Do PIGS eat Oranges??

[bwillhunt]

Nala,
From a citrus farmers point of view, you should try and contact the land owner.  There is a good chance it may be bank owned now, do to our land bust. Eitherway you need to get someones permission to access the property.  Citrus farmers are battling several serious diseases currently that are easily spread.  Yes hogs are a problem but these diseases im referring to our Grove killers.  Just because the grove may look abandoned; that may and may not be true.  The cost to keep a manicured grove is very expensive and if not carefully managed can outway the profit.  Please do your proper leg work.  I cant tell you how many times ive approached tresspassors picking fruit, cutting wood, and hunting.  And when I ask what there doing they tell me, know one owns the grove and we can do whatever we want!  They were asked to leave immediately!
Bill

[Robertfishes]

good post Bill, hope alls well down there..my 3 citrus trees produced the smallest oranges I have ever seen,my tangereen tree has half dollar sized fruit..of course the sour orange trees did well..

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Originally posted by Mike Vines:

I never would have thought about rattlesnakes (Buzzworms, I like the nickname)  Something us northen boys don't have to worry about. [/QB][/QUOTE]

I was gonna ask about buzz worms.  Clever name!

[RC]

They will eat the oranges but I`ve never seen a pig eat crabapples.RC

[far rider]

http://www.wimp.com/toogood/
Mudd!

[far rider]

Oops, that didn't work right, was suppose to be laughing at Mudd's comment!

[gregg dudley]

Bill, didn't know you were a citrus grower.  Learn something new everyday.  I am small time, but in addition to the threat of diseases and cost of upkeep add trying to collect money owed by picking/packing companies.

[swampdrummer]

My pigs must be strange as they don't seem to bother with the wild oranges, or lemons or even the tangerines that are growing wild on my place. Of course 3 feeders throwing corn twice a day and enough acorns on the ground this year to choke a,,, pig, may have something to do with it

When I went to Africa in '09 my PH piled up orange peels on the ground in front of the hide. The animals loved those things. I would be willing to bet, after seeing that in Africa, that pigs would scarf up oranges like they were candy.

Bisch

[free2bow]

What about being attracted to diesel fuel?  Has anyone heard of that?

[alligatordond]

We have two types of wild oranges growing in Central/South Florida. 1 is sour and most commonly found. The other is sweet and is harder to find. From my experience the pigs tend to shy away from the sour oranges in favor of the sweet. They will eat every one on the ground and will check the trees frequently when the oranges are dropping. Do not shoot any raccoons you see in the grove. They will knock a bunch of oranges out of the trees and eat a few and leave. They are your friends at that time of the year.

I have hunted a small wild grove of sweet oranges for over 20 years and have had great success on the deer. Deer will also eat the sweet oranges, rind and everything.They won't eat sour oranges, at least not if the sweet are available.I can't remember ever hunting the tress without having hogs come in. It's about as close to a sure thing there is short of a feeder. Not to toot my horn but I wrote an article for TBM a few years ago " Orange Blossum Special" about hunting deer near oranges trees.

A little sidebar: For those of you who find sour oranges useless. They make a GREAT pie. It is made similar to a Key Lime pie. PM me for the recipe, it's very easy.

[Robertfishes]

Don,I remember reading that story. A retired gentleman used to come by and pick some of our sour oranges, he claimed eating them helped with his arthritis..seems like Mojo (marinade) is made with sour oranges too.

[Nala]

These aren't wild, they are planted in a grove and there are HUNDREDS of them.  I have watched for 2 straight years these trees get FULL of oranges and no one picks them.  They are hanging on the trees now.
I have just wondered why they are never picked and thought that they may be the kind of oranges that are not used for human consumption.

Of course I have also thought about whether the pigs like 'em.

Nalajr

[Dave Alaxanian]

If it hits the ground a pig will try to eat it-- if they can swallow it they'll keep eat'n em-

[bwillhunt]

Try squeezeing fresh sour orange juice over a pork back strap as you are grilling it.  It'll make your tung slap your brains out!  Bottled mojo cant even compare to fresh sour orange juice.

Gregg, ya we have citrus and cattle, Dad takes care of the groves full time and my bro and i on the weekends.  Unfortunately 120 ac of citrus wont support itself and three families.

[sswv]

was pig hunting about 14 years ago with a couple friends. one fellow shot a pig in a field, we pulled it to the edge of the field and gutted it. after we were finished we went across the field and stopped to take a breath. while we were shooting the breeze we looked over where we had just gutted his pig and there were two other pigs eating the fresh guts. after that I believe they will eat anything.

[gregg dudley]

Originally posted by bwillhunt:
 Unfortunately 120 ac of citrus wont support itself and three families.

I heard that.  Ten acres won't do much more than aggravate you!  

[Flinttim]

Here ya' go
 http://www.npr.org/2011/01/19/133048536/abandoned-orange-groves-produce-problems-in-florida

[dave19113]

I saw a whitetail eat a bannana I dropped while walking in......so i wouldnt put it past em

[Mint]

Where I go to hog hunt in florida there is an orange grove next door and the hogs love eating the oranges. In the swamp nearby you will come across a lone ornge tree where the hogs must have deposited the seeds after having an orange snack.