Standards for feeding pigs and piglets in the household. Feeding piglets for rapid growth at home

The decision to breed pigs has been made, the premises have been prepared for them, you are already studying offers where you can buy a sow or a pig at a good price... Have you thought about one of the main questions: what to feed the pigs and how to do it correctly? After all, any pig breeder wants to avoid high feed costs as much as possible, while at the same time achieving good animal weight gain and excellent quality pork.

Before you start purchasing feed, you need to decide:

• What age of pigs are you going to buy? The feeding diet of pigs differs in many ways from the diet of piglets, and sows require different feeds in different months of pregnancy.
• Do you have sufficient funds to constantly buy factory-made feed, or do you intend to prepare the feed yourself?
• Will you be buying grains or want to make do with grass, root vegetables from your garden and food scraps from your kitchen?
• Can you provide pigs with high-quality premixes and mineral supplements?

When dry feeding, it is imperative to give the animals plenty to drink, otherwise constipation will begin and weight gain will slow down.

Of course, on balanced feed, flavored with vitamin supplements, you will be able to achieve the desired result faster and get high-quality, tasty meat than when feeding food waste and root vegetables.

Video about pig feed

Features of feeding, diet and diet: what can and cannot be given to the animal

Because pigs have a single-chamber stomach, it is more difficult for them than cattle to digest feed containing fiber. In this regard, the diet of pigs should mostly consist of extruded, concentrated feed, and there should be less succulent green and roughage feed.

You may prefer traditional wet feeding, which includes a mash of food scraps, vegetables, boiled potatoes, grass and grain, or you can choose to feed your pigs dry food: crushed grain mixtures with the addition of pea flour, cakes and vitamin and mineral supplements. When dry feeding, it is imperative to give the animals plenty to drink, otherwise constipation will begin and weight gain will slow down.

The dry type of feeding requires less labor - you don’t have to cook vegetables twice a day and carry heavy buckets of mash; you just need to crush the grain in advance, mix it with other ingredients and give each pig its own amount. Manure from dry-fed pigs does not have a strong odor and is suitable for use in the garden after just a year (in a couple of years if wet-fed). Piglets grow better on dry feeding, so if you see pigs not as a receptacle for kitchen waste, but as a profitable investment, choose dry pig food.

Grains should be fed to pigs in ground form, as this makes them easier to digest.

Important subtleties:

• Grains should be fed to pigs in ground form, as this way they are better digested. It is simply uneconomical to give whole grains to pigs - animals chew them poorly, as a result, most of the grains are excreted undigested along with feces.
• Potatoes are given boiled, having first washed the tubers to remove any dirt. It is not recommended to give water from boiled potatoes.
• As a vitamin supplement, a small amount of root vegetables is fed raw, and as a main feed in large quantities - boiled.
• Feed should be given exactly as much as the pig eats at one time, especially for mash, which quickly turns sour. Uneaten leftover food is not used during the next feeding.
• Grain feeds are high in carbohydrates but low in protein. To provide pigs with protein, it is necessary to feed grain legumes, feed yeast, cakes, fish meal (no fish), skimmed milk, meat and bone meal, and skim milk.

How and what to feed domestic pigs of different ages

Feeding during the milk period

Suckling piglets are accustomed to feed from the fifth day of life, when their teeth erupt. Feeding roasted corn grains (cobs are still too rough food), barley, peas, and wheat helps piglets develop their salivary glands and dental system. They are also starting to give acidophilus yogurt to prevent gastrointestinal diseases. Then the suckling piglets are included in the diet with special feed with premixes or given chalk, charcoal, and bone meal. From succulent food, starting from 10 days of age, feed pureed raw carrots, and later finely chopped carrots. Growing piglets are given beets, pumpkin, combined silage in small quantities, and for three weeks they begin to feed with boiled potatoes.

Suckling piglets are accustomed to feed from the fifth day of life, when their teeth erupt

Piglets are weaned from their mothers at one and a half months, gradually accustoming them to a certain feeding - dry or wet. By the time the piglets are weaned, the proportion of concentrates in the diet of the queens is reduced, succulent feed is removed and switched to dry feed, which leads to the cessation of lactation. At the same time, piglets are allowed closer to the mothers less and less frequently, increasing feeding. After 10 days, the piglets are left in a room separate from their mother and are completely transferred to regular food three times a day.

Weaned piglets are given a mixture of concentrates, fish meal, skim milk, succulent feed, vitamin feed (carrots, hay, combined silage) and minerals. Moreover, in winter, concentrates should make up 70% of the diet, succulent feed - 10%, legume flour - 5%, animal additives - 5%.

Raising gilts at home

During the period of growing gilts from 20 kg to 50 kg, their bones and muscle tissue are formed, on which fat is then deposited. If this period occurs in the summer, you can cheaply and quickly fatten your gilts by grazing them on young grass with the addition of kitchen waste and concentrates.

Some of the cut grass is given fresh, and some is finely chopped and steamed with hot water under a lid two hours before feeding. Before feeding, crushed warm potatoes and concentrates are added to the herbal mass, you can add a little bread (leftovers from the table or stale), as a result, the mixture in appearance becomes similar to a thick soup.

Fattening diet to gain weight faster

Video about feeding pigs

Feeding boars and sows: how to do it correctly?

Boars should be fed easily digestible feeds that do not cause obesity. It is desirable that their diet consist of 75% concentrates, 10% additives of animal origin and succulent feed, 5% legumes. Wheat bran, oats, barley bran, beets, carrots, and skim milk are suitable. To balance the diet, boars are fed vitamin and mineral supplements.

The nutrition of pigs during the first period of pregnancy should include a high-quality variety of feed: green grass, concentrates, silage, potatoes (not raw), root vegetables, grass meal, meat and bone meal and mineral supplements. To prevent the sow from experiencing calcium deficiency, you need to add chalk or limestone to her diet. Heavy feeding in the first months of pregnancy should be avoided, otherwise the risk of embryo mortality will increase. In the second half of pregnancy, the proportion of succulent feed is reduced, and three days before farrowing, the entire diet is reduced by 30-40%. A pregnant pig should not be given soy for the entire period. After farrowing, it is very important to always have fresh water and a predominance of fresh feed and greens in the diet.

So, the question of what to feed pigs and how to do it correctly doesn’t seem so scary anymore? So, feel free to get down to business, and let your farm be able to compete with local pig farms in the future.

If you decide to start breeding piglets or just keep a few for meat, then you should definitely know how and what to feed small piglets.

Until one month, the piglet feeds mainly on the sow's milk. Suckers eat up to 22 times per day, but starting from the 14th day of life, complementary foods are introduced into their diet. First, these are dry mixtures with cow's milk.

Necessarily iron is added in the form of vitamins, since their growth during this period is very rapid. By the first month of life, piglets are weaned from the sow and transferred to independent feeding.

Methods and nuances of nutrition

This period is the most difficult for both the pig farmer and the little piglet. Every owner, when buying a weaned pig or weaning it on his farm, strives to:

To ensure all the necessary conditions, every farmer must know that weaned piglets are kept in the same pen where they were with the sow. It is also necessary to observe the temperature regime; it should not be cold in the barn, the temperature should be within 18-22 degrees. Temperatures below 16 degrees, drafts cause serious illnesses in piglets: bronchitis, pneumonia, and as a result, low appetite and even death.

In order to balance correctly nutrition of small piglets, it is necessary to know the features of the animal’s digestive system in the second month of life. If in an adult, gastric juice, which is important for the normal functioning of the digestive system, is secreted during feeding, then in piglets of the second month of life, after eating. Moreover, its amount is almost the same both day and night.

It is worth knowing that piglets up to 3 months old have almost no hydrochloric acid in their gastric juice, but they do have the necessary enzymes pepsin and chymosin, which are responsible for the breakdown of milk proteins. Knowing that hydrochloric acid not only participates in the digestive process, but also protects the body from various pathogenic bacteria that enter with food, it is worth ensuring the cleanliness of the feeder and food.

