DIY pig feed

Hi All – I am trying to come up with a formula for feeding my pigs a mixture of barley, oats and wheat. I won’t feed them corn or soy. I am willing to supplement with diamataceous earth and I am giving them some whey (though not much). They are on pasture and so are getting grubs, dirt and other greens – but our pasture needs renovating (hence the pigs) so I wouldn’t say it’s great pasture. They also seem to be eating their hay bedding but I don’t think it’s great quality either so I’m not really relying on this for a lot of nutrition.

I am more concerned with keeping them away from GMOs than I am with rapid growth. Though I do want healthy pigs and tasty meat.

My plan is to ferment 1 part rolled oats, 1 part crushed barley, and 2 parts whole wheat for 48 hours and then feed it to them. But I have no experience in this (previously I only fed commercial feed plus excess fruit and vegetables and pasture) and I can find very little specific information on-line that does not include corn and soy (people say they do it, but are not specific as to exactly how).

Is anyone feeding a combination of these cereal grains? With or without fermentation/soaking? Any whole grains or all crushed/rolled? Please share your specific ration recipes, including any changes with weaners, feeders, sows, etc.

Thanks!

In most cases protein amino acids are going to be your biggest issues getting away from soy. We use a feed with peanut meal for our pigs and one with peanut and fish meal for the chickens instead of soy. The corn is mostly replaced with sorghum(also called milo). Because peanut meal is low in lysine there is also extra lysine added in a mineral/vitamin pack.

Check out this document from Clemson University on developing swine rations.

http://www.clemson.edu/psapublishing/pages/ADVS/EC509.PDF

Have you found a good ratio? I am also looking for a corn and soy free non gmo feed!

Welcome to the forum, Ashley.

I know nothing about good ratios though I would suggest microgreens and sprouts and fermented feeds.

Thinking about this topic lately since I would love to raise my own pork. Even with the high inputs that pigs require I figure it may be worth it given how terrible the pork in the stores is.
I will hopefully have a couple lactating goats in the winter so I wonder if I could use a portion of the milk along side an oatmeal/barley mix to provide all the nutrients for a couple pigs.
Has anyone done this or something similar?
Thanks!