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bulworthy project

Joined: 27 Jun 2011
Posts: 188
Location: Rackenford, Devon

Posted: Tue Mar 11, 14 6:21 pm Post subject: Free Pig Food

We are going to be getting 2 weaners in 6 weeks. They were born today. We have never had pigs before.

We want to feed them mainly on free food.

Looking on the internet grass, hay or silage seems to be a good option for part of their diet.

We have a lot of acorns and beechnuts.

We have an area of bracken that we want rooting up.

During mushroom season we will have the trimmings from ceps, chantrelle etc.

Also of course we have vegetable waste from the garden.

We're really interested in what experience anyone has of these food sources, what to beware of etc...

Rob R

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York

Posted: Tue Mar 11, 14 6:29 pm Post subject: Re: Free Pig Food

bulworthy project wrote:

Looking on the internet grass, hay or silage seems to be a good option for part of their diet.

Yes, you do hear that from time to time but 1) it's not free and 2) pigs are monogastric animals, and omnivorous, like us, and as such need high quality forages such as legumes to really get decent nutrition from it. It can act as a supplement, for a high quality concentrate feed, but anything low quality will just be taking up space in the gut and not actually doing them much good. Better to get a sheep or two if you have significant amounts of grass or silage to get rid of. The idea that pigs will eat forage seems to be extra justification for keeping them free range in open grass paddocks when they're really naturally at home in your kind of environment - woodlands & scrub.

bulworthy project

Joined: 27 Jun 2011
Posts: 188
Location: Rackenford, Devon

Posted: Tue Mar 11, 14 6:53 pm Post subject:
We have a small are of grass that needs to be kept down. Currently we have no use for the grass. If we had sheep they would have to be fed mainly from bought in feed.

pollyanna

Joined: 03 Nov 2012
Posts: 221

Posted: Tue Mar 11, 14 6:58 pm Post subject:
Pigs are not grazers. If you want a smooth sward you have chosen the wrong animal. They will dig it up and not in a smooth way! Me, I love pigs. If you want them to thrive they need high-quality food. And that's expensive.

RichardW

Joined: 24 Aug 2006
Posts: 8443
Location: Llyn Peninsular North Wales

Posted: Tue Mar 11, 14 7:02 pm Post subject:

bulworthy project wrote:

We have a small are of grass that needs to be kept down. Currently we have no use for the grass. If we had sheep they would have to be fed mainly from bought in feed.

Dont worry you will soon have no grass.

It will all be rooted up.

Shan

Joined: 13 Jan 2009
Posts: 9075
Location: South Wales

Posted: Tue Mar 11, 14 7:23 pm Post subject:
Actually, our kune kunes graze quite extensively. Jabba occasionally digs especially along the hedge line for fallen nuts. Piglet couldn't be bothered to dig.

gythagirl

Joined: 18 Feb 2010
Posts: 1467
Location: Somerset

Posted: Tue Mar 11, 14 7:29 pm Post subject:

Pigs are great, good fun & characterful, BUT, exactly as the others have said - they don't seem to regard grass as food! They are mobile earth-turners and trash your grassy enclosure before they go off for slaughter, particularly in a wet season or your land is heavy. I'm no expert but my pig books recommend pig pellets (or you can mix your own straights), we supplement with windfall apples and stuff like spent runner bean vines, however someone on ds told me that every lb of concentrate is the equivalent of 6lbs of greenstuff or other non-concentrate.

Rob R

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York

Posted: Tue Mar 11, 14 7:30 pm Post subject:

bulworthy project wrote:

We have a small are of grass that needs to be kept down. Currently we have no use for the grass. If we had sheep they would have to be fed mainly from bought in feed.

The same goes for the pigs. They'll enjoy rooting it up & despite what I've heard on the internet about pigs not destroying pasture, every outdoor pig pen I've ever seen in real life has been a mud pit or dust bowl, depending upon the weather.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46360
Location: yes

Posted: Tue Mar 11, 14 7:30 pm Post subject:
plough the grass and plant roots ?

Rob R

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York

Posted: Tue Mar 11, 14 8:03 pm Post subject:
Regarding the trimmings and extras, I'd say it's best to treat them as additions to make the diet for the animals more varied and interesting. Cut back on the feed slightly when you have a lot available but treat that as a slight saving, rather than a replacement. As the saying goes, there's no such thing as a free lunch.

bulworthy project

Joined: 27 Jun 2011
Posts: 188
Location: Rackenford, Devon

Posted: Tue Mar 11, 14 8:17 pm Post subject:

Rob R wrote:

bulworthy project wrote:

We have a small are of grass that needs to be kept down. Currently we have no use for the grass. If we had sheep they would have to be fed mainly from bought in feed.

We're not thinking about putting them out on the grass. It's species-rich culm grassland. It needs to be cut or grazed for habitat management. We've read a lot on the internet about people feeding grass cuttings to pigs as part of a mix. Do you think that it is advantagous, detrimental or neutral to the pigs to be thrown the cuttings as part of a mix.

Our main thinking is that like our chickens which live mainly on the stuff that they forage we are not prepared to feed our pigs on imported soya.

Ty Gwyn

Joined: 22 Sep 2010
Posts: 4613
Location: Lampeter

Posted: Tue Mar 11, 14 8:32 pm Post subject:
At 6wks of age,without some high protein your going to end up with dog food. Sorry to be blunt ,but there`s so much rubbish on the internet,i`d advise you to get a good old book,if there`s no local advise available.

Nick

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 34535
Location: Hereford

Posted: Tue Mar 11, 14 8:33 pm Post subject:
It's bulk. They won't digest grass, and gain any nutrition from it. Eta, if you've got things like alfalfa, or protein rich greens in there, it'll help but not enough. Is there a dairy or brewery near you?

Rob R

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York

Posted: Tue Mar 11, 14 10:04 pm Post subject:

bulworthy project wrote:

Rob R wrote:

bulworthy project wrote:

We have a small are of grass that needs to be kept down. Currently we have no use for the grass. If we had sheep they would have to be fed mainly from bought in feed.

Whether it is deterimental to them depends upon what else they're getting. It could be advantageous if they're on a highly digestible feed such as a high protein pellet or milk waste, as it'll add a bit in indigestible fibre. If they're on a medium to low quality feed, such as just mixed waste food scraps, it could be deterimental, as it'll act as a filler. If they're on a medium quality feed, such as a mixture of straights (barley, wheat and/or peas/beans) and kitchen it'll be pretty neutral - giving them something to root & chew on.

I used to feed straights soaked for 24 hours to make them more palatable, before getting a mill, thereafter milling and feeding wet. It isn't easy and certainly not cheap to avoid GM and imported soya in ready made feeds, cheaper but still slightly tricky if buying in the ingredients. If you are mixing your own though, you do need to be registered as feed producer with the local council - nothing too onerous, and, like for meat production, most people probably don't bother, as the council have enough on their plates dealing with more commercial operations without chasing up on smallholders.

For a start I'd say don't worry too much about the imported stuff, as it's better and more efficient to get them off to a good start on high quality feed, and then make the cuts when they're older, eating more and less efficient as feed convertors anyway.

bulworthy project

Joined: 27 Jun 2011
Posts: 188
Location: Rackenford, Devon

Posted: Wed Mar 12, 14 11:04 am Post subject:
I forgot to mention that we're growing jerusalem artichokes. We've read that these are good for pigs. What do you think of these as pig food? What else would you grow?

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