Exactly low concentration of hydrochloric acid in the stomach entails a large number of gastrointestinal diseases in piglets in the first two months of life. The normal concentration of acid in the stomach is achieved at 3 months of the animal’s life.

As soon as a piglet is separated from the sow, it experiences extreme stress, and loss of appetite, weight loss, and slow or stunted growth are very common. Here the pig farmer needs to do the right job: organize care, provide care so that the piglets can endure this period easier, recover faster and begin to gain weight and grow.

Considering that The weight of young piglets is growing rapidly, then the diet of one-month-old weanlings should contain food with a high content of all essential nutrients: proteins, vitamins, minerals and carbohydrates.

Some farmers remember the deplorable practice of collective farms, when the survival rate of suckling piglets was minimal. This was due to the fact that young animals were fed by sows for up to one month and dry supplements based on cow's milk were introduced. After one month, these animals were completely weaned from the sow and switched to milk-free food. It was the abrupt weaning that reduced growth development, weight gain practically stopped, and up to 50% of piglets died.

Considering this fact, it is necessary for everyone who raises month-old piglets to remember that the diet should contain natural cow's milk, and the ideal option would be to introduce yogurt. Calculation of this product : 1-1.5 liters per day per head.

This method allows you to save on the consumption of grain feed; they experience rapid weight gain. As practice shows, piglets that receive up to 2 liters of milk and 1 kilogram of grain per day weigh more per week than those fed with two kilograms of dry food.

The piglets eat well and grow not only from whole milk, but also from dairy products. They can be given skimmed milk - the milk remaining after taking out the butter, not the sour whey. Considering that the fat content of these dairy products is lower, the norm is doubled.

Piglets in the second month of life need good care. It is advisable not to suddenly change the type of dry food. According to the recommendations of experienced farmers, 2 weeks before weaning and 2 weeks after, young animals should have the same dry mixtures in their diet. If you suddenly change the diet, the animal may refuse to eat, and as a result, it may not gain the required weight.

If you plan to turn piglets out to pasture, then this is the period of adaptation. First, green bait is introduced into the diet for several days, and then they gradually go out to pastures for 20-30 minutes 3 times a day. By the end of the second month, animals should spend time on pasture 1-2 hours 3 times a day.

Root vegetables are the favorite treat of weaned piglets. Introduce boiled potatoes, raw carrots, and beets into your diet. If your young animals grow in the summer, then green plants with mineral supplements should predominate in the feed, and if they are born in the winter, then try to saturate the food with concentrates, juicy fruits of the feed, mineral supplements and hay from legumes.

Daily norms for dairy animals

Particular attention should be paid to the daily intake of minerals, protein, carbohydrates and vitamins. Daily intake per 1 kilogram of feed:

Natural feeds can be used as concentrates for feeding young piglets: barley, oats, peas, soybeans, corn, wheat bran, millet, malt sprouts, cakes, yeast.

Natural food of animal origin must be present in the diet: meat and bone meal, fish meal, milk.

Introduce roughage: tender parts of legume grass hay leaves.

Considering the fact that suckling piglets very often develop anemia in the second month of life, it is necessary to balance the diet and avoid this unpleasant disease. To do this, a solution of iron sulfate can be introduced into the diet of a young animal. It is placed in drinking water, you can add a little to food, and if this is the first month of life, then smear the nipples of the uterus. If you provide comprehensive mineral nutrition, you will avoid many disturbances in the development and functioning of the gastrointestinal tract. 10 ml of solution is placed on one head. For 1 liter dilute 2.5 g of iron sulfate, 1 g of copper sulfate, 0.3 g of cobalt sulfate.

Possible diseases and illnesses

According to the recommendations of experienced farmers, in order to avoid the development of vitamin deficiency, it is necessary to accustom young animals to complete feed starters as early as possible, expose to sunlight, and introduce green bait.

In order to avoid obesity in the piglet in the future, it is necessary to correctly calculate the amount of proteins, carbohydrates, and provide walks in the fresh air. Don’t think that if you overfeed an animal from 1 month, it will have more meat and lard. These are misconceptions. Overfeeding leads to increased bone tissue growth.

