The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: katog on June 26, 2011, 09:40:56 am
-
How do you feel about giving GM feed to the pigs?
-
I really wish I didn't have to, but with just one pig and a busy farm to run I haven't worked out how not to.
Maybe if we get a litter and rear a few and it all goes well I will have a look into sourcing ingredients and making up my own rations. Probably someone will tell me this constitutes mixing and I will need a license... Which brings me back to my first answer.
-
The Farmgate feed is GM Free which is a reason for me not to change.
-
I use Farmgate for that reason for hens, sheep and cattle BUT I am concerned that the ingredients may be sourced from places like South America.
-
Both Dodson & Horrell and Allen & Page make GM free pig feed - a little pricey, but if you've only got a few & concerned about what's in their feed. Allen & Page also make the Pot Bellie/Kune Kune mix too ;)
:love: :pig: :love:
-
Dodson & Horrell's pig food is GM free, as is Allen & Page's range - not sure how the prices compare though (like Sally, I don't have huge amounts of time to research it)
I can understand where you're coming from Katog, wanting to be GM free - but for me Farmgate's attitude to the mouldy feed issue and having the choice of potentially losing weaners -v- not losing weaners took priority over being GM free for the moment.
Karen x
-
We're currently paying £10.80 for the KK mix & £11.30 for the Sow & Weaner - it's a bu@@er getting anyone to stock it around here, so there's not much pricing competition ::)
-
We're paying £7.30 for the Carrs Billington feed - though not through Carrs, it's more expensive from them ::)
Our supplier no longer stocks Farmgate, but when they did it was a similar price. I can find Farmgate sow & weaner online at £7.50, grower £8.60. http://www.bocmpaulsonline.co.uk/farmgate/pig (http://www.bocmpaulsonline.co.uk/farmgate/pig) Presumeably the feeds are a similar price in a store and no delivery charge (just your own fuel.)
D&H pig feed would seem to be around £9.25 - £9.60. £10.80 for the pot-bellied / KK version.
A&P online sow pencils 15% protein £9.60. Incidentally, their sheep and cattle feeds in 20kg bags are just about double what all our local suppliers charge for 25kg bags - but the feed won't be so 'right on' of course.
I do have local stockists of A&P and D&H, although I think I would have to order pig feed through them; I've never seen it on the shelves.
-
Well, I've just pre-sold a porker but only if they're fed GM-free food. Hrmph.
I'm actually inclined now to research making up my own rations; I'd prefer knowing what they were eating and where it came from anyway. I can get as much organic whey as I want (although they're the people who want a GM-free porker - so I'll be paying for that whey in one way or another!) , spoil spuds at £1/25kg+ sack. Windfall apples but there don't seem to be as many about this year.
I haven't managed to find a veg shop or supermarket willing to let me have spare / dead veg and fruit, sadly, so I guess I'll have to buy everything else in.
I guess I need some barley or triticale? Peas? Cabbages I could probably get by the tonne, turnips too.
-
I've never spent much time researching it Sally (put off by the need for licensing, ability to ensure all the right protiens etc are present and in the right amounts etc) but there are loads of articles on it if you google.
I think there's a bit in the Andy Case book about mixing straights.
One thing the chap at the QMS course said was that soya is the most efficent provider of protein in terms of the amount of protien -v- the amount of food stuff. For example, to gain the required amount from peas you'd probably end up giving your pigs the runs by the time they ate the required amount - so it would be a balancing act between the protien sources.
But having said all that, there's a guy in USA who's raising fatteners on pasture (specially selected & planted) with the addition of whey to their diet for lysine - it is possible, of course it is ;) it's just weighing up if the time, effort and expense is worth it :-\
Look out for veg processing plants - is there somewhere that makes fruit salads & veggie bags ? Local allotment or orchard group ? fruit & veg wholesalers or markets ?
Grains need to be rolled I think, or else they pass straight though 'em ;)
Let us know how you get on - if I find any other info I'll pass it on to you and congratulations on your first sale :thumbsup:
Karen :wave:
-
Here's the info I could remember reading - seems very comprehensive ;)
http://www.britishpigs.org.uk/Newcastle_handbook_of_raw_materials.pdf (http://www.britishpigs.org.uk/Newcastle_handbook_of_raw_materials.pdf)
-
Here's the info I could remember reading - seems very comprehensive ;)
http://www.britishpigs.org.uk/Newcastle_handbook_of_raw_materials.pdf (http://www.britishpigs.org.uk/Newcastle_handbook_of_raw_materials.pdf)
interesting reading
-
the thing is with mixing your own feeds is this, if you actualy mix them you need a millers licence, if you place the seperate ingredient in layers in the trough then you dont need a millers licence, the animal does the mixing.
-
Here's the info I could remember reading - seems very comprehensive ;)
http://www.britishpigs.org.uk/Newcastle_handbook_of_raw_materials.pdf (http://www.britishpigs.org.uk/Newcastle_handbook_of_raw_materials.pdf)
Thanks Karen, you're a star. I had seen this a few weeks back but couldn't find it again when I looked.
the thing is with mixing your own feeds is this, if you actualy mix them you need a millers licence, if you place the seperate ingredient in layers in the trough then you dont need a millers licence, the animal does the mixing.
