How to make your own feed mix?

[gallopingfrog]

*echo* Hello? *echo*

Anyone?

 

[77Herford]

Don't know about that equations math stuff, lol. I get alot of my feed from local grocery stores and fruit stands. All their food waste makes for good pig food. You can boil it for several minutes and make a super stew, which no man would eat but the pigs love it.

 

[animalfarm]

For pigs I mix 2 parts field peas, 3 parts wheat, about 1.5 C yeast, 1.5 C kelp. I grind this fine and mix it with water to make sloppy pudding when I feed it. I just go by the look of the pigs being fed to determine how much I feed. Too fat, feed less, too thin feed more. I feed a clover, alfalfa, treefoil, timothy hay as well during the winter. There is usually boiled eggs available as well. Both peas and wheat are high in lysine and I don't worry about it.

For piglets, I am using the same feed with fresh skim cows milk. I don't really know how this is going to work out, but so far so good for my first batch. I weaned them at 5 weeks because they were just too big; there wasn't enough room for them to all nurse and mom was getting too thin. They are 8.5 weeks old now and bottomless pits. I cannot beleive how much hay and straw 11 of them eat in one day. I can't seem to keep any bedding in their hut for more then a 1/2 day. They get fed 1.5 gallons of the grain mixed with 1gallon of milk & 1 gallon of water 2x day and they are squealing for more. I was going to ask Royd how long it takes him to get his LBs up to butcher wt. because I may get there a lot sooner then I expected. I am more concerned that they put on the wt too quickly (too much fat) but they seem good so far. I judge the amount by the fact that they clean it up in about 5 minutes.



Edited to change 3 gallons to 1.5 gallons of grain per feed.

 

[gallopingfrog]

For pigs I mix 2 parts field peas, 3 parts wheat, about 1.5 C yeast, 1.5 C kelp. I grind this fine and mix it with water to make sloppy pudding when I feed it. I just go by the look of the pigs being fed to determine how much I feed. Too fat, feed less, too thin feed more. I feed a clover, alfalfa, treefoil, timothy hay as well during the winter. There is usually boiled eggs available as well. Both peas and wheat are high in lysine and I don't worry about it.

For piglets, I am using the same feed with fresh skim cows milk. I don't really know how this is going to work out, but so far so good for my first batch. I weaned them at 5 weeks because they were just too big; there wasn't enough room for them to all nurse and mom was getting too thin. They are 8.5 weeks old now and bottomless pits. I cannot beleive how much hay and straw 11 of them eat in one day. I can't seem to keep any bedding in their hut for more then a 1/2 day. They get fed 3 gallons of the grain mixed with 1gallon of milk & 1 gallon of water 2x day and they are squealing for more. I was going to ask Royd how long it takes him to get his LBs up to butcher wt. because I may get there a lot sooner then I expected. I am more concerned that they put on the wt too quickly (too much fat) but they seem good so far. I judge the amount by the fact that they clean it up in about 5 minutes.

That is immensely helpful - may I steal your recipe?

Holy...errr...piglets! I'm so glad you mentioned all that about the piglets because I was thinking about later....after I get the hang of things...about breeding my own - for the same reason I'll be doing my own chickens; I won't have to buy new ones, I can just magically make my own. But now, at least, I am prepared for the monstrosity that is a piglet's appetite!

Don't know about that equations math stuff, lol. I get alot of my feed from local grocery stores and fruit stands. All their food waste makes for good pig food. You can boil it for several minutes and make a super stew, which no man would eat but the pigs love it.

Thank you for the advice! I will definitely keep that in mind when I get the little buggers.

 

[animalfarm]

For pigs I mix 2 parts field peas, 3 parts wheat, about 1.5 C yeast, 1.5 C kelp. I grind this fine and mix it with water to make sloppy pudding when I feed it. I just go by the look of the pigs being fed to determine how much I feed. Too fat, feed less, too thin feed more. I feed a clover, alfalfa, treefoil, timothy hay as well during the winter. There is usually boiled eggs available as well. Both peas and wheat are high in lysine and I don't worry about it.

For piglets, I am using the same feed with fresh skim cows milk. I don't really know how this is going to work out, but so far so good for my first batch. I weaned them at 5 weeks because they were just too big; there wasn't enough room for them to all nurse and mom was getting too thin. They are 8.5 weeks old now and bottomless pits. I cannot beleive how much hay and straw 11 of them eat in one day. I can't seem to keep any bedding in their hut for more then a 1/2 day. They get fed 3 gallons of the grain mixed with 1gallon of milk & 1 gallon of water 2x day and they are squealing for more. I was going to ask Royd how long it takes him to get his LBs up to butcher wt. because I may get there a lot sooner then I expected. I am more concerned that they put on the wt too quickly (too much fat) but they seem good so far. I judge the amount by the fact that they clean it up in about 5 minutes.

Ok, I am awake now. I am feeding the piglets 1.5 gallons of the peas/wheat 2x a day. NOT 3 gallons. the milk/water is correct. I am going to add a 3rd feeding soon.

 

[animalfarm]

Holy...errr...piglets! I'm so glad you mentioned all that about the piglets because I was thinking about later....after I get the hang of things...about breeding my own - for the same reason I'll be doing my own chickens; I won't have to buy new ones, I can just magically make my own. But now, at least, I am prepared for the monstrosity that is a piglet's appetite!

Feel free to use the recipe, but beware; it is still undergoing trials and I cannot vouch for its success or if there will be any problems. I will be pasturing my pigs in summer in lieu of hay.