no more than 200 grams of grain per day.

Raw acorns deserve special attention, as they can be used not only as a basis for the daily diet, but also as a delicacy. It is worth keeping in mind that due to the astringent properties of the fruit, its consumption should be limited. Nutria can only be given acorns in ground form with the addition of vitamin supplements.

In early spring, sprouted grain, rich in beneficial properties, can also be a delicacy for an animal. Scatter the grain on the floor in the brightest room and give it a few days to start growing. Animals consume such food in ground and whole form.

In some cases, it will be more convenient to use combined feeds that include all healthy grains, cereals and minerals. Some pet food manufacturers make special feed for nutria. As a last resort, you can purchase food for other domestic rodents as a replacement.

Below are recipes for feed for nutria.

Use of industrial feed

In practice, industrial combined feeds do not represent a complete replacement for the existing diet, and act only as a premix - an additive to ready-made feeds.

Among the main advantages of industrial feeds are:

meeting the daily needs of nutria for minerals and vitamins;
ensuring the full growth of animals;
reduction in feed costs by reducing the need for previous portion sizes;
strengthening the immune system of animals with increasing resistance to seasonal diseases.

Such feeds are added to the main diet in the ratio indicated directly on the packaging. Most often, proportions are calculated based on the ratio 1:99. In other words, for every 99 g of feed you need to add 1 g of an industrial additive.

The product contains vitamins of groups A, B (B1-B12), D and E. Among the minerals, iron, manganese, zinc and iodine should be highlighted.

Important! The quality of combined feeds must be constantly monitored due to the risk of poisoning from low-quality or missing products. Before transferring the entire livestock to a new food, you need to put 2-3 nutria on the new food. If their health does not deteriorate within 10 days, then you can start giving this food to all other individuals.

Which feed should you prefer?

Many nutria farmers have no idea about proper nutrition for the animals they raise. In fact, in all large industrial farms where fur farming is carried out, nutria are fed exclusively with granulated feed, which contains all the necessary vitamins and minerals.

What is granulated feed for nutria?

These are oblong granules, which are produced with a diameter of 3 to 6 mm and a length of up to 1.2 cm. Such proportions are provided for these animals so that the nutria do not choose the ingredients they like, as they usually do when feeding loose feed.

Feed granulator prices

Feed granulator

Benefits of the feed

Compound feed in granules retains its beneficial properties much longer.
It does not delaminate during transportation.
All granules are homogeneous in composition.
This food is very convenient for the process of automating nutria feeding.

In fact, the use of granular feed allows nutria owners to automate the feeding process from preparation to distribution. This approach significantly saves maintenance time.

Having your own granulator helps you save a lot on the purchase of granulated feed. In the article we will look at the principle of operation of the granulator and how to make it yourself.

It is very important not to forget about drinking bowls in cages. Animals must have them, because... When feeding pellets, the need for water increases. You can give the animals slightly salted water; if necessary, in winter, you can give clean snow.

Alternative types of feeding

If it is not possible to purchase special food in granules for nutria, you can always replace it with compound feed for chickens, calves or pigs. Sometimes they use feed for laying hens, but in small quantities, because... they contain many mineral additives that can be harmful to nutrias.

After purchasing food, it is necessary to check its quality organoleptically. Under no circumstances should you purchase feed containing sand or soil. Beware of moldy feed and check for smell.

DIY feed for nutria

If it is not possible to purchase a special combined food, you can use your own mash from the following natural ingredients:

wheat – 0.45 servings of the total mass;
corn – 0.4 servings of the total mass;
sunflower meal – 0.08 servings of the total mass;
yeast – 0.06 servings of the total mass;
chalk – 0.005 servings of the total mass;
salt – 0.005 servings of the total mass.

Vitamins should be added to feed at the discretion of the farmer.

Important! For breeding nutria, the combined feed should increase the content of legumes and cereals, while before slaughter the emphasis should be on barley and especially corn.

Use of mineral and vitamin complexes

After the onset of winter cold, there is a need to replenish the diet with additional vitamin complexes of groups A and D. In the event of a lack of vitamins, representatives of the livestock may begin to develop various diseases due to the weakening of the body’s immunity.

Important! The optimal vitamin complex is fish oil. The daily consumed dose should not exceed 1 g for both males and females.

The lack of carotene can be compensated for by ordinary carrots, where it is found in excess. Vitamins of group E are obtained from sprouted grain (no more than 20 g per day per individual). Animals must be given table salt daily. Calcium can be obtained from bone or fish meal, while chalk supplements can also be used. Within 1 g, tricalcium phosphate can be given to livestock on a daily basis.

