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Camile · Posted: Sat Apr 11, 2009 10:13 am Post subject: Feeding weaners

Hello guys,

I finally got my weaners 2 days ago .. 2 lovely boars of 11 weeks old. Nice and long with pinchable ham .. boisterous character and all .. (thanks Dara for the tips on what to look for).

They are more or less commercial crosses ... I think there is some landrace/large white/large black and the likes in them ..

Now, they have access almost ad lib to fruit and veg, grass and all on a good run ..

so should I complement their feed with a bit of barley/wheat/soya ?

at the moment they are getting a bit of pig meal like they used to just to prevent changing their food dramatically .. but won't buy that vile stuff ..

If so, any ideas what % protein I should mix it up to ? knowing that they will also get some eggs every now and then ..

I am hoping to have them as fat as can be too because loads of people have trouble finding enough for sausage making .. and I now my lovely butcher was one of them .. so if I could kill 2 birds with one stone that would be ideal.

any ideas or comments on that ?

Thanks,
Camile

patmci · Joined: 28 Jan 2009 Posts: 25

I feed my gloucester old spot on lots of vegetable trims also but they were not putting weight on that quickly so started feeding pig finisher pellets but the pigs were coming back from the butchers to fatty for my customers so decided to start to mix my own feed which the pigs love a lot more than the pellets. I mix it at a ratio off 40% rolled barley 30% flaked maize 15% soya bean meal and 15% mollased Beat pulp pellets. I soak this over night with a lot of water. Hope this is of help.

Regards Patrick

Camile · Posted: Sat Apr 11, 2009 12:20 pm Post subject:

Thanks for that Pat,

What I mean is more to make sure to have plenty of fat on them to be able to make plenty of sausages.

so I was wondering if there was a nack to it ... or simply feed them ad lib ..

can you overfeed a pig ?

and what quantities would you roughly be feeding yours ?

Thanks
Camile

phil · Posted: Sat Apr 11, 2009 1:41 pm Post subject:

I fed my pigs four barley to one soya,which would give you a protein level of about seventeen per cent, ad lib plus eggs veg milk.It depends how much exercise they get as to how much fat they put on.

Camile · Posted: Sat Apr 11, 2009 3:17 pm Post subject:

Hi Phil,

Do you feed them the barley add lib ?

So I guess there is no way to overfeed a pig then ..

There run is at least 20ft long by 10 wide .. will measure it up to see.

Thanks,
Camile

chook · Joined: 14 Mar 2007 Posts: 305 Location: North Clare

patmci · Joined: 28 Jan 2009 Posts: 25

I dont know exact weights but i work it out in buckets. I put 3 scoops of barley into a bucket which fills the bucket nearly half way.I then put 2 scoops of maize in then 1 of beet and 1 of soya. i half 5 gloucester old spot baconers around 9 months old and i feed them this in 2 feeds. This may not sound like much but after a night soaking there is twice the mound of food there than there was. Hope this helps.

Regards Patrick

dara · Joined: 01 Aug 2007 Posts: 186 Location: Mayo

I used to get about 4 ton of waste veg and fruit a week from fyffes in galway. I actually found that feeding large quantities made the meat quite tuff - fine for bacon but not what you want in pork.

chook · Joined: 14 Mar 2007 Posts: 305 Location: North Clare

Just spoke to a friend who's a vet. The rule of thumb for feeding concentrate feed (pellets, grain) to pigs is 1 pound per day per month of life, so
1 month old: 1 pound/day
2 months old: 2 pounds/day
etc.
She also said to remember that pigs unlike all other farm animals have neither fur nor feathers to keep them warm, so they have a higher calorific turnover.

HTH
chook

macconraoi · Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 9:51 pm Post subject:

What we find is when weaners are taken from their mother they need a good start in the form of a high protein diet.If they don't get enough protein early on a poor start will carry on through their lives resulting in a poorer finished pig.

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