:thumbsup: ;) ;D
-
Hi
we had exactly the same issue with our pigs, but as we also breed and show our pedigree tamworths we spent quite a while investigating and eventually found Marriages feeds. All of their feeds are none- GM and they are grown on their own farm in the East of England, so we know where the feed is coming from. All feed is also milled on their premises. Feed is either available through stockists, or they will deliver if you are happy to buy in larger quantities. They have a web-site www.marriagefeeds.co.uk (http://www.marriagefeeds.co.uk) :thumbsup:
-
Marriages feed is good, but not cheap and we can't source it locally. We have some friends who mix their own feed - if you're interested pm me and I'll give you their contact details
-
I'd contacted Marriages a couple of weeks ago for prices, they were coming in around £380 per tonne, delivered. I didn't think that was much more expensive than the Carrs Billington stuff (I'm sure when I priced it, it worked out around £9 a bag) - it's around the same as Harbro and Farmgate stuff. The only problem was the 2 week lead time - I'm not always that organised & love the fact that East Coast Viners in Stonehaven can get it to me next day or the day after usually ;)
Karen :wave:
-
We buy Argo sow & weaner (25kg-£7.35) direct from them in penistone,Barnsley.
-
we buy local here in Cheshire its £7.35 also
& gm free
talked to the manager he said there no shotage of grain put
due to bankers buying grain in bulk holding onto it to force the price up
-
the majority of soya comes from either north america or south america and is not gm free :farmer:
-
Some GM free feeds use European soya which is still, thankfully, GM free.
The "green" credentials of feeds containing soya from across the Atlantic must be questionable even if they are GM free or organic. It's difficult to know what to do for the best.
-
You can't guarantee any food is absolute 100% GM free, due to cross pollination. So no matter how much GM free food you buy statistically can't be GM free. If you read closely on a lot of feed labels it will say "cannot guarantee GM free"
Also surely having some GM food is better than having cereal or soya from 1000's of miles away with massive CO2 emissions from Canada or South America etc.
-
Marriages feed is good, but not cheap and we can't source it locally. We have some friends who mix their own feed - if you're interested pm me and I'll give you their contact details
I've sent you a PM, TD - now there's not just me but also a chap who's buying two of my weaners interested in (a) non-GM (me, for a customer for pork) and (b) incorporating available feedstuffs into the diet (him - they have crop surpluses he'd like to use up and I am very keen he gets it right for the sake of 'my babies' and also so that he gets great pork and bacon and comes back for some more weaners next year!)
Cheers, Sally
-
You can't guarantee any food is absolute 100% GM free, due to cross pollination. So no matter how much GM free food you buy statistically can't be GM free. If you read closely on a lot of feed labels it will say "cannot guarantee GM free"
Also surely having some GM food is better than having cereal or soya from 1000's of miles away with massive CO2 emissions from Canada or South America etc.
Surely you can if the whole country is GM free?
My opinion, for what it's worth, is no GM. Once that genie's out of the bottle there's no going back. Maybe the smart boys in the backroom need to find a way of avoiding both GM and imports from 1000s of miles away.
-
that will be back to animal derived protein they are just waiting for the opportunity to reintroduce it :farmer:
-
As Robert says, already being talked about re-introducing animal protein, albeit very carefully controlled, inter species (eg only chicken to pigs), and only from approved manufacturers.
Now being called "Co-Pro - Short for Co-Product Protein, a feedstuff for pigs made from pasteurised poultry protein and soon to be introduced under European Union law, formerly known as meat-and-bonemeal." - Quote from NPA website
-
Surely you can if the whole country is GM free?
I think I need briefing on where the UK is on all of this. Googling I get lots of stuff about Wales declaring itself GM-free but not all regions in Scotland nor England - but does this declaration mean no GM to be imported or only no GMOs to be grown?
I thought I knew that there had been field trials in England?
My opinion, for what it's worth, is no GM. Once that genie's out of the bottle there's no going back. Maybe the smart boys in the backroom need to find a way of avoiding both GM and imports from 1000s of miles away.
I have used the 'genie out the bottle' simile myself - but I think it's out already. :(
-
we dont stand a chance the pigs are kept humanely fed gm feeds and imported with a Scottish flag on the box i no a farmer who has there farm on the meat boxes and import from Europe and sold att farm markets .i went to 1 last week i looked att the spuds they had peat mixt inn the cabages were white underneath to much fertilizer .the chickin feed iss 4 euros laying pellets corn 5 euros we need to get a grip and let us feed gm and stop imports and look after our own folk .most hens are kept humanely in square cage system and hens are fed gm who checks.
-
I have struggled with this GM thing for a long while, originally i used High peak feeds which was GM free but their mill was at the time in organic conversion, when they went completely organic i couldn't afford to use them and had to look round for a new supplier, in the end i bit the bullet and i do use feed that has GM soya, it is increasingly difficult to find a supply that doesn't use it as all imported soya is GM, the organic makers clean up any non-gm. In the end i opted for Thompsons of York who are relatively local to me, read their ingredients list and their website, most of their straights are grown locally and they had the least GM content that i could see, i currently pay £299 tonne pallet(40bags) delivered. They deliver to as far down as Derbyshire and Notts and upto the borders i believe. Service is excellent, order on a monday and you'll have it by friday, i also have a bad back as many of you know and on my last delivery came home to find the driver had stacked all the bags in my feed store for me, :thumbsup:now thats service above & beyond. their tel 01904488388.
HTH
Mandy :pig: