Feeding pigs
2 07 2007I’m often asked what we feed our pigs and in what quantities, especially by people who are tempted to fatten a couple of weaners for their freezer.
There’s no “right” answer, but in general the slow growing traditional breeds require less protein at finishing than modern commercial breeds.
As we breed and finish Berkshires (early finishers) while also finishing Tamworths, Gloucester Old Spots, Saddlebacks and various cross breeds, we’ve found it’s generally better to use a sow roll with around around 16-16.5% protein or devise an on-farm mixed diet with similar levels.
But to complicate things further, it’s not really the protein level that matters - it’s the lysine to dietary energy ratio that’s important. However, while I do understand the science and how to apply it practically, most people glaze over when I start detailing how we arrive at our feed mix!
The key things to remember are that while cereals like wheat, barley and oats have lower energy levels compared to soya and fishmeal, they also have vastly lower levels of lysine (an amino acid that’s vital to building muscle).
That means their energy to lysine ratio is such that a pig fed on cereals alone will have too much energy to convert to muscle or use for bodily processes and store that as fat.
If you’re going to use own barley or oats for their diet, then you need to include higher quality proteins (such as soy beans, field beans, fishmeal or fish oil) in your mix to bump up the proportion of lysine.
If you have modern commercial pigs, then a diet that’s similar in protein and lysine levels to commercial finishing feeds will be fine.
But if you have slow growing traditional breeds, then you need less protein so a diet that’s similar in proportions to commercial sow feeds will be needed.
Our finishers have a diet that’s two-thirds barley and vegetables to one-third sow rolls up to 16 weeks, then move to one-third barley and vegetables to two-thirds sow rolls up to 20-22 weeks, then move to sow rolls for the last two to six weeks. (They’re also on grass.)
Barley in the last month or so makes them go to extremes of fat very quickly as the lysine:energy ratio is so poor.
Our meat pigs are fed ad lib to 12 weeks, then go on a restricted diet of 1.4kg of feed a day (two feeds) up to 18 weeks.
Then they move up to 1.8kg of feed a day (two feeds) through to slaughter between 22 and 24 weeks as porkers or 26 and 28 weeks as cutters. (Slaughter ages for Berkshires.)
GOS and Saddlebacks are slaughtered from 24 to 26 weeks, Tamworths around 26 weeks but may be longer as they can be more slow growing. (If the pigs weren’t on grass, then their feed intake would need to be higher from 18 weeks - about 1.95kg.)
Our adult breeding pigs have 50:50 ratio of barley and vegetables to rolls. The working boar has 2.5kg a day, dry sows 1.8-2kg, lactating sows 4kg or more, and in-pig sows graduated amounts over their term.
Oh, and we’re aiming for around 15mm backfat, which is a a bit more than most commercial operations. It makes for very tasty pork.
I have bought sow nuts to feed to my saddleback gilts. I feed them a mix of sow nuts and barley. I am new to raising pigs. What is the difference between sow nuts and sow rolls?
I have found this article very interesting and helpful. I will refer back to it again. Thanks.
Sara from farmingfriends
Sow nuts, sow rolls and sow pellets are all the same thing - allowing for different brand recipes of course!
If feeding barley and sow rolls, ease off on the barley for the last few weeks as you may find your pigs end up with a couple of inches of back fat. I haven’t had this happen (yet!) but have had emails from people who’ve had this happen.
It’s critical to get a good layer of muscle (meat) laid down from weaning up until 16 weeks or so, hence the ad lib diet with a good proportion of rolls and their lysine levels until then. After that you’re looking for a steady size increase without laying down too much fat, hence the weight restricted diet.
Having said that, if you do want an inch or so of really good, white pork fat laid down, then up the proportion of barley for the last week or two before slaughter. We render our own pork lard and, if we wanted even more, this would be the best way of doing it - but about 15mm of backfat at the P2 position suits us.
We have just fattened and killed our first pigs, they were large white cross landrace we started them on weaner pellets up to 20 weeks then went onto barley and soya mix at a 5:1 ratio feeding them 2 kg a day along with 2oz of minerals per pig in the mix. They were fed on this and veg and kitchen waste till they went at the end of june at about 6 months old. The dead weights were 112kg, 104kg and 92kg. and they had about 20mm of back fat. We are already planning the next pigs at the start of next year. We also found that it was cheaper feeding a soya barley mix rather than sow rolls.
I know pigs like many fruits but do they eat plums? I have a lot of windfalls but the fruit is not ripe.