Author Topic: HELLO,,HELLO,HELLO,FROM IRELAND (Read 2591 times)

sashadog · « **on:** October 21, 2012, 05:33:24 pm »

Just an intro to introduce myself and say hello,,,Ive recently acquired 2 Pigs for fattening and then geting butchered,,,All i know about them is what the guy i bought them from has told me about feeding them etc,,,I just want some clarification that i am doing it correctly really,,

They were 10 weeks old when i got them 2 weeks ago,,they seem very content and happy,and seem to have grown in the 2 weeks,,I dont know what bread they are,but they are a whiteish pinky colour with a good bit of black markings on them,,,I am in Ireland by the way,,From looking at the different breads on this site they seem more like the British Saddleback variety,,

I am feeding them 2 ibs of rolled oats and barley mixed with a little scoop of soyafeed added in with it,,twice a day,,,and they also get a good bit of scraps from the house,,,,is this enough/too much ?,,and when should i up the feed if this is enough at present,,,They are outside on grass and seem happy out digging up the grass and getting roots etc,,They have a proper shed to go into with a straw bed,,

Thats all the questions i have at the minute,,and would love some advise and input from yous folks,,thanks,

sashadog · « **Reply #1 on:** October 21, 2012, 05:43:20 pm »

THIS IS THEM FOLKS

Mrs Snoodles · « **Reply #2 on:** October 21, 2012, 05:54:31 pm »

hi there,
The general rule is one pound of food per month of age per day. So 2 and a half pounds per day per pig should be enough right now, especially if they are on grass (which gives them roughly an extra 10 percent).
Hope this helps

sashadog · « **Reply #3 on:** October 21, 2012, 06:15:05 pm »

Thanks for that,,i just makeing sure,,when would i increase there food,,,as i dont want to either underfeed or overfeed them (wouldnt want too much fat on the meet)

deepinthewoods · « **Reply #4 on:** October 21, 2012, 07:13:57 pm »

hi from cornwall!

come and say hi in the 'introduce yourself 'section and tell us all a bit more about yourself, enjoy the forum!

sabrina · « **Reply #5 on:** October 23, 2012, 09:40:32 am »

Hi and welcome, sure you will enjoy having your pigs but food from the kitchen is a no no. Read up on rules, they are very strict.

SallyintNorth · « **Reply #6 on:** October 23, 2012, 09:54:33 am »

I'll reprint the answer I gave under your identical Introduce Yourself post here.

Quote from: SallyintNorth on October 21, 2012, 10:45:05 pm

Hi sashadog.

The usual rule-of-thumb for free range pigs is 1lb hard feed per pig per month of age up to 4 or 6 months (depending on the model you are following.)

So at 12 weeks, 3lbs per pig per day.

Scraps and fruit/veg, if fed, replaces hard feed at a rate of about 4:1. So if you're feeding 2lbs grain, you'd need 4lbs veg on top of that to replace the other 1lb grain.

They'll grow, alright! The thinking is you can almost feed ad lib up to 4 months, and fairly high protein, but at about 4 months, cut the protein back to less than 20%.

Most of us with the non-commercial / rare breeds cap the hard feed at 4lbs per day. They are very prone to getting overfat, so continuing to increase by 1lb/week up to 6lbs will result in excess backfat.

I don't know the rules in Ireland, but in England, Scotland and Wales we are not allowed to feed scraps from the house. Waste from the veg plot is fine.