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Author Topic: Last 6 weeks to feed up  (Read 6800 times)

white-blazes

  • Joined Apr 2011
  • Anglesey
Last 6 weeks to feed up
« on: October 21, 2011, 10:16:54 pm »
We've booked the 4 pigs in, they go 1st December. Three will be done for pork, and one for gammon/ham/bacon etc, so everything ready for christmas.

We've got 6 weeks to go so want to feed them up well now the grass has rapidly disappeared. 

I gave them some hay last night, but noticed today they've hardly touched it.  Do you think because it is new to them they've not eaten it, and are they likely to?

I've read on another topic they can have sugar beet, so will start that tomorrow as well.

Is there anything else apart from their everyday pig pellets?  (they get lots of apples and general veg waste too)

Blonde

  • Joined Mar 2011
Re: Last 6 weeks to feed up
« Reply #1 on: October 21, 2011, 11:05:48 pm »
We've booked the 4 pigs in, they go 1st December. Three will be done for pork, and one for gammon/ham/bacon etc, so everything ready for christmas.

We've got 6 weeks to go so want to feed them up well now the grass has rapidly disappeared. 

I gave them some hay last night, but noticed today they've hardly touched it.  Do you think because it is new to them they've not eaten it, and are they likely to?

I've read on another topic they can have sugar beet, so will start that tomorrow as well.

Is there anything else apart from their everyday pig pellets?  (they get lots of apples and general veg waste too)
No unfortunately not........ pig pellets will get them there on their own, the rest are just fillers that take up space in the pigs stomach.

chickenfeed

  • Guest
Re: Last 6 weeks to feed up
« Reply #2 on: October 22, 2011, 07:50:31 am »
We've booked the 4 pigs in, they go 1st December. Three will be done for pork, and one for gammon/ham/bacon etc, so everything ready for christmas.

We've got 6 weeks to go so want to feed them up well now the grass has rapidly disappeared. 

I gave them some hay last night, but noticed today they've hardly touched it.  Do you think because it is new to them they've not eaten it, and are they likely to?

I've read on another topic they can have sugar beet, so will start that tomorrow as well.

Is there anything else apart from their everyday pig pellets?  (they get lots of apples and general veg waste too)
No unfortunately not........ pig pellets will get them there on their own, the rest are just fillers that take up space in the pigs stomach.

just to add dont push them too much all you will put on them is fat pigs tend to grow at a natural rate.

windymiller

  • Joined Oct 2011
Re: Last 6 weeks to feed up
« Reply #3 on: October 22, 2011, 08:21:49 am »
i've never heard of any one feeding pigs hay  ???
That said it takes all sorts, hay is usually used as a filler but usually for herbivores and ruminants, not pigs.
they may graze fresh grass but are more likely to turn it over looking for roots and worms.
fresh fruit, veg, apples, rolled grain, meal and best of all bought in pig finisher nuts, are all good for pigs to fatten, but as stated above don't push it, they'll put on lots of fat and no one wants really really fatty pork.
if you're worried they'll not make it move the date to after christmas.

Sylvia

  • Joined Aug 2009
Re: Last 6 weeks to feed up
« Reply #4 on: October 22, 2011, 08:48:45 am »
I think the apples, pears, acorns etc. will flavour your meat more than just pellets. I've heard of someone who gives their pigs a drop of scrumpy cider every day a few weeks prior to slaughter, they reckon you can taste it in the meat!
As to hay, my Kunes eat it and straw.
My porkers are off on Nov. 28th. and are being given windfall apples by the bucketful (I'll have to think about the cider :-\) also acorns and chestnuts.
Robert, those saddleback runts have done really well, cost me nothing, cost nothing to feed up until now and I only have to buy a few bags of organic pellets to get them to end of Nov. Thanks for your advice :)

JulieS

  • Joined Mar 2009
  • Devon - EX39 5RF
    • Ford Mill Farm
Re: Last 6 weeks to feed up
« Reply #5 on: October 22, 2011, 09:18:44 am »
Don't over feed them though, they will naturally put on quite a bit of weight over the next few weeks anyway.
Pedigree GOS Pigs and Butchery for Smallholders.

robert waddell

  • Guest
Re: Last 6 weeks to feed up
« Reply #6 on: October 22, 2011, 10:01:36 am »
sylvia you will have to remind me what advice i gave (the true secret of being a rich farmer just don't pay for anything and sell at a premium)
the hay and haylage is only a filler and something to chew on people get carried away with this grass fed malarkey  check out the protein content if you doubt me :farmer:

Stevie G

  • Joined Jul 2010
Re: Last 6 weeks to feed up
« Reply #7 on: October 22, 2011, 12:13:41 pm »
Hay would have better use as bedding, uncomfortable and expensive bedding at that!!  :cow: :wave:


Blonde

  • Joined Mar 2011
Re: Last 6 weeks to feed up
« Reply #8 on: October 22, 2011, 12:41:08 pm »
i've never heard of any one feeding pigs hay  ???
That said it takes all sorts, hay is usually used as a filler but usually for herbivores and ruminants, not pigs.
they may graze fresh grass but are more likely to turn it over looking for roots and worms.
fresh fruit, veg, apples, rolled grain, meal and best of all bought in pig finisher nuts, are all good for pigs to fatten, but as stated above don't push it, they'll put on lots of fat and no one wants really really fatty pork.
if you're worried they'll not make it move the date to after christmas.
Hay can be fed to pigs if it is crushed, if you are having back fat troubles then it is a good idea,  Chromium also added to the feed will help keep the back down.  When you add hay for beddding or straw the pigs will chew it up in to tiny pieces and some will go down their throats regardless.

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: Last 6 weeks to feed up
« Reply #9 on: October 22, 2011, 01:47:26 pm »
As to hay, my Kunes eat it and straw.
My OSB too, and she eats grass too.  I am talking proper taking-a-good-mouthful-and-slicing-it-off-and-chewing-it eating, not just rootling and general messing on.

I'd never thought of giving her hay till someone mentioned it on here, then because I know she does eat grass, I gave her some hay last winter and she clearly enjoyed it.  I fed her a bit of hay each day when the ground was frozen.

When I give her fresh straw bedding, if it's really nice green straw, especially if there are still some heads on, she eats some first and then kicks it around and makes her bed.

Maybe it's a breed thing?  The more traditional, free-ranging types eat more forage than the commercial, more usually housed, pigs?


I think the apples, pears, acorns etc. will flavour your meat more than just pellets. I've heard of someone who gives their pigs a drop of scrumpy cider every day a few weeks prior to slaughter, they reckon you can taste it in the meat!
I will say again, that I always want apple sauce with roast pork (or pork chops, come to that) but that I never felt the need for a seperate apple sauce with meat from Gaby, who had had copious quantities of windfall apples in her last couple of months.

I have now, in the last 12 months, eaten home-reared pork from three different producers.  The best flavours were from the two who fed a lot of veg and fruit along with pellets (and in one case, whey and potatoes too) to their traditional breed pigs (1 OSB and 1OSBxGOS.)  The third was from a Welsh pig which had had only what they found in their overgrown pasture / paddock, plus cabbages and pellets.  It was still very nice, but not as tasty as the other two.
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Stevie G

  • Joined Jul 2010
Re: Last 6 weeks to feed up
« Reply #10 on: October 22, 2011, 01:48:57 pm »
i've never heard of any one feeding pigs hay  ???
That said it takes all sorts, hay is usually used as a filler but usually for herbivores and ruminants, not pigs.
they may graze fresh grass but are more likely to turn it over looking for roots and worms.
fresh fruit, veg, apples, rolled grain, meal and best of all bought in pig finisher nuts, are all good for pigs to fatten, but as stated above don't push it, they'll put on lots of fat and no one wants really really fatty pork.
if you're worried they'll not make it move the date to after christmas.
Hay can be fed to pigs if it is crushed, if you are having back fat troubles then it is a good idea,  Chromium also added to the feed will help keep the back down.  When you add hay for beddding or straw the pigs will chew it up in to tiny pieces and some will go down their throats regardless.


If you are in the dry out backs of Australia then yes Blonde as the poor Sods have got nothing else to eat, but in the lushous, green pastures of England then I don't think so!

Hay is cut and left to dry usually and feed to herbivores at a premium price and not alot else! :yum:

Chromium is only feed if your genetics or diet is all wrong.


princesspiggy

  • Guest
Re: Last 6 weeks to feed up
« Reply #11 on: October 24, 2011, 07:25:58 pm »
our tammies loved chewing on haylage last year, tho it was more of a case of them helping themselves rather than us feeding it to them.
it seems everyones pigs are off at the same time. ours too, lol

TheCaptain

  • Joined May 2010
Re: Last 6 weeks to feed up
« Reply #12 on: October 25, 2011, 02:16:45 pm »
MY lot love hay, to the point where they climbed up and knocked over a hay stack to get to it. WRT eating grass, my breeding girls learnt over the summer that if they didn't root the grass it would grow back for them to eat, and they always eat the grass, not root, when they escape.

HappyHippy

  • Guest
Re: Last 6 weeks to feed up
« Reply #13 on: October 25, 2011, 08:34:17 pm »
My Kunes love hayledge and even eat straw (but being primarily grazers I would expect that  ;)) what's surprised me this year is that the Large Blacks and the Berkshire are also choosing to graze so I''ll try them with a bit of the dry stuff too. Not the Tamworths though - they're just bulldozers  ::) ;D
Karen  :wave:

white-blazes

  • Joined Apr 2011
  • Anglesey
Re: Last 6 weeks to feed up
« Reply #14 on: October 25, 2011, 08:43:19 pm »
I'd read on here somewhere that somebody fed hay and haylage and as the hay is small bales I thought I'd try it but they obviously don't  have the taste for it, it's still where I left it.

They weren't too sure about the sugar beet onn Sunday but now they seem to love it, I dish it out with the pig pellets and it seems to go down well.

They're still getting plenty of windfalls from all our neighbours and as they are on straw bedding they do chew it up into pieces so maybe are eating that too.

We measured them on Sunday too, and compared to the last two at the same age, they're 4 inches longer in length so I suppose they are on target, it's just me worrying seeing my field turn from green to brown :-[

thanks all  8)

 

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