Just got 2 weaner pigs, Milk OK?

[jBlaze]

DH picked up two weaner pigs today. Can we give both of them a gallon of goats milk twice a day? Or is that too much? If too much, how much to start with? We have raised pigs before, but did not have the milk to feed them. We have a couple of CAE+ goats that I am milking and dumping down the drain currently, thought we may as well get pigs to feed it to. We love biscuits and gravy, lol.

I really don't know much at all about pigs, so any advice is appreciated.

We have a 12x12 wood floor area in a 3 sided barn, the pig stall has a metal gate, a wood half wall, and the other two sides are full walls. We have used a bit if straw for bedding in the past, but have not found anything that works well for pig bedding. First year we suffered with them dumping a water pan several times a day, last year we got a water nozzle that worked great. We fed pellets out of a automatid feed hopper thing, but they kept bumping it off the wall, scratching themselfes on it and the screws tore through the metal, even with washers.

Thanks!

[agmantoo]

I would make a transition to the milk. Feeding maybe a 1/2 gallon plus the feed that the pigs were on prior to your getting them and then increasing the amount of milk by a quart per day. Watch the pigs to see how their digestive system is tolerating the milk as you increase the milk. I would leave solid feed available 24/7 until I observed how the pigs are thriving. Once you get them up to the full volume of milk you have available you could start to make a slop of the solid feed and the milk. The pigs should grow so rapidly that it is obvious. Personally I do not like to limit feed the pigs. Most animals and plants flourish when they are never stressed for nutrient or water.

[highlands]

Milk is excellent food for pigs. Also let them graze if at all possible. Let them eat and drink as much as they want. To improve milk, make it into yogurt. It is easy. If they are getting too fat, back off the milk ration and increase the grazing or what ever else you have. Our pigs drink about 3.6 gallons per day per hundred weight.

Cheers

-Walter
Sugar Mountain Farm
in the mountains of Vermont
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/blog/
http://HollyGraphicArt.com/
http://NoNAIS.org

[jBlaze]

Thanks for the input. We do try to keep feed and fresh water available to them at all times. grazing would be nice, but just no way. Even the goats get out under out fences, they were built for horses, we are slowly getting boards put around the bottoms. Got one field all done so far for the goats. We do cut grass for the pigs sometimes. Found out last year that they love the "milk"weed.
thanks again!

[mpillow]

I soaked my dairy (goat) feed in goat milk and fed 3x daily to 8w old piglets....but it was only leftover milk...never more than a gallon a day.
A calf would do okay on the milk and much easier to fence!!!!! I don't think CAE comes thru to cooked meat but I'm not 100% certain. A calf in w/ goats will also clean up wasted goat hay. We have a 6m old bull calf still on his bottle!
My 8 day old piglet is getting about a quart a day and starting on piggy porridge (oldbread, milk,egg, cornflour)

[nehimama]

If you have chickens, they'll like the milk, too. However, I have heard horror stories of messed-up septic systems from pouring (lots of) milk down the drain. Can you refrigerate/freeze excess until your pigs are used to it in their diet?

NeHi

[Charleen]

We soak our whole oats and wheat in goat milk over night or sometimes up to 48 hours until it softens. A wonderful culture has grown in our soaking buckets, similar to yogurt or kefir. Our pigs get unlimited milk and are also pastured.

When feeding milk to the poultry, we make sure that it's clabbered first. They're really lactose intolerant!