3Tiered Feeding System

[Abouttime]

For discussion only, I'm not considering this method-is anybody familiar with a three story housing for hogs? Apparently, they are placed by the age and fed accordingly for the purpose of feeding off the waste? From my discussions with a farmer in Iowa, it didn't sound like a pleasant way for pigs to live, but did sound rather ingenious and profitable for the farmer.

[TxCloverAngel]

ummmm Gross?

never heard of it..
now you just HAD to go find something ELSE I have to look up and research didnt ya? lol

[Firefly]

Are you saying the babies would eat the older ones' poop? Cow manure is one thing, they actually like that, but pig.... Even I am not that much of a tightwad!

[John Schneider]

I can feel it welling up inside me....another rant! LOL I personally don't know anything about this system and I will have to look it up. I hope it isn't what is sounds like. Any details on this system? Sounds like you had a detailed conversation.

[Abouttime]

Actually, it was not a detailed conversation as he had no personal knowledge as to the system and was wondering if I had. The subject came up when I asked him about the "rooting system" that has recently been discussed on this forum.

[TxCloverAngel]

I have been looking.. so far I can find nothing on the topic

[HogEmAll]

My uncle in S.C. uses this system, but it's only two-story. He feed the hogs in the top normal-sized rations of Hog Feed, while the bottom hog eats only whatever falls through the mesh flooring. This includes some feed but mostly manure. Top and bottom hogs would grow to butcher-size in the same amount of time. It's basicly growing twice the amount of pork for the price of one hog.

[Firefly]

That is absolutely disgusting.

[myheaven]

I seen and read about this in old mcdoalds factory farm book. They also feed alot of anti biotics to keep sickness down.

[Up North]

This.........we Could Not Do.

[milkinpigs]

If you make sausage from one of those hogs would you call it "pooperoni"?

[Up North]

I strongly doubt any farmer doing this tier-system would put a lower tier hog on HIS FAMILY TABLE. I much prefer Joel Salatin's version of Multi Species enterprise "stacking".

[Firefly]

Pooperoni! ROFL

Is this even legal?! Why bother asking, the FDA will approve almost anything that helps big business. Maybe that is how a lot of supermarket pork is produced? I had some recently that sure tasted awful!

[TxCloverAngel]

*giggling* At Pooperoni

but I am still in shock that this is done ANYWHERE!.

down right scary if you ask me.

[midkiffsjoy]

I saw something just like this on the discovery channel!!!! It was in a village in a jungle. The houses were built on stilts and under the houses were pig pens and everyone would poo into a hole and it went into the pig pen and thats what their pigs ate and they ate the pigs. hummmm. Didnt know they did it in America though. Just goes to show, my feedstore owner was right...Pig WILL eat ANYTHING. grin.

[Laura Workman]

Hey, I'm betting you'd eat anything too if you were hungry enough. Especially if it's all you'd had since you were born. In fact, my friend who works in a hospital has known families of coprophages who would smuggle poop in for their ill family members to nosh on. OK, how gross is that!!! (Where is that vomiting smilie when you need it?)

[Unregistered]

It wasn't a real common practice but many years ago it was done. The hogs were fed mostly whole grain feeds. What grains that were passed through the first tier hogs combined with the spilled grain was enough to feed out the lower tier. I knew of several 2 tier but didn't know of any 3 tier.

[tbishop]

Not to turn anyone off to my favorite meat source, but rabbits practice this daily. Sure- it's their own poop, but it's poop none the less.

Tim B.

[susieM]

I have a book on small animal husbandry, which includes pigs. It does say the pigs can be fed half of their daily ratons, on rabbit poop, and rabbit hutches should be positioned over the pigpen. It also gives information on raising guinea pigs for food.

This is a University book, from Utah.

[tbishop]

I've seen that part of the heifer project at church was funding placing super-cavies in families in central and South America. Four times the size of the pets we have. I'd like to get a hold of a cavy like that just once. But I digress.

Tim B.