Important! The use of mineral and vitamin complexes in the feed should be accompanied by thorough mixing. If this condition is not met, nutria may feed selectively, which may result in a deficiency of a specific vitamin.

Principles of feeding pregnant females

When feeding pregnant females, a number of factors need to be taken into account:

energy expenditure for the development of the embryo and the protection of its amniotic membrane;
acceleration of metabolism;
growth of the uterus and mammary glands.

Young pregnant females will grow additionally, which should also be taken into account when feeding.

At the beginning of pregnancy, females do not need to increase their daily diet. The need for more abundant feeding arises only after a month, and the dosage should be increased by a tenth. Subsequently, the nutria's appetite will increase, and then it will be possible to begin increasing the diet by 30% of the original volume.

When crossing the equator of pregnancy, it is recommended to separate the females from the livestock into separate cages with a smaller square area. This must be done in order to gradually reduce their activity to save energy.

Important! The amount of concentrates during the final stage of pregnancy should be kept to a minimum to avoid obesity in the female and excessive weight in newborn puppies. If it was not possible to control weight standards, then obesity can be eliminated by gradually reducing the daily nutritional intake. Try to get a pregnant individual to consume the daily norm with a weight that is 30% less than the original.

Nutria is a clean animal that has virtually no specific odor.

Video - How to feed a pregnant nutria?

Principles of feeding females who have given birth

Before calculating the feeding rate for a pregnant individual or an already lactating female, you should take into account her age and weight. Additionally, farmers take into account the number of individuals born in the litter. In order to consistently produce the required amount of breast milk, it is necessary to replenish the additional energy costs in the body that go precisely to its production.

In the first month after giving birth, females need to increase the daily portion of food by one and a half times. In the second month, the portion should increase two to three times. Starting from two weeks of age, puppies can begin to be fed regular food. When feeding puppies, you need to consider the following rule - 1 newborn eats 1/6 of his mother's portion.

Important! Lactating females may experience weight loss of up to 10% of their total weight. This may be due to the energy expenditure required to produce nutritious breast milk.

If you decide to do it, one of the main questions that will confront you will be the composition of your diet. In nature, they take care of their health on their own, but in captivity the owner will have to do this. Everyone knows that the health of animals and the beauty of their fur depend on proper nutrition. Today we will talk about how to feed nutria to provide all the necessary nutrients.

What does nutria eat in the wild?

The basis of nutria nutrition in natural habitats is plant food, which they find near their habitats (reservoirs).

These are branches, stems, roots and leaves of such plants:

reed;
cane;
pondweed;
water chestnut

Since they grow near water, they are characterized by high humidity.

Did you know? Nutria can eat underwater, staying in this position for up to 10 minutes.

Sometimes leeches, larvae or small mollusks can also serve as food for nutria.

What can you feed at home?

With normal home keeping, feeding nutria is not problematic, since they are not picky. However, when breeding large livestock for meat and fur, not only healthy appearance and weight gain become of great importance, but also the price of feed.

There are 3 feeding methods:

Semi-moist - grain (or mixed feed) + root vegetables and fruits + green (or dry roughage) food.
Dry - store-bought feed is given in dried form + water.
Mixed - in the first half of the day they give dried food, in the second - vegetable food.

Important! In a year, 1 nutria eats about 200 kg of food.

In order for animals to be healthy, it is necessary to observe when feeding such rules:

Wash feeders and drinkers thoroughly and pour boiling water over them.
For 1 feeding, give a single portion of food.
Do not give prohibited foods.
Monitor the absence of spoiled products.
Heat food and water in winter.

Cereals

The basis of nutria nutrition (about 3/4) should be grain crops:

oats;
corn;
barley;
wheat and wheat bran;
millet;
rye.

To make it easier for animals to eat, the grain is crushed and soaked for several hours. It is also recommended to feed with sprouted grain, which is soaked for 2 days.

In a day nutria should eat about 200 g cereals.

Green feed

It is best to mow the grass intended for nutria food before it blooms and starts to spike. This food will provide animals with vitamins A, B, C, D, E, phosphorus, calcium, carbohydrates, and protein.

You can give:

green parts of cereals and legumes;
cattail;
water rice;
cane;
pemphigus;
buckwheat;
young shoots of oak, birch, willow;
seaweed;

A small amount of crushed acorns is also a useful food. Soaked or boiled grains of beans, soybeans, lentils, beans, and peas are also recommended.
Animals are given about 450 g of green food per day, taking into account that some of it will be trampled and become bedding. Some people recommend rinsing your greens to protect against bloating.

