The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: arusse23 on May 08, 2011, 07:48:57 pm
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I am about to order a mix in for our GOS. Can anyone weigh up the pros and cons between bruised oats, bruised barley and flaked maize? We intend to make up their mix from 80% oats/barley/maize and 20% from soya bean meal. Obviously there are price differences between the materials however I am not aware of the nutritional differences.
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anything bruised has a limited shelf life.
if u mix it yourself apparently u need a license (!!!). but u can layer or put in separate conatiners.
barley apparently tends to fatten animals which for pigs isnt too good.
our harbro pig nuts are barley based, another brand we had (allen & page i think)was wheat based and they claimed to be for slower growing traditional breeds. find a book on horse nutrition, they will give u all the knowledge on grain values.
i remember when coarse mixes first came out (20 yrs ago) our boss made us separate every single pea, bean oat, barley, maize etc and weigh them etc so she could recreate her own mixes...took ages...lol
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i remember when coarse mixes first came out (20 yrs ago) our boss made us separate every single pea, bean oat, barley, maize etc and weigh them etc so she could recreate her own mixes...took ages...lol
Now that is dedication (notice she left it to the workers rather than do it herself) ;D
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The GOS are kept on an equine farm and the guy who sorts the feed for the horses uses maize primarily as it is cheaper with (apparently) a superior nutritional value. He also said that the thinking in the equine world is split into two camps when it comes to bruised material. Some reckon that it has to be bruised or it will pass through the animal and others reckon that if it is bruised a large amount of nutrition is lost and what the animal gains is minimal. Therefore although for example 70% of the whole grains pass through the animal the nutrition uptake from the remaining 30% is greater than 100% of the bruised grain.
Can anyone confirm if this applies to pigs?
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Do you need a licence to make feed if it is only for your own smallholding and personal consumption?
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yes
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Hi,
you need to apply to your environmental health officer who will give you all the info you need, then they will issue you with a mixing certificate
HTH
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On our course we were told that bruised grains should be fed to pigs as whole grains pass through whole. I do know that with Digby he can digest whole cooked sweetcorn but when on occasion he has polished off the duck's whole grain feed particularly maize passes straight through.
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cooking softens the grains and aids digestion
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Yes, whole grains will pass straight through (as we discovered after a break out and a bag of wheat :o))
and just to confirm what everyone else has said you will need to be licenced to mix your own.
Hope that helps ?
Karen
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rather than starting a new thread...
is wheat bran any use as pig feed?
My friend used to feed her kunes bran she told me.
I can't see any nutritional info on the label (It was chucking it down, and its a paper sack!) but was given it in leiu of pig meal (awaiting delivery)
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I used to feed wheat feed pellets LB, not sure if it's the same thing ??? Lower protein content apparently :-\(but just remember there are differences between Kune Kune's and 'big' pigs requirements ;))
Karen :-*
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Funny that sweetcorn goes straight thro me.............sorry toooooooooo much information.
mandy ;D
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oh i could expand on this and tell facts but i think it would fall on infertile ground :farmer:
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what are your thoughts on a grower diet for GOS of 40% bruised barley 40% bruised oats and 20% soya bean meal?
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by weight or volume?
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I dont catch your drift? I was meaning as a general mix, is that a good start?
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You need to be adding vitamins and minerals.
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Whats the best way to add vitamins and minerals?
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what are your thoughts on a grower diet for GOS of 40% bruised barley 40% bruised oats and 20% soya bean meal?
i meant 40% by volume or weight? a scoop of ground barley would weigh differently to a scoop of whole oats. for example.
you would have to find how much salts and vitamins etc pigs would need, bearing in mind that they can get salt poisoning as they cant sweat. Vitamins ADEK are fat soluble so would b in good quality oil. Seaweed has (i think) vit b? so has marmite etc. vitamins in veg depend on the age of the veg.
if they are free ranging im sure they can supplement their diet to a degree, tho that would be dependant on whats available to them and condition of ground.
the risk you take with mixing your own grains is not getting the protein levels right, which could mean your meat is too fatty etc.
there are books written on this subject im sure. try researching some feed companies and working from there.
:wave: