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What are you feeding your pigs?

 
Posts: 7
Location: Fort Lonesome, FL.
1
dog hunting bee
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Hello


We are located in central florida south west of lakeland.
we let the pigs graze and root up the entire property.

we also give them kitchen scraps, corn, and a 16% swine feed.

what are you guys feeding your pigs from your property to save yourself on the feed costs?
 
rocket scientist
Posts: 6322
Location: latitude 47 N.W. montana zone 6A
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cat pig rocket stoves
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Rigoberto: I rotate my pigs thru different paddocks. As soon as I remove them from one , I bring in the rototiller and till the minefield that rooting and pooping produces. Then I replant clover, barley/rye/hairy vetch/ buckwheat and a few others. My paddocks are small but the pigs get fresh greens from each. Every 2-3 weeks and I move them to another. Of course they get all the compost from the house, and any waste from our garden. I have a source of spoiled raw milk from a neighbor that the piggys think is the BEST THING EVER ! Even though they have all that they still expect me to pick a handful of anything green to feed them as I enter their area. I also have ground grain mixed with 2% diatomaceous earth in a feeder they can eat when they are tired of fresh greens.
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Posts: 724
Location: In a rain shadow - Fremont County, Southern CO
21
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we have chosen to keep kune kune pigs- which are able to fatten on grass/forage without the need for grain inputs.
currently we have 4 pigs, but we should be having piglets in the fall.

currently we are letting the pigs graze in the old garden area. they are keeping the 'weeds' and keeping things nicely 'mowed' , we like these pigs as they eat grasses and such, but leave the larger bushes/plants alone (unlike sheep!)
these also have a much smaller snout so they do not root much.

i am not sure how to post a video from facebook, but we put up a video of our pigs grazing a few weeks ago: https://www.facebook.com/Cloud-9-Farms-785187241536162/

the only 'downside' is that it takes 12-16 months for a kunes to be ready for harvest - and even then, they will only be ~150lbs. personally we dont mind as we have VERY LITTLE feed costs into them, even after a year.

we do feed them a bit of grain in the winter - and we just use our 18% layer feed when we do that. they get so little of it, we dont even have to factor them in when we order grain (for out chickens and turkeys)

 
Posts: 1114
Location: Mountains of Vermont, USDA Zone 3
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We feed roughly by percent dry matter intake:
80% pasture/hay
7% dairy mostly whey
2% spent barley from a local brew pub
plus eggs, veggies, apples, pears and a little bread for training.

See: http://SugarMtnFarm.com/pigs and follow the feed discussion and links.

-Walter
 
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