[chickens]

Hi
We have recently taken our GOS piglets, one boy and one girl, age 9.5 months to the abbattoir and were surprised to learn they only weighed 66 and 68 kilos.  We are really looking forward to the meat as it is the first time we have had GOS's.  Wondering if we had not fed them enough though - they were on 2 kilos of farine d'orge a day but for a month in the summer all they ate were apples and bread, lots of them.  Recently in the last two weeks they ate mangels.  Should we have done anything else or is this the norm?

Advice appreciated.

Thanks
Nicki

[nellie]

hi  we took our GOS pigs to the abbatoir at the beginning of October

they were just under 10 months and killed out at 81 & 111 kilos.

The weight of your pigs could be due to a number of factors

We gradually increase feed from  0.5-  2/2.5 kilos of feed a day for our fatteners. (  based on a excellent late 1970s book on pig nutrition)

their summer diet could have affected their weight If a pig puts on weight at a young age it will continue to do so if feed is increased accordingly - in our experience. It is good to make use of the summer bounty of  fruit and veg but if you wanted a higher kill out weight then perhaps this should have been in addition to their farine allowance.

Our GOSs were fed on apples carrots  chesnuts acorns and raw potatoes for the last 3 weeks as we wanted them to run off excess back fat.

Also the recent cold weather could have an effect. In winter  fattening pigs  need more food as they are eating to keep warm rather than put excess weight on.

This is our reason for sending all our fatteners to the abbatoir at the start of October.  We usually send our pigs at age 6-8 months and they average out at 70-80 kilos - carcass weight.We have kept pigs on for an extra  months over the winter and have only seen an increase in carcass weight of 5-10 kilos(  this doesnt cover the cost of additional food so is un economic)

[Hilarysmum]

This topic might be useful for alternative feeds still providing the necessary protein ;

http://forum.rivercottage.net/viewtopic.php?t=37227