The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: Castle Farm on November 13, 2011, 05:29:30 pm
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The last time I had anything to do with pigs was about 55 years ago. In them happy days we had a 50 gallon drum under the down pipe off the shed roof and all the food waste from the local cafes and the odd pub was dumped in it.
It was bucketed out into the trough and a scoop of meal was thrown on the top. We had some grand pigs.
I don't trust any bagged feed, as I don't know what the mills put in it. None of my poultry get any pellets or meal only a mixed grain diet.
If I get some pigs is it possible to feed them a grain diet, rolled barley, oats and wheat.along with loads of garden veg (I'm a part time head gardener) and throw huge amounts away every year. I would run them in a small wood...So what's the best way to feed them without buying in nuts/meal :pig:?
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the old way you describe is tottally outlawed you can feed grain only BUT you have to add protein usually in the form of soay meal if you are hell bent on feeding grain only with veg supplement and rooting you are best to get a modern breed Hampshire Duroc pietrain as they don't layer the fat on unless you want a pig with 2-3 inches of fat :farmer:
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A friend of ours makes up there own pig feed to an old recipe that has been passed down. I can't remember the exact details but it was mostly sharps (wheatfeed) with some rolled barley and soya. I think the original actually had fishmeal rather than soya, and I think it has a bit of flaked maize and pea as well. It is then mixed with water and if left will swell up.
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There are some feed companies that state quite clearly what's in it, like Allan &Page Smallholder range. Quite pricey though. I would have thought hat ay organic feed also shows what's in it.
If you have a home source of milk, and possibly whey you can feed that to your pigs, as long as it originates on your holding or get a licence from a local diary/cheesemakers. Should help with the proteins.
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If you home make feed you also have to have a licence to do this. There are some good bagged feeds around, Thompsons of York, Marriages, Farmgate. You could feed the minimum rations of these and top up with veg and grains. You will find if you make your own feeds you will have to buy in soya most of which comes from aborad and is GM, unless you know what you're doing like Robert says you'll end up with either some incredibly lardy pigs or some that have stunted growth because they're not getting the right mix,
There is a download that has all the feed values on it somewhere but can't remember where, maybe someonelse will put it on here for you.
The choice is yours.
HTH
Mandy :pig:
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I grew up on a large pig farm, way back when (we had other animals too but a very large pig herd). We grew our own barley and wheat and bought in grassmeal, fishmeal and dried milk powder (in huge square tins). All this went through the Mill & Mix in proportions appropriate for the age of the pigs and was fed as a mash with water. I have a feeling there was something else which went in in much smaller amounts. Our pigs were baconers so definitely never fat - Danish Landrace. The sows lived outdoors but the litters were kept in pens with an outside run.
Sounds like you would be best to put your trust in one of the reputable feed companies for the meal part of their diet, rather than going to all the bother and expense of milling and mixing your own. :pig: :pig:
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There is a download that has all the feed values on it somewhere but can't remember where, maybe someonelse will put it on here for you.
I know of this one Karen posted on another thread:
http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/index.php?topic=16277.msg179483#msg179483 (http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/index.php?topic=16277.msg179483#msg179483)
and would be very interested in any others that folks know of.
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We buy wheat and beans directly from a nearby farmer and mix them on site. We also feed the pigs lots of free fruit & vegetables.
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So other than buying in expencive bagged pig feed containing soya, that is bound to go up in price, I'm stuffed.
I wonder how we all managed to feed any farm animals, including poultry before they invented bagged feed.
Banning waste food and sending it to landfill seems really stupid to me, but the powers that be make the rules and most of them are idiotic to say the least.
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Personally I'd rather use soya than have another outbreak of FMD or swine fever. Both occured fairly regularly when swill feeding was commonplace. If you don't want to use soya (fishmeal was the preferred option before soya came along but some said it made the meat taste fishy) you can use field beans but you'll need a nutritionist to calculate ratios and advise on necessary trace elements etc that your pigs will need for a balanced diet.
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I wonder how we all managed to feed any farm animals, including poultry before they invented bagged feed.
It was also before globalisation and FMD spreading like wildfire. I can understand why we have to have the rules about no catering waste for pigs - if we didn't we couldn't hope to re-establish an export market for our pork - but like you, I weep at the amount of food we waste that could be producing top class pork.
Personally I'd rather use soya than have another outbreak of FMD or swine fever. Both occured fairly regularly when swill feeding was commonplace.
I don't know about swine fever, but I thought the only other FMD outbreak had been the 1967 one? I'm a Black Country gal, and I remember the 1967 outbreak like only an animal-mad 10-year-old would. I literally screamed when I heard the news bulletin announcing the 2001 outbreak. I can still feel the horror and chill of that moment now.
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early 60s as well :farmer:
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Wasn't there also an outbreak in 2007 ?
So other than buying in expencive bagged pig feed containing soya, that is bound to go up in price, I'm stuffed.
Yup, pretty much :-\
Unless you're licenced to mix feeds you can't even mix your own (even if you did know the mix and trace elements needed)
It does sometimes feel like 'they' are doing everything in their power to put British pig keepers out of business ::) Especially when you hear that 60% of pork eaten in UK is imported and a lot of it would be 'illegal' had it been produced in the UK - it's cheaper than our higher welfare stuff though and that's what drives the import market (sorry - got sidetracked with my rant ::))
Don't dispair thouugh CF ;) There is a breed which will reliably graze without rooting (too much), needs only 1lb of hard feed per pig per day and will be ready by around 10 months - Kune Kunes :thumbsup: Lots of folks don't consider them :( But the pork is fantastic and they're a joy to keep and do far less damage to your fields than other breeds. Not everybodies first choice, but for a low cost, slow grow, pleasureable little pig you can't beat 'em (IMHO) ;)
Karen :wave:
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Mine get pig meal (mixed locally and bought in 600kg tote bags) and whenever the local green grocer phones me to collect the fruit and veg they can't sell they get all that and mine eat as much haylage as they can as there is very little grass in the field now and i add chaff to theire normal amount of wet feed to bulk it up.
I did feed grain and a few other things but mine lost weight (newbie mistake and i didn't take all the advice on board) and i'd only add oats now to keep them full overnight.
I'm no expert and still very much learning
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If they have plenty of greens and enough exercise they don't get too fat.(Like humans !) Pigs kept in small spaces and grown on fast to sell have a completely different diet to free-range domestic pigs.
If you don't mind spending a lot of money for your free range pork you can buy in food. There are very detailed feeding charts from the internet or I'm sure there are other people in the forum who can help.
We consider our pigs as a way of using up some the excess from our smallholding. We wouldn't keep them unless we had enough food on site. We've never bought in feed but we do grow food especially for them. We keep our in several parks of about half an acre each and move them around so that they can feed themselves as much as possible.
How many acres do you have to devote to their parks and how much for growing ?