[SuzyJ]

Our neighbour and long time pig breeder says we need to start feeding our 10 day old piglets small amounts of a starter feed. Is he correct?

Also I have some powdered calf milk replacer here that I bought in case things didn't work out too well, is it a good idea to use this mixed in with the feed and served sloppy?

 

[gavo]

We start to feed our piglets when they show interest in their mum's feed;it varies from litter to litter;some might take a nibble at 10 days others not  But they are generally established on solids [however small the amount] by 3 weeks.We have always given dry pellets without any problems

[SuzyJ]

Hi Gavo and thanks for your reply. We can only buy starter pig feed in powdered form here, although they have recently started making pellets for adult pigs.

Would you say that it would be ok to use the milk replacer with their feed? I'm terrible for not wanting to waste anything!

[Hilarysmum]

Hi I cant see any reason why you shouldnt feed the milk powder, but watch their weight.  Dont feed it beyond 12 weeks.  We dont feed any starter feed our piglets nibble at mum's feed.  (We did with Hilary's first litter and couldnt understand why she was bulking out so much whilst still feeding)

[gavo]

I agree with H.M can't see it will do any harm to use it to wet their food ;like H.M we don't feed starter food they just get a small  quantity of the adult ration and build up from there. Can i ask where you are just out of interest?

[SuzyJ]

Thank you both for the replies. I'll try a little milk powder mixed with some feed later and see how they do. If they don't eat it I'm sure one of the pigs will!

Gavo we're in North Central Bulgaria, about 34 kms from a town called Veliko Tarnovo.

[gavo]

Do you wet the powdered food or feed dry? When we first got pigs we could only buy powdered feed and it got very heavy in any quantity when wet but dry we just lost half the feed to the wind.We're in Northern Ireland but originally from London.

[SuzyJ]

We usually wet the powdered feed as like you say it simply blows away, plus I worry about them possibly choking on it.

Pelleted pig feed is not widely sold here but we can buy it direct from the factory and prefer to use that as there seems to be less wastage too.

Think I'll have a look at the ingredients and proteins etc on the feed sacks and see what the difference is between starter and adult/finisher feed.

[Hilarysmum]

If its the same as here, 20% for starter and 16% for finisher.