During the summer drought in south Texas we had two large sounders of pigs eating cotton seed from our deer feed stations. Several people mentioned that if pigs eat cotton seed they can die bc their stomachs cant process the cotton seed. Does anyone know if this is true and/or how much they would have to eat for it to actually kill them?

Did you find any dead carcasses of these piggies?

Not yet

Its not happened at my place so Im not sure how accurate that information is.

I've never seen the hogs eat our cottonseed.

hurricanejake02 said:

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If they could, we'd cover the damn state with cotton seed.

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This.

Cottonseed has a compound that *can be* toxic to livestock - depending on a whole bunch different variables.

Sounds like someone is playing fast and loose with the facts (which is totally human nature, in his defense.)

I don't think we would be having hog problems on deer leases if this was true.

shakenbake said:

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During the summer drought in south Texas we had two large sounders of pigs eating cotton seed from our deer feed stations. Several people mentioned that if pigs eat cotton seed they can die bc their stomachs cant process the cotton seed. Does anyone know if this is true and/or how much they would have to eat for it to actually kill them?

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this is an issue for domestic pigs. it appears that the wild hogs are tough enough to work through it.

Yes many variables have to align for toxicity to be present. It's not much of a concern given how many folks Fred cotton seed meal/hulls/ whole seed to cattle given it's tremendous protein contents.

But you are correct, if certain things align which VERY rarely do, there can be some issues feeding. Whoever is asking about cotton seed killing hogs, fyi, you fed the 40%+ protein feed, they are likely doing just fine!