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Author Topic: How much is enough/too much?  (Read 2692 times)

egglady

  • Joined Jun 2009
How much is enough/too much?
« on: April 02, 2011, 06:38:46 pm »
We have nearly 7 month old Tamworth pigs.  As per previous threads they have cost us a small fortune to feed over the winter.  Ideally we want them to be porkers rather than baconers but due to cash constraints we had planned to book them into the abbatoir the week after next.

However, we've unexpectedly been given TONS of veg, and also been promised more in a couple of weeks if we want it.  Such a shame didnt get the offer in December eh!!

Any road up, what i want to know is, in folks experience, what ratio of pig nuts to veg can we be giving our girls?  If it's half and half, then according to my calculations we should be able to keep them another month at least.  However, we want lean meat and dont want to just feed if it's going to go to fat.

PS - no potatoes at all in the mix - just brocolli, carrots, cauli, that sort of thing  :pig: :pig: ???

Beewyched

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • South Wales
    • tunkeyherd.co.uk
Re: How much is enough/too much?
« Reply #1 on: April 02, 2011, 07:05:01 pm »
Hiya  :wave:

Just checked if you are anywhere near me - how lucky are you - can't beg, steal or borrow unwanted veg around here  :(

Are your Tamys out on grass?  This time of year I am hardly feeding my Kunes any feed at all, but they are grazers, so it may be different with Tamys (Lillian/Robert where are you?). 

Guess 1/2 & 1/2 ok, but introduce it gradually to avoid the squits  ;)
Tunkey Herd - registered Kune Kune & rare breed poultry - www.tunkeyherdkunekune.com

robert waddell

  • Guest
Re: How much is enough/too much?
« Reply #2 on: April 02, 2011, 07:17:19 pm »
you will nead to be carefull you dont want the meat tasting like cauli :o
whats wrong with doing as planned and getting more weaners
they will skitter more with hard feeding than veg but fart more with veg :wave: :wave:

egglady

  • Joined Jun 2009
Re: How much is enough/too much?
« Reply #3 on: April 02, 2011, 07:48:12 pm »
not sure more weaners right now work for us lillian, as the tammies have eaten up all the grass and their area looks a bit like a war zone right now!!

robert waddell

  • Guest
Re: How much is enough/too much?
« Reply #4 on: April 02, 2011, 07:51:54 pm »
all pig pens look like a war zone just now  :wave:

Eve

  • Joined Jul 2010
Re: How much is enough/too much?
« Reply #5 on: April 02, 2011, 09:03:20 pm »
If it's mainly low-sugar veg then they'll be eating mostly crunchy water ;)  Carrots and tomatoes can be high in sugars, though. Still, they'll probably just run it off.

We get tons of cucumbers, which the pigs can have as much of as they want given cucumbers' nearly nil calorie content. The hundreds of bananas we get... well, that's another matter!  :D


Lucky you!  :wave:

Beewyched

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • South Wales
    • tunkeyherd.co.uk
Re: How much is enough/too much?
« Reply #6 on: April 02, 2011, 09:15:19 pm »
Oh I'm just soo jealous of you folks getting all these nice, FREE, goodies for your pigs  ;)
Tunkey Herd - registered Kune Kune & rare breed poultry - www.tunkeyherdkunekune.com

Eve

  • Joined Jul 2010
Re: How much is enough/too much?
« Reply #7 on: April 02, 2011, 09:37:38 pm »
Yes, but where I live I'm not just near free goodies, I'm also forking out a lot of money for renting a bit of a field :( I could buy the pigs a lot of fruit & veg from the rent money  ;)

 :wave:

Beewyched

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • South Wales
    • tunkeyherd.co.uk
Re: How much is enough/too much?
« Reply #8 on: April 02, 2011, 09:49:13 pm »
How much per acre is it over with you Eve? This way it's £27 per acre  :-\
Tunkey Herd - registered Kune Kune & rare breed poultry - www.tunkeyherdkunekune.com

Eve

  • Joined Jul 2010
Re: How much is enough/too much?
« Reply #9 on: April 02, 2011, 10:48:39 pm »
£27 per acre? For how long a period is that? We pay more per month for a pen not anywhere near an acre, far from it. We're lucky our pigs aren't meant to make us much money  ;)

But hurray, a solution is at hand: there's a paddock for sale within walking distance from where I live. It's just over 7,000 square meters so around 1.75 acres, plenty for my pigs and I can have goats and cattle as well! Oh.... it's for sale at £70,000... :o... Seventy thousand pounds... Maybe not then...  :(



egglady

  • Joined Jun 2009
Re: How much is enough/too much?
« Reply #10 on: April 03, 2011, 09:28:37 pm »
everything is just soo expensive nowadays isnt it!

Beewyched

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • South Wales
    • tunkeyherd.co.uk
Re: How much is enough/too much?
« Reply #11 on: April 04, 2011, 09:42:28 am »
Yep, it's so frustrating - it's really difficult to get land  :(
We have 2 acres on our rented holding 1/2 of which is woodland.  Our front "garden" is orchard - where I keep my bees/vegetable garden/planned duck & chicken space.  We also keep our original chucks free-ranging from a house in the yard.  We are fortunate to have use of 2 old cow byres, one of which has a small paddock & access to the woods - where we kept the pigs over the winter.  The dogs have the run of the other one when we are out during the day - a "luxury" dog run  ;D
We have found it really difficult to rent land for the pigs - all the land is farmed around here & I think the landowners are worried about the pigs turning their land into the something like the Battle of the Somme  ::)
On the rare occassion land for rent becomes available it's in HUGE (well to us) amounts of 30 acres upwards (mainly loys of 100 plus)  & we wouldn't be able to afford to stock it to make it feasible.
We have managed to rent 4 acres (£108 per month) - but it is 5 miles away, so takes-up extra time, fuel money etc to go across & check on them every day.  The owners are great & are there most of the day.  We were very fortunate, they love the pigs & "count" them 3 times a day, so we know they are safe. We only need half of it for the pigs, so are hoping to get some rare breed sheep this year to make full use of it (I did work with sheep about 30 years ago - so hope it comes back  :D )
We don't want to make a business out of our holding - just try & cover costs (my OH works full-time & I've been "in-between contracts" for 4 months now) realistically it's just an expensive hobby at the mo (& bl**dy hard work).
Oh dear - I sound so negative - but I do love it.  :love: :pig: :chook: :dog: :bee:
Tunkey Herd - registered Kune Kune & rare breed poultry - www.tunkeyherdkunekune.com

 

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