The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: timberdog on August 22, 2016, 06:05:50 pm
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Need some advise on finishing pigs
I know this can be a art form /knack but has anyone got any formatts on daily food intake to finish pigs...ie not too much fat layers and not too little?
Again i know it also can take a keen eye!any tips or food rashions welcome
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Well, we've had large blacks, gloucester old spots and british saddlebacks.... we've taken them all off at 24 weeks (or thereabouts)...we've never used finishers but have kept to growers' pellets at the rate of 450g per dy for each month of age.... very happy with the results....
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I always fed our traditional breeds on sow and weaner nuts rather than growers or finishers (that's what the breeder always starts them on so I just kept on with it) and that seems to help, ours never came out toooo fat thought they were always 'nicely rounded'!
The pound of food per month of age up to 5 months also seemed to work well, but you do have to be disciplined about it. They got whatever fruit and veg bits from the garden as treats rather than more nuts (but easy for me to say having a group of teenagers that I can send off during a lesson to find acorns and blackberries :D )
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By 18 weeks of age my finishers are getting as many 16% sow & weaner nuts as they can finish in 10 minutes.
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I don't mean to jump on your thread....but reading through the comments, does everyone feed nuts/compound feeds to their piggies? We only have two and have been feeding ours 450g for each month of age on grower/finisher pellets (they are kept outside allowing them to forage and have access to an ark) but at 4 months old they are getting through a 20kg bag in 5 days, making a monthly feed spend of circa £50! Which makes keeping them more expensive than purchasing a butchered pig (yes I know it's not really the point) but it's rather expensive in comparison. Does anyone mix there own feed? Or am I feeding mine incorrectly?
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We've just started getting bulk stock feed potatoes (last years, cuts, chitted, bruised, etc...) by the ton, and now we have a trailer we'll get other bulk veg and apples as available. We'll split their feed 50:50 with this stuff which should reduce costs nicely.
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Seven Acres, I get 25kg bags for £8 so might be worth shopping around? Or if you can buy by the pallet, even better, but I know it's often not an option when you've only got two! Could you split a bulk delivery with somebody else in your area?