The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Introduce yourself => Topic started by: sashadog on October 21, 2012, 10:11:03 pm
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Just an intro to introduce myself and say hello,,,Ive recently acquired 2 Pigs for fattening and then geting butchered,,,All i know about them is what the guy i bought them from has told me about feeding them etc,,,I just want some clarification that i am doing it correctly really,,
They were 10 weeks old when i got them 2 weeks ago,,they seem very content and happy,and seem to have grown in the 2 weeks,,I dont know what bread they are,but they are a whiteish pinky colour with a good bit of black markings on them,,,I am in Ireland by the way,,From looking at the different breads on this site they seem more like the British Saddleback variety,,
I am feeding them 2 ibs of rolled oats and barley mixed with a little scoop of soyafeed added in with it,,twice a day,,,and they also get a good bit of scraps from the house,,,,is this enough/too much ?,,and when should i up the feed if this is enough at present,,,They are outside on grass and seem happy out digging up the grass and getting roots etc,,They have a proper shed to go into with a straw bed,,
Thats all the questions i have at the minute,,and would love some advise and input from yous folks,,thanks,
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I don't know about pigs but there are plenty on here who do so you should have some advice soon. I just wanted to say hi :wave: and welcome.
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Hi sashadog.
The usual rule-of-thumb for free range pigs is 1lb hard feed per pig per month of age up to 4 or 6 months (depending on the model you are following.)
So at 12 weeks, 3lbs per pig per day.
Scraps and fruit/veg, if fed, replaces hard feed at a rate of about 4:1. So if you're feeding 2lbs grain, you'd need 4lbs veg on top of that to replace the other 1lb grain.
They'll grow, alright! :D The thinking is you can almost feed ad lib up to 4 months, and fairly high protein, but at about 4 months, cut the protein back to less than 20%.
Most of us with the non-commercial / rare breeds cap the hard feed at 4lbs per day. They are very prone to getting overfat, so continuing to increase by 1lb/week up to 6lbs will result in excess backfat.
I don't know the rules in Ireland, but in England, Scotland and Wales we are not allowed to feed scraps from the house. Waste from the veg plot is fine.
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Hello
from a wet and cold Whitby - North Yorkshire :wave:
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:wave: Hello from Powys .... wet and in the clouds AGAIN
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Hello and welcome!
Beth
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A belated hello and welcome from durham :wave:
Good luck with your pigs it is always interesting to know how people get on with new projects. :pig: