The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: Azzdodd on February 02, 2013, 01:52:24 pm
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Went out & bought 2 OSB X OLD SPOT boars as an impulse buy.....there 5/6 months old & need a little more feeding before its pork time...the prices are silly I was thinking of feeding on sugarbeet pellets?? They will live outside with pasture and plenty of natural food? Also I get nets of carrots so can feed a bucket off them daily too ? Will they fatten ok? Or should I just pay the price for pig meal
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We feed ours a bit of soaked sugarbeet pellets (I think you always have to soak them for pigs) alongside their pig nuts and a bit of fruit and veg thrown in. Too much sugar beet will make them fat, so while you save on feed costs you might have to pay the butcher extra because they'll be fatter and heavier (but won't actually get any more meat)
They'll not get a lot of protien from natural forraging, think of that as 'enrichment' rather than feeding.
So (short version ;)) by all means give them sugarbeet and carrots - but in addition to their pig nuts, not instead of :thumbsup:
If they're 5 months old, I'd aim for a daily ration per pig of around 3lbs of pig nuts, 1-2 lb of soaked sugar beet and about 4lbs of carrots, split into two meals. Just keep an eye on them (or measure them regularly) to make sure they're growing and not getting too fat and adjust as needed.
HTH
Karen
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Ditto just what i was about to suggest but thought would let HH type it all out first ;D
mandy :pig:
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You don't need to soak sugar beet pellets or shred for pigs you can feed them dry. I used some a while ago as I got them cheap substituted for part of the daily ration and the pigs definitely put on fat.
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Mine have fodder beet whole,as a supplement to their "normal" rations, they love having a chew on them gives them something to do in all this mud ;)
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Oh yeah, mine went nuts for whole, fresh ones ;D You'd get wee piglets trying to run away with huge lumps of beet, sooo funny to watch :roflanim:
We thought they'd like the dried/soaked stuff so we bought a half tonne - they prefer the fresh stuff ::) :D But will still eat the soaked stuff.
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Mine dont like the soaked stuff, probably because we started them on whole beet, they'll pick through and leave the soaked sugar beet :D
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You don't need to soak sugar beet pellets or shred for pigs you can feed them dry. I used some a while ago as I got them cheap substituted for part of the daily ration and the pigs definitely put on fat.
i thought they needed soaking for non-ruminants? it says to soak them on the bag.
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Mine usually don't like it and it's often left. I have now stopped feeding sugarbeet shreds. Much better results with spare (homeproduced) goatsmilk!
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mine wont eat sugar beet pellets dry or soaked its always left and mine are not pampered in anyway .in fact i think they would eat me if i fell in there run/swamp :gloomy:
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Where do you buy whole sugar beets from?
I live in the Forest of dean & I haven't ever seen them for sale.
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ask at your local mart, they normally do a bit of dealing. Its expensive this year around £60 a ton and its iffy about when delivery would be with the bad weather so we didn't get any
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Thanks :thumbsup:
That's Mart as in Livestock Market, I take it? (Forgive me if I sound thick as a plank!)
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My fault... I don't know any other form of mart so assumed there wasn't any other forms
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My KKs love sugarbeet (I've yet to find anything legal that they won't ;) ) & I've always soaked it for at least 12 hours before feeding it to them. I use it to "top-up" over the cold months to help them keep themselves warm - as they live outside year round & only come indoors for farrowing.
Fully grown adult (not nursing) 2lbs nuts/rolls + 1/2 lb sugar beet per day, split into 2 feeds + odd bits of fruit & veg (when the local supermarket has a "special offer"/ end of date).
:love: :pig: :love:
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I fed mine some soaked beet as we had them over the winter and felt they needed a little extra to keep warm. They went to slaughter in the March and were not over fat unlike my first go at pigs the large blacks who were huge due to my lack of knowledge. You live and learn.
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we fed soaked pellets as an extra during winter so they could have extra full bellies in the cold weather. we just put down a full bucket and refilled it when necessary. this doesnt work in warm weather as it goes off too quick.