Dry roughage

Dry roughage is rich in fiber, so they are given at the rate of no more than 50 g per animal. This type of feed includes:

bark;
tree branches;
hay;
needles;
straw;
dried bagasse and bagasse from wine or sugar production;
soybean, hemp, sunflower, flaxseed meal in crushed form.

Nutria are fed with such food mainly in winter, having prepared everything in late spring - early summer, when plants bloom and contain the greatest amount of useful substances. The prepared feed is dried in the sun.

It is very useful to add grass meal to other types of feed.

Vegetables and fruits

Nutria can be given as food:

boiled potatoes;
raw beets and carrots;
cucumbers;
tomatoes;
boiled pumpkin;
Jerusalem artichoke;
cabbage;
zucchini;
watermelons;
turnip;
melon;
apples.

Compound feed

Instead of cereals, nutria can be fed with specialized feed for nutria or feed for pigs, rabbits and calves, or you can prepare it yourself:

Mix equal proportions of barley (or wheat) and oats (or corn).
Add meal (a tenth of the resulting mixture).
Add fish, meat, bone meal or feed yeast (a fifth of the resulting mixture).
Add a little chalk and table salt.

Compound feed is given to animals only in soaked form.

Industrially produced feed is economical, can be stored longer and contains a balanced amount of vitamins and nutrients.

Compound feed is a mixture of various products suitable for animal nutrition. They are carefully cleaned, crushed and selected according to certain recipes. Such mixtures are used as additional nutrients for animals.

Additional feed

For normal development, nutria must receive the following vitamins with food: A, B, D, E, folic and nicotinic acids, as well as micro- and macroelements (calcium, sodium, iron, phosphorus, chlorine, copper).

For this purpose, the menu additionally includes:

cottage cheese;
milk;
boiled eggs;
boiled liver, heart, lungs and kidneys;
bone, blood or meat and bone meal;
boiled fish;
fishmeal;
feed yeast;
sprouted grain;
bran;
herbal flour;
salt.

The body of these animals synthesizes vitamin C independently.

In winter and early spring, nutria are additionally given vitamin and mineral supplements: pushnovit, polfamix, premix, fish oil. Such preparations are diluted with milk or fat and added to food, mixing well so that they are evenly distributed.

Water

Nutria cells must have drinking bowls with clean water, especially when they eat dry food or mixed feed. Some breeders equip animals with swimming pools.

What not to feed

Nutria can get poisoned and die from this food:

sprouted and green potatoes;
green tops of potatoes and carrots;
rotten, fermented, moldy feed;
feed for birds;
compound feed for cattle;
viscous porridge;
raw fish and meat;
vekh poisonous;
cicuta;
fighter;
lumbago (sleep-grass);
hellebore;
cottonseed cake;
oats - before reaching 4 months of age;
hot water;
green food treated with chemicals.

Herbs that are on the list of prohibited feeds can be given dried.

Do not overfeed pregnant females and females that you are preparing for mating with corn - this will make them fat, problems with conception may occur, and the cubs will be born dead.
There is no need to feed animals large amounts of acorns - this can cause constipation. Problems also arise with eating more than 25 g of legumes per day.

Lactating females may have problems with lactation if they are given sugar beets.

Rutabaga impairs the performance of animals, and beet tops and kale cause problems in the digestive system.

Important! Nutria do not want to eat branches of ash, linden, bird cherry, and hornbeam.

Features of feeding depending on the season

Since not all types of feed are available in winter, and in summer it is possible to reduce costs by using green feed, the nutritional plan must be adjusted depending on the time of year.

Spring Summer

In the warm season, the diet includes green food and fresh vegetables and fruits:

regular, fodder and sugar beets;
carrot;
cabbage;
swede;
apples;
garden weeds;
meadow grass;
green shoots, leaves;
cattail rhizomes, etc.

Autumn winter

For feeding in the cold season, hay, vegetables, and grain are prepared in the summer. You can give unspoiled leftover food from the table, mixed feed, cook thick porridge (which can be molded into a lump), and germinate grain. It is recommended to add vitamin complexes.

To check the quality of the feed, several animals are placed separately and fed for 2 weeks. If there are no health problems in those released, you can feed all the animals.

Important! Food and water must be given warm in cold weather.

Video: feeding nutria in winter

Differences in feeding

By nature, nutria are very active, and a lot of energy goes into ensuring this activity. In this sense, the lifestyle of males and females is no different, but males are larger in size, so they eat a little more. However, females require special nutrition during pregnancy or feeding their offspring so that they grow healthy.

Pregnant nutria

During pregnancy, the energy consumption of the female body increases, since the development of embryos requires more energy. Therefore, the menu of pregnant females needs to be reviewed, but in the second half of pregnancy, since in the first month, with the right diet, strengthening will not be required.

At the end of the first month, the females are placed in smaller cages so that they move less and do not lose energy. The amount of food is increased by 10% and then gradually increased to 35% of the original amount.

In this period the female should receive up to 330 g of root vegetables, up to 250 g of mixed feed or grain, up to 45 g of grass flour or hay, protein products, vitamin complexes.

At the same time, keep in mind that in females the ability to procreate is restored quickly after childbirth; it may turn out that she is pregnant, although she is still nursing the previous offspring.

Important! Animals must always be “in body”, but not swollen with fat-this causes sexual activity in males and females to decrease, babies are born large, their number decreases, childbirth is difficult, and the female can chew them through.

Normally, the female’s weight should increase by no more than 3 kg, and there should be no fat deposits on the stomach, chest and groin area. If this is not the case, the amount of food is reduced by 1/3.

A few days before giving birth, the female refuses to eat.

Video: feeding pregnant nutria

Lactating females

The first few days after whelping, females do not eat anything, then their appetite returns. In order for the milk to have normal fat content, contain enough nutrients, and the puppies not to die from its deterioration, the amount of food is increased by half, and the menu includes:

roots;
grain or mixed feed;
hay, grass meal or fresh grass;
legumes;
fishmeal;
table salt.

Root vegetables along with grain should form the basis of the diet, fresh grass - about 1/5 of it.

Normally, a female should not lose more than 10% of her weight during feeding.

Did you know? In order for the female to feed her cubs without getting out of the water, her nipples are on her sides and not on her stomach.

Young animals

Immediately after birth, babies drink only milk; during this period (on the 2nd day of birth), you can additionally mix root vegetables with feed and give them.
After 2 weeks, they begin to eat the same food as the female, but in smaller quantities. After 6-7 weeks, food is given based on their quantity: for 6 cubs there should be as much food as for 1 female. The diet must include root vegetables, soaked grain, fresh grass or hay, and plenty of water.

Sometimes the female refuses to feed the babies or dies, then they are fed warm, unboiled cow's milk with added glucose through a pipette at intervals of 3 hours, starting at 6.00 and ending at 21.00. After a week, semolina, carrots and apples, grated on a fine grater, and bread crumbs are added to the milk. After 2 weeks, you can give porridge and soaked feed.

Amount of food depending on the age of the puppies:

The first week - 1 g of milk at a time.
Second week - 5 g at a time with 6 meals a day.

Some puppies are born weaker, these need additional feeding.

At the age of 45 days, the young animals are separated from the female. At first they are given the same food as before, gradually switching to a menu for adults. The amount of food gradually becomes larger, and at 4 months the puppies eat the same amount of food as adult nutria.
In order for young animals to grow well, the food must be rich in proteins, so dairy products, fish meal, and meat and bone meal must be added to the food; many are fed concentrated feed with a high protein content. Dry roughage should not make up more than 10% of the menu so that animals grow and do not get fat.

Video: nutria diet

Feeding nutria: reviews from livestock farmers

I noticed that they don’t really respect the green carrots, they go to feed the rabbits, but as soon as they smell the carrots themselves, they start asking for the carrots with their paws. They don’t really like raw potatoes; it’s better to eat boiled ones. They eat apples, but they are not given much preference. Love the watermelon leftovers. They gnaw cabbage leaves, although they don’t eat them completely and litter them heavily. I tried giving aspen branches with leaves, I like the leaves, they don’t bite the branches. I switched to river willow, I just live nearby, I like it too, they eat the leaves, but the branches are left for the rabbits. I tried feeding them sprouted grains, but to be honest, I somehow got them to eat everything. They don’t even eat rye that has grown in the garden. I don’t know what about feeding hay in winter; they don’t take it for food even in summer.

I found in our region where reeds grow, narwhal with roots, young people indulged in it and gave up, adults followed their example. It is not clear how these types of plants, according to the literature, are their delicacy.

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12 once already
helped

In order for animals to gain weight as quickly as possible, they are put on fattening. Fattening is the feeding of animals in an intensive mode in order to increase the quantity and quality of their products. Fattening is done through properly selected, balanced feeding, rich in energy feed, vitamins and micro-macroelements.

Brief information

In appearance, nutria are similar to rats only ten times larger in size. They have a disproportionate physique: a massive head with small eyes and slightly protruding ears, short limbs, and a rather long tail. On average, its body length is from 55-65 cm, tail length is 40-45 cm, live weight ranges from 4.5 to 11 kg. Nutria live not only on land, but also in water, so they have waterproof fur. A distinctive sign of nutria is their incisors are bright orange; they indicate a healthy state of the body.

