Community pigs fed brewery's waste malt

The Gloucester Old Spot pigs enjoy the waste malt in their diet

A brewery is supplying some of its spent malt to community-owned pigs to keep the animals well-fed.

Stroud Brewery in Brimscombe, Stroud, is supplying Thrupp Community Pig Club in Gloucestershire with the nutritious waste product.

The community project has three Gloucester Old Spot Pigs who are looked after by a collective of farmers.

“The malt helps us supplement their diet, meaning we need to buy less pig food, keeping the costs down” said Liz Gibson, organiser of the project.

The pigs are looked after by a group of farmers

The piglets were bought by the club just off London Road from a local farmer and taken to their new secure and spacious paddock.

They will be looked after for roughly six months by eight families who have purchased either a quarter or a half of a pig and share care duties such as feeding before they are killed for meat products.

Greg Piley, founder and MD of Stroud Brewery, said: "Malt's an essential ingredient in beer-making so there's a lot of spent malt at the end of brewing.

"But this still contains a lot of nutrients and goodness, so it'd be terrible to just throw it all into landfill.

"For many years, we've given it to local farmers to feed their livestock but it's great being able to donate some of it to help a community project just up the road from the brewery and put it into the local food cycle."

For the pigs, the used malt is a source of fibre and protein.

For the owners it is a helpful way for them to manage the costs that come with purchasing pig nuts, a feed containing essential vitamins.

All of Stroud Brewery’s malt is repurposed, it’s either given to local farmers for their livestock or to the Thrupp pigs as part of the brewery’s sustainable way to manage its waste.

There are also plans to turn the green area adjacent to Charlea Gardens in Brimscombe, in which the pigs' spacious 0.4 acre paddock sits, into a community hub, with a natural play area and shared farming space.