We have 6 free range pigs on two small pastures; 2 Tamworth's (one sow and one boar) and two Berkshire sows and also two Large Black gilts that currently occupy what was previously our vegetable garden, on our small hobby farm in SW Ontario (Canada) that we feed a combination of “Free Real Foods” we pick up from a re-use network we created and nurture. The most recent food group we are trying is fresh spent grains (from a small local beer brewer) to add to our fresh fruits and vegetables (end of sale day from a large local market, a high end restaurant vegetable/fruit and bread kitchen scraps and whole milk from our neighbours' dairy farm, mixed in with their fresh water daily. (Both these practices are not technically legal, but well monitored and doable on such a small scale). We also buy a mineral/vitamin mix and whole corn feed for supplements as needed (colder weather, lactation + in-between real food pickups) and supplement with various types of fresh seasonal nuts and garlic (which are also natural de wormers) . We never feed any type of meats. Making sure our pigs have the right nutrition intake is always on my mind as this unconventional feeding is more difficult to monitor than store bought feeds. I wish I fully understood the ratios and value of each separate food group (pasture throughout the seasons and everything else in this mixture, but its not an exact science) We have free range laying hens out there too so the odd egg and their droppings must get into the mix too!
The spent grain addition to our feeding regime offers extra eating time/quantity over quality to satiate their never ending desire to eat as well as the added value of proteins / fiber in grains. As we are utilizing a small brewing operation, their efficiency is lower, thus there is more value in their grains and they brew a variety of beers, thus a variety of types of spent grains. Our pigs like the wet grains. Our boar will roll in it, but he also does this with the vegetable kitchen scrapes too, although I have no idea why. The buckets of grains are heavy, wet + warm, fragrant and break down quickly in the hot weather (as do the fresh fruit and vegetables) so our farm can have strong compost like odors, at times. We (my husband and I) spend a fair amount of time each week picking up these items locally, so our fuel + truck expenses could be equal to the costs of purchasing processed feeds but the whole process seems to be working as we have healthy, happy pigs?