Feeding pigs with quality feed is an essential part of the pig business. Because without quality feed, your pigs won’t grow well.
So learning what, when and how to feed your pigs will help you raise your pigs, keep them healthy and grow faster.
The quality of pork also depends on the quality of your diet. A nutritious and balanced diet will help your pigs produce very high quality meat.
First, start feeding your piglets with fortified dry food that meets their complex nutritional needs.
As they age, you can start giving them a mixture of grains, fruits, and vegetables.
You can also give them distillation puree, even kitchen scraps and leftovers from your own table.
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HOW TO FEED PIGS – USEFUL TIPS
You should always provide your pigs with good quality feed, whether you are raising multiple pigs or several commercially.
A good quality diet not only helps pigs grow faster, but also helps them stay healthy. However, here we will describe more detailed information on feeding pigs.
Choose the type of food
You should choose the type of feed based on the age of your pigs. Pigs of different ages have different needs for food and nutrients.
Therefore, choose the right type of feed for the age of your pigs. We will tell you more about this here.
Feeding piglets
You should start your piglets with a well-balanced pellet feed. Pellets are considered the best feed for piglets as they come in small, easily digestible pieces that are ideal for piglets to eat.
These feed pellets are specially formulated to meet the unique nutritional needs of growing pigs.
Granular foods also usually contain a well-balanced mixture of proteins, carbohydrates, and essential vitamins and minerals.
You can easily find this type of pellet at any hardware store in your area or nearby.
Feeding growing pigs
Growing pigs need special feeds for their full growth. At this stage, you can feed your pigs cereals together with pelleted feed.
You can wean them off granulated feed and switch to natural grains as your pigs grow and grow. This will make up the majority of your nutritional needs.
Feeding adult pigs
You can feed your adult pigs a variety of healthy cereals. Rice, barley, corn, and wheat are common grains used by most pig farmers.
Most of these whole grains are high in carbohydrates. Carbohydrates can make pigs gain fat instead of healthy, lean muscle.
Therefore, it is a good idea to add protein-rich foods (such as alfalfa and soy) to your regular grains.
It will be good to give the pigs ground, rolled, soaked or otherwise processed grain. Because these processed grains are easily digested by pigs.
Provide fresh fruits and vegetables
You should feed your pigs a selection of fresh fruits and vegetables. Fresh fruits and vegetables help keep your pigs as healthy as humans.
Most fruits and vegetables are safe for human consumption by pigs.
For pigs, leafy greens like kale, lettuce, vines, sweet potatoes, spinach, etc. are good for pigs. Some fruits are good for them too, like melons, bananas, apples, pears, or other fruits.
Root crops are also suitable for feeding pigs. Sweet, colorful fruits and vegetables are good for pigs as they contain the highest concentrations of beneficial vitamins and minerals.
In fact, vegetables and fruits are richer in nutrients than other types of food. In this way, you can feed your pigs as many fruits and vegetables as possible.
You can also supplement your pig’s diet with food scraps. Gather leftover fruits, vegetables, and grains from the kitchen and place them in a large container.
Pigs actually eat what they want, but that doesn’t mean they have to eat.
Never feed meat or cheese products to pigs. Also, avoid feeding your pigs cakes that are too sweet.
How much to feed the pigs
Determine the amount of feed your pigs need to grow. Typically, a pig with a body weight of about 30 pounds provides about 7 pounds of feed.
A fully grown pig can eat 15 to 50 pounds of feed per day, depending on the size of her breed.
You must give supplemental feed to pregnant and lactating sows.
Use a feeder
You can use a pig feeder. There are actually many different types of pig feeders available on the market.
If you are raising a large number of pigs, you may want to consider using an automatic feeder for hassle-free feeding.
Automatic feeders are good for feeding pigs as they automatically and continuously replenish as feed runs out.
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Feeding frequency
You should feed your pigs at least once, or if possible twice a day. But piglets always need access to food.
Watering
In addition to feeding pigs with good quality feed, they also need access to an adequate supply of clean, fresh water.
Therefore, keep one or more feeders on the farm, depending on the number of pigs you have.
And always keep your shower full of fresh, clean water. Good luck!