Year-round ability to reproduce. In one litter, on average, females give birth to 4-5 puppies, 2-3 litters per year. They are amenable to domestication. In homesteads, they are mainly bred for fur, but recently nutria meat has become a real delicacy.

Average weight indicators

At birth, small nutria puppies weigh on average 170-260 grams. If a large number of puppies are born in a litter, their weight decreases. The growth of young animals occurs rather slowly, but under good feeding and maintenance conditions, the puppies grow strong and show high daily growth.

Interesting fact! Growth intensity is observed up to 7-8 months, then growth slows down significantly, especially during the onset of puberty.

Adult females and males weigh 6-6.5 and 7-8 kilograms, respectively, but in some cases the weight can reach 9-10 kg. Table 1 shows data on the growth dynamics of females and males in the period from birth to 1 year.

Nutria age	Female weight (kg)	Male weight (kg)
At birth	0,15	0,17
10 days	0,3	0,4
20 days	0,5	0,6
30 days	0,7	0,8
50 days	1,1	1.2
2 months	1,4	1,7
3 months	2	2,3
4 months	2,5	3,1
5 months	3,3	4
6 months	4	4,7
7 months	4,5	5,5
8 months	5	6
9 months	5,2	6,3
10 months	5.8	6,9
11 months	6,1	7,1
12 months	6,3	7,5

Briefly about the nutrition of nutria in natural conditions. Green food is the main component of the nutria diet and a real treat for them. They love reeds, cinquefoil, reeds, plant rhizomes, water lilies, cattails and other aquatic vegetation. In some cases, insects may be consumed as food.

Annual feed requirements of adults:

green feed – 45-55 kg;
concentrated or mixed feed – 55-65 kg;
root tuber crops – 90-100 kg;
herbal flour – 9-12 kg;
processed waste of grains and legumes – 4-6 kg;
table salt – 0.6-0.8 kg.

Feeding animals at home

When breeding nutria, you first need to determine the type of feeding that is most suitable for them, and also economically beneficial for you.

In fur farming there are 4 main types of feeding:

dry feeding, the use of specialized feed brand K-91-1 is recommended;
mixed feeding, frequency of feeding twice a day: in the morning - concentrated feed or compound feed (70% of the norm), in the evening - 30% of the norm with the addition of green feed and root crops;
separate feeding, different types of feed are fed at different feeding times;
wet mash, which is based on wet feed, root tubers, crushed grain, grass meal.

When choosing a dry type of feeding, the following structure can serve as an approximate diet for nutria:

barley – 44-47%;
corn – 38-41%;
Sunflower meal – 7-9%;
feed yeast – 5%;
chalk – 0.4%;
table salt – 0.4%.

The diet must include a vitamin complex, which is most often found in vegetables. Nutria are very fond of carrots, boiled potatoes, cabbage, turnips, zucchini, Jerusalem artichoke, beets and rutabaga.
When feeding green food, you can use garden vegetation, plantain, clover, dandelions, corn stalks, and quinoa. If possible, add tree branches: birch, willow, oak, spruce. But be careful, celandine, hellebore, hemlock, and foxglove are poisonous crops for nutria.

What you need to gain weight quickly

When fattening animals, dry feeding is used. The balance of feed in terms of energy, protein, fiber, glucose and minerals is taken into account. Young animals gain weight well on concentrated diets with a ratio of 1:4 or concentrated diet structures, which contain up to 15% digestible protein, 7% animal proteins. The amount of fat in the feed is 3.5-5.5%, approximately 5-10 grams per head per day. Include vitamins A, D, K, E, C and B vitamins in your diet.

It is recommended to soak grain feed in slightly salted water in summer, and to steam it or feed sprouted grain in winter. Most often, root tuber crops are fed at noon, green food in the afternoon, and roughage (hay) at night. The quality of the feed is also taken into account; it must always be fresh. It is necessary to provide clean drinking water or snow in winter. With a sharp increase in the weight of the animal, it is necessary to reduce the consumption of starchy vegetables.

To achieve more effective results in fattening, maintenance technologies should be followed so that animals do not experience stressful situations. It is necessary to establish optimal temperature conditions and lighting, create silence and tranquility in the room. Clean cages daily. It is worth noting that the use of tin feeders is prohibited, since upon contact with such material, harmful, toxic compounds arise.

With proper adherence to feeding and maintenance technologies, the slaughter yield will be 50-53% of live weight. The weight of an adult carcass is 2.2-3.2 kg, of young animals at 7-8 months of age – 1.4-2.1 kg.