# Fermented corn for pig slop?



## Devon (Oct 23, 2016)

We've been feeding our poultry, and pigs fermented corn slop for about a week now. They seem to be doing great on it, but I have recently been enlightened to the fact that e coli and salmonella can thrive in this type of feed. Our friend just mentioned that he has known ranchers to feed this to their livestock  (not sure which kind of animals specifically) and loose them all, so now I'm very paranoid to feed this to them. On the other hand, I've been to a farm and talked with an 'old timer' that bred pigs and he fed ALL of his critters fermented corn. He had pigs, quail, chickens, guineas, and goats. He would sell the kids to buy all his corn for all of his animals. Anyways, I'm wondering if maybe I should cook it before serving it? We have a 32 gal trash can (new) with about 70# of corn with a glug of ACV and water about 4 inched above the corn level. It does not get super warm due to the colder temp, but it is inside, fairly close to the fireplace. Any thoughts or experience would be greatly appreciated!


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## NH homesteader (Oct 24, 2016)

Hmm I have no idea.  For pig feeding I would defer to @misfitmorgan or @farmerjan (sorry there's more I know).  For fermenting @Latestarter but he does chicken feed....  So not sure who may know about this specific question.


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## farmerjan (Oct 24, 2016)

Why ferment it to start with?  Chicken and turkeys have a gizzard that will grind the whole corn up and totally digest any food value in it.  Any slop I make for the hogs might get made the night before feeding, but it is a whole lot easier to store corn dry than to store it wet. And I may be dumb but what is ACV?  Sorry, guess it just wasn't a practice I grew up with.  All the slop we fed was freshly made and any kind of scraps that a friend of ours gathered from restaurants were cooked before being fed.  That is a law in some places in order to be able to get the contract for picking up restaurant waste.  Milk I just let go sour and feed within a week or so, but in the colder weather it will keep for weeks.


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## Latestarter (Oct 24, 2016)

Not dumb Jan... ACV is Apple Cider Vinegar. Some folks use it with the mother to help start the ferment process. Many of us who do fermented feed for our chickens have determined that adding the ACV doesn't really help speed up the process as it's a quite natural process (fermentation) that will happen all by itself, without adding anything at all but the grains and water. 

Some studies have shown that fermenting the feed before feeding the animals helps them more easily digest it and gain a 10-15% increase in nutrient absorption, hence requiring less feed and saving money over time. I did FF (fermented feed) for my chickens back in Colorado when the temps weren't well below freezing. Less wasted feed, less quantity required to meet nutrition needs, less poop produced, less smell from poop, less flies. It really was a win-win for me and the birds.


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## farmerjan (Oct 24, 2016)

Interesting about the fermented feed....since I move my chickens don't see many flies, don't see wasted feed when they are moved and not much smell since not on the same ground....Never thought ACV was apple cider vinegar  DUH!!!!!


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## Devon (Oct 24, 2016)

I started fermenting to try to cut costs a bit with the pigs, and also to give them the most nutrition possible with what they're given. We are raising breeder pigs and I figure there is no way to even break even financially with bags of hog feed at $15 a bag. I go through a bag at least a week. I have people already putting dibs on piglets and I want them to be healthy, tasty, and affordable, so we've been looking to cut costs a bit. Anyways, I did read that fermin ting increased the protein and made the food more easily digestible and thus more nutrients were absorbed. I also noticed since fermenting that there us VERY little whole grain in their poo. We were dry feeding cracked corn and there were TONS of corn bits throughout their poo. Also that the water intake is less since the grain is full of water (which I think will be helpful in ND in the winters, and yes I still give them fresh water 2x a day), and that the ferment juice is full of probiotics. Anyways, thank you very much for the feed back!


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## Latestarter (Oct 24, 2016)

I wasn't free ranging my birds, so they were in a fixed area. Since they like to scratch and peck, they'd spray dry feed all over the place. That in turn attracts other animals like wild birds and rodents. When dry feeding them in the cold period of winter my feed bill nearly doubled. With the FF, I fed much less, they wasted virtually none, and they remained very healthy. The side benefit was less poo and less stink to the poo they did create. The ferment also provided a nice source of probios and gut flora for them.


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## NH homesteader (Oct 24, 2016)

Less waste is a fantastic thing! We are going to start fermenting for our chickens but I've never heard of doing it for pigs.  I'll have to look into that.  We get a really good price on pig feed in bulk (55 gallon drums)  but if I could lower it more that would be even better. Last year with our meat birds we did wet feed,  but didn't do it in advance to let it ferment.  That alone kept them from wasting. I have been lazy this year...  Make that busy with other things! Lol


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## misfitmorgan (Oct 25, 2016)

Devon said:


> I started fermenting to try to cut costs a bit with the pigs, and also to give them the most nutrition possible with what they're given. We are raising breeder pigs and I figure there is no way to even break even financially with bags of hog feed at $15 a bag. I go through a bag at least a week. I have people already putting dibs on piglets and I want them to be healthy, tasty, and affordable, so we've been looking to cut costs a bit. Anyways, I did read that fermin ting increased the protein and made the food more easily digestible and thus more nutrients were absorbed. I also noticed since fermenting that there us VERY little whole grain in their poo. We were dry feeding cracked corn and there were TONS of corn bits throughout their poo. Also that the water intake is less since the grain is full of water (which I think will be helpful in ND in the winters, and yes I still give them fresh water 2x a day), and that the ferment juice is full of probiotics. Anyways, thank you very much for the feed back!



I do hope your not feeding only fermented whole corn? If these are your breeders they will need more then just fermented whole corn not to mention the protein % will be very low which will cause slow growth and quite likely a problem retaining weight when they are pregnant and esp so when they are nursing. Yellow corn(dent corn, #2 corn) is only approx 10% crude protein and is not a complete protein in itself, besides lacking many vital minerals and vitamins. 

I know the old timers used to raise pigs on corn alone but that was generally on a farm and the pigs got all extra scraps, extra eggs, broken eggs, bad eggs, old bread, extra milk, spoiled milk, colostrum, forage from the ground, dirt, leaves/pine needles, often acorns or apples or other fruits/nuts that has fallen to the ground, produce from the garden that was to ripe or frost burnt.

That style of raising was vastly different then todays modern farming of locking a pig in a small stall or confinement generally on cement or wood and only feeding them corn and water and thats it.

i forget where you live but if you search for a feed mill or a co-op you can usually find feed much cheaper then from box stores like tractor supply. We get sow & pig feed from a local mill for $15.75/100lbs which is 18%CP and we feed 5lbs/day per breeder when not bred/nursing and up to 7lbs/day per breeder who is pregnant or nursing. We watch for noticable weight gain or weight loss and adjust feed amount accordingly. The cost ends up being $0.79-1.11 per head per day and aim for 10 piglets a  litter. We come out approx $1,000 ahead per year per female breeder.


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## HornyToadAcres (Feb 27, 2021)

Latestarter said:


> I wasn't free ranging my birds, so they were in a fixed area. Since they like to scratch and peck, they'd spray dry feed all over the place. That in turn attracts other animals like wild birds and rodents. When dry feeding them in the cold period of winter my feed bill nearly doubled. With the FF, I fed much less, they wasted virtually none, and they remained very healthy. The side benefit was less poo and less stink to the poo they did create. The ferment also provided a nice source of probios and gut flora for them.


I know this is an old thread but I wanted to comment that this is my situation and it cut my feed bill by more than half.


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