[Bodger]

I'm buying wheat in this year for my chickens at £4.50p for a 25 kg bag.

 I've currently got eight x seven week old traditional Gloucester Old Spot piglets that I'm taking on up to slaughter weight. They're being fed on sow pellets. Now here's the question, I've got an electric corn mill, which does an excellent job of grinding whole grain into meal but what percentage if any, can I make the piglets daily  ration up with ground wheat meal?
I'm aware that traditional pigs tend to put on fat more easily that the commercial ones, that's why I have them on sow pellets rather than fattening pellets, so what do you think? I don't want to run the risk of ruining carcass quality just to spoil the boat for a ha peth of tar for the sake of possibly saving a few quid.

[oaklandspigs]

Wheat must always be less beneficial than pig feed, as otherwise pig feed would all just be wheat.
So if you feed the same weight of wheat to your pigs instead of the that weight of pig food, this must be less beneficial.
But if you feed say 2 times the weight of wheat than pig feed, then your £4.50 bag of wheat if equivalent to a £9 bag of pig feed, so the economics start to go out of the window, esp. as you would start to need to buy in minerals and vitamins.
And if this made sense (ie was cheaper) then surely the pig manufacturers would just do the same - ie add twice the amount of wheat, sell it cheaper, and tell you to feed more to make up.
In my simple brain, if you can get wheat for free, then it might be worth looking into.  But if you can get a bag for £4.50 and make this cheaper for you, surely the feed manufacturers would simply do the same, but with bulk buying make even more money than you.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

[landroverroy]

However, depending on what pig food you use, if you check the label, you may find it contains a substantial amount of pasta/bakery waste. This is obviously a lot cheaper to buy than straight wheat and because it is processed will have had most of the natural wheat vitamins destroyed.
So, if your feed does  contain bakery waste, I would feel confident to add up to 25% wheat to their feed. You can always buy some additional minerals (they're not expensive) and add to the feed if you want.
This is only my opinion, and it's not an exact science, and also depends on whether your pigs are free range and whether you give them vegetable waste. It also depends on temperature and time of year. Presuming your pigs are not kept like commercial ones in a standard environment, then they will benefit from some added carbohydrates, like wheat, as the weather gets colder. Just like we tend to eat more stodgy foods in winter.       

[MAK]

Just as the last post said. Now that it is colder I have started giving some milled wheat with their usual mix. Chestnuts seem to be natures way of helping the pig keep warm and maintain their weight.
What is obvious is that whole wheat is not digested very well by a pig as there is evidence of grain in their toilet area.

[Marches Farmer]

Growing pigs need a good proportion of protein (16% for traditional breeds) as their feed conversion rate is much more efficient when young.  It's tempting to keep costs down but if you have to feed for longer any savings are probably cancelled out.  Our butcher likes about 3/4 inch fat on a joint so we feed a milled wheat/barley mix for the last four weeks before slaughter, starting with 100g and gradually increasing to half the feed in the final week. Soak it for a few hours before feeding - it's comparatively indigestible and can cause young stock to prolapse the anus - you don't want to chance that one - vet and stitches!