How many pro-pig permies use fermented grains in their feeding?

I am a pig advocate, ever since my middle school days in GA 4H team. We had competitions with other counties to judge cattle, fowl,swine, etc

That said, I am far from an expert. Pray you, tell me about pigs thriving on fermenting grain.  Currently I ferment whole corn about 5 to 6 days before feeding it to them.  They of course get fresh greens, pellets of pig food, and some regular grain daily.

Any ideas for me, and /or personal preferences on feeding?  As always, my education is only half complete

Apology, sent wrong photo, but yes I only use a woodstove for half cooking grains heading toward the swine

Hi Rico;
I do not ferment grain for my pigs.
No real reason other than convenience.
I buy bulk GMO-free organic grain in #1000 bags.
I choose to pay extra for pelletized grain rather than straight-ground grain.
The piggies get to fighting over who gets to sleep with their head in the bin...  with ground grain, the spillage and loss were becoming expensive.
With pellets, they tend to eat it all.
I'm sure fermented grain is easier on them, but hey, they are piggies, and we know they will eat or try to eat anything!

Pigs out here get 60% corn and 20% oats all soaked in water for atleast 24 hours. But not the alfalfa, that doesn't need soaking. From what I understand the soaking helps them absorb nutrients with less pass through. But pigs eat their food twice, sounds kinda gross but it is what it is.

Since it's winter right now the feed bath has ice on it until day 3, then it's warm to the touch. I figure I'll stick some buckets in my green house once that's built, to keep plants warm but also to help the fermentation process.

My dad raised pigs commercially and so we got all the farm magazines. One article I recall from the 1980s described a test done comparing fermented grains with dry grains in pig feed. I don't recall the specifics but they definitely found an advantage. I believe it was a reduction in phytates.

Not sure if this is helpful in the context of permaculture, but offered for what it's worth. My dad used to be a treasurer for a large commercial brewery. They sold their spent mash to pig farmers.  At a certain point, they decided to buy a string of breakfast restaurants and the pigs to supply them because the mash was such nutritious food for the pigs, and they had essentially unlimited access to free pig food. My point is that it's good food, and economic at the commercial level.

Thea Harvey-Barratt wrote:Not sure if this is helpful in the context of permaculture, but offered for what it's worth. My dad used to be a treasurer for a large commercial brewery. They sold their spent mash to pig farmers.  At a certain point, they decided to buy a string of breakfast restaurants and the pigs to supply them because the mash was such nutritious food for the pigs, and they had essentially unlimited access to free pig food. My point is that it's good food, and economic at the commercial level.

My neighbors used brewers waste for cow feed.

I appreciate the comments from y'all,  and will try some of these ideas. We live less then 25 miles from 4 local breweries , but one already nixed my attempt for spent grains.  I will see the others in short order.
Thomas, how do you handle that half ton container of feed?  Just curious about your system. I am too long in the tooth to merely get that up on one shoulder....No feed n seed stores around here offer that option though. Will keep searching

I had a 4 bucket system going last time we had pigs, so we'd put grain in one bucket every day, it would get fermented for four days, and then fed to the pigs.

I think in general pigs do better on wet food than dry food, so it's good for that reason, but I'm not sure if I noticed a huge difference in digestibility and feed economy on the times when we only soaked it overnight vs the times it went for a full four days.

Maybe for other grains it would make more of difference though.

Good to know your system, Kate.  Which grains are you using since it appears Taz is more temperate than the mainland? Barley perhaps?

Corn here, about 50%, but they occasionally get wheat, oats, rice.   As stated, I keep on our biggest wood stove fo the  first day or until it swells a bit, then ferment on days 2 to 6. I have starter liquid with some yeast already present,whicht helps a lot, then I don't let the bucket get too cool for those days.

Of course, being a dyed in the wool Southern boy, who has generations of whiskey makers in my bloodline, it elicits a wry smile to smell the vat as it heads outside.....

My brother and I used to brew beer and I'd take the grains home for my chickens. If I remember right, we were extracting sugar from the grains then the yeast goes in once the mash is removed. So no fermentation in brewer's grains unless they collect natural yeast after sitting for a few days.

Rico Loma wrote:Good to know your system, Kate.  Which grains are you using since it appears Taz is more temperate than the mainland? Barley perhaps?.

It was whole barley, with the hulls on. Corn is not very common here.