Feeding a few pigs...?

2040 Views 14 Replies 8 Participants Last post by LuckyGRanch, Aug 7, 2004

Zuiko

Discussion Starter · Aug 5, 2004

I was thinking about getting a few feeder pigs, at the auction there were lots, and they werent that expensive. I was wondering though, what do you feed them in winter. We bought a retired pig farm, so we have 3 harvestores, and 1 silo, but oviously thats overkill. We also have 3 feed hopper deals, if I filled one of those with corn/oats/etc. would this be sufficient? They sell bag feed, but $10, or even $7 per 50lbs is a lot. I would probably have them butchered mid year-next year. Oh, by the way, a few = 2-4 Thanks

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big rockpile

· #2 · Aug 5, 2004

You can feed them Full Feed of Corn.I fed mine Corn,Shorts,Milk and Table Scraps.

You get them now the should be ready to Butcher in December,January.

big rockpile

uncle Will in In.

· #3 · Aug 5, 2004

If you can get corn from a local source you will save a bundle over the premix feeds at stores. The price of corn has dropped about a dollar per bushel in the last month. It only worth about $2.25 per bushel at the farm. (56 lb.)

Zuiko

Discussion Starter · #4 · Aug 5, 2004

I'll have to call a co-op tommarrow. All corn shouldn't be a problem. I will want to work out something for the bottom of the gravity bin, it was hooked up to an auger that went into a building to all the feeders, but I'm using a different building. I think if I just put a sliding door, then fill up a bucket, it will work okay. Making a sliding door for the bottom shouldn't be too hard, a couple pieces of angle iron and a small piece of sheet metal, I'll look at it tommarrow and figure something out. Thanks

Siryet

· #5 · Aug 6, 2004

Zuiko said:
I'll have to call a co-op tommarrow. All corn shouldn't be a problem. I will want to work out something for the bottom of the gravity bin, it was hooked up to an auger that went into a building to all the feeders, but I'm using a different building. I think if I just put a sliding door, then fill up a bucket, it will work okay. Making a sliding door for the bottom shouldn't be too hard, a couple pieces of angle iron and a small piece of sheet metal, I'll look at it tommarrow and figure something out. Thanks

We have a special feed mixed this year and are paying $216 per ton.
We started out with 5 piglets 3 wks old and ended up with 4 Hogs @5 mths
old weighing average 225 lbs.

3200 lbs of feed total

snoozy

· #6 · Aug 6, 2004

Siryet, so it looks like 3.2 lbs of feed = 1 lb of hog?

Tango

· #7 · Aug 6, 2004

I envy the low cost of feed in aother states. Have no idea why Florida is so expensive for feed, one would think we imported it from Alaska a bag at a time. But i pass corn crops left and right here. In the past year hog ration from TSC has gone up $4/ 50 lbs. it is now a ridiculous $9.38 per sack, same formulation they've always had. Corn is over $6 / 50 lbs.
I found a local mill that sells hog meal (looks like sawdust) for $6 / 50lbs. and that is what I've been feeding.

I have a question about the all corn diet though? The protein is 5.5% less than what is recommended. Doesn't that make it longer to grow out? Or cause any other problems? Like stunting?

uncle Will in In.

· #8 · Aug 6, 2004

Years ago it was common practice for farmers to feed nothing but ear corn. Most of the hogs ran out on some kind of grass pasture. They took about a month longer to fatten and no doubt ate more total lbs of grain, but it was cheap home grown feed. There was a rule of thumb that it took 10 bushel of corn to feed out a pig from weaning.
At todays corn prices 10 bushel of corn would cost a $22.50 in the corn belt. The elevaters would charge about $30 for it.
Wouldn't be hard to have about 900 bushel hauled dpwn to you.

bearkiller

· #9 · Aug 6, 2004

Biggest problem with all corn diet is that corn oil is an omega 6 fat. Consequently your pig fat will be high in omega 6 and ultimately you will further push your fat intake further to omega 6.

Unfortunately for us all, the omega 3's are "essential" in our diet, meaning our body's biochemical pathways can not make it and it must come from the diet. Optimal ratio of omega 6 to omega 3 is 1:1, but the typical American diet pushes that to 20:1, even as far as 50:1.

Won't help on short notice like Zuiko is taking about, but with some advance planning for next season you can get more vegetables into the pigs diet and lower the omega 6's to a more healthful ratio. Feral hogs that eat what they find including acorns have a low omega ratio.

Personally, I prefer a strongly vegetable diet for my hogs and plant the three sisters as well as a large root garden for them. Seeing a pig with his very own sugar beet is a delight to watch. The roots and corn easily cross the winter with no problem. I also prefer to feed the entire corn plant to the pigs, not just the grain. Cannot do this on a short notice as advance planning for the end result is required.

bearkiller

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Zuiko

Discussion Starter · #10 · Aug 6, 2004

I could also buy a gravity box, I dont think they go for too much at auctions, maybe though, because everybody loves running gears. How do you store your corn? I'm not sure if I can get bin to work, it has a rusted stuck clean out that would work, if it wasnt rusted. As for putting something on the bottom, not sure how well that would work. Plus I would need it delivered then. With grav box, I could just bring it down to elevator with the tractor, (its only a mile away). I think that using a gravity box for storage would work pretty well. I will have many potatoes (12 or so plants). And we dont eat that much. I'm sure the pigs would. Thanks again

LuckyGRanch

· #11 · Aug 7, 2004

Hi There...

Just wondering where in MN you are Zuikio. We just picked up 3 feeder pigs and had to wait to find them. Seems like no one was advertising for feeders. We're just across the river in Western Wisconsin. Luck to be precise.

Always nice to see someone on the board who's not half a country away! :waa:

Can I ask what the pigs were actually selling for? We paid around $1.00/# for the 2 we got last weekend and much more than that for the one we bought a month ago. I have excess goat milk and found it prudent to pay for an expensive feeder pig than continue to feed the milk to the dogs! They are growing like weeds!!!

www.LuckyGRanch.com

Zuiko

Discussion Starter · #12 · Aug 7, 2004

I live 90 miles west of the twin cities, in Buffalo Lake. Each week theres an auction in Hutchinson, I was loading hay while they were selling, but my dad says they were $30-$40 for weeners. Not sure what they weighed, but it sounds like they were just weened. Calfs were all over from $85 - over $400. Mostly steers. I have been watching ads for a few months and dont recall seeing any for pigs in mn. A lot of people produce pork here, but they probably only breed as many as they can handle. We found a calendar that said our farm had 400 in one building. We think that was for the oldest pigs (feed bins are marked grow #2 and fin) Thats why they needed the 3 harvestores, 1 silo, and 4 of those feed bins. So not too far away, closer then other parts of mn are. I think theres several people in northern mn here.

Siryet

· #13 · Aug 7, 2004

snoozy said:
Siryet, so it looks like 3.2 lbs of feed = 1 lb of hog?

seems correct to me

SY

uncle Will in In.

· #14 · Aug 7, 2004

Zulko, A gravity wagon would hold 200 or more bushel of corn. That's enough to feed out 20 pigs. A pickup load of corn would feed out three pigs more or less. A gravity wagon is handy to feed out of however. 1-1/4 cubic feet will hold a bushel of dry shelled corn.

LuckyGRanch

· #15 · Aug 7, 2004

I've got a good idea where you're at then...though I haven't heard of Buffalo Lake itself. I grew up just south of the Cambridge area (which is about 60 miles North of the TC).

Can you imagine what 400 hogs would be like?! It's fun to explore an old farmplace and try and picture things as they once were isn't it?!

Good luck with your piggies!

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