Nutrition for fast growth and weight gain

For proper and rapid growth, it is necessary to distribute the percentage daily feed ratio:

• Summer period - up to 4 months, greens and additives to concentrates should predominate;
• Winter period - root vegetables must be added to concentrates and mixtures.

As practice has shown, piglets that receive yeast bait grow faster and weigh 6 kilograms more than piglets without this bait. But to introduce yeast feed, it is necessary to clearly comply with the following conditions:

In the second month of a pig's life, it is recommended separate and feed separately developmentally delayed individuals. They require special care and food with a high content of animal protein. For them, the dose of cow's milk also increases by 20% per head. These individuals must be washed in the summer and cleaned in the winter to avoid skin infections.

At this stage of development, piglets should not be given all the prepared food at once; it is given in parts - 2-3 at a time. The animal should be fed without unnecessary excitement. Excess can lead to the most unpleasant consequences.

In order for the animal to gain the optimal amount of fat and meat, it must be given food of the highest quality.

It is worth knowing that feeding corn, buckwheat, rye, wheat, and barley bran in the second month reduces the amount of meat in the pig, and lard only increases.

If you include in your diet a large amount of soybeans, oats, cake, then lard and meat generally stop their active growth, and bone tissue gains strength. In this case, the meat of an adult pig will be loose, and the lard will immediately turn yellow.

Pork is one of the most consumed foods in the world. It belongs to easily digestible types of meat. Pork fat causes less harm to the heart and blood vessels. It contains many B vitamins, unlike lamb and beef. Therefore, in rural areas, piglets are raised in almost every farmstead. You need to approach the process of fattening them very carefully. A piglet's stomach is not a trash can into which all waste can be thrown. Feeding should be correct and balanced.

Pig feeding periods

Up to 1 month, small piglets feed on their mother’s milk and during this time grow up to 10 kg. But even during this period they need to be given additional supplements containing vitamins, macro- and microelements, especially iron. Already in the first week, it is worth pouring feed in the form of granules into the trough with the addition of toasted barley and corn flakes. You also need to give babies red clay in small lumps at this time to increase iron in the body and charcoal to remove gases from the stomach, especially since little pigs love to crunch on them. Just pouring coal into a trough will, of course, be very good, but only if it is made from hardwood.

Piglet

Chalk is also given to strengthen bones and increase calcium in the blood. Turf is also useful for piglets, but it should not be removed where pigs used to graze in order to avoid infection with worms. Piglets are very curious, so they try to try everything that is in the feeder. At the end of the first month, the piglets' stomachs already produce hydrochloric acid, so the feeding ration needs to be expanded. From now on, they should be introduced to porridge cooked in milk, cow's milk and yogurt. It should be given in small portions - 5-6 times a day.

From the first days, piglets can be offered grass, as it is a source of vitamins. It is best to feed legumes. At the very beginning of complementary feeding, the grass is crushed into small pieces and brewed with boiling water.

Feeding piglets is divided into 3 periods:

• Lactic. Lasts 2 months.
• Growing up is the time when a piglet gains weight from 15-20 kg to 50-60 kg. Lasts up to approximately 4 months. During this period, you need to lay a solid foundation for the next stage of feeding.
• Fattening. Starts at 4 months. At this time, a young boar or pig gains weight abundantly, so they need to be fed 2-3 times a day. There are 2 types of pig fattening: meat and bacon.

Important! Piglets should receive plenty of fresh, clean water.

What grass can be given to piglets and pigs

• alfalfa;
• sweet clover;
• clover;
• corn.

These crops are rich in vitamins, proteins and minerals, which are very important for fattening pigs.

Of the crops listed, alfalfa is best suited. When they reach a height of 10-15 cm, piglets can eat it without restriction.

Note! Younger grass contains more proteins, but their content decreases over time. During the flowering period, alfalfa becomes coarse, and animals are no longer as willing to eat it.

Little pigs also really like clover, and besides, the young shoots contain a lot of protein and fiber.

Cruciferous vegetables (cabbage, rapeseed, turnip) are also beneficial for piglets. Fast-growing rapeseed is the best option for feeding these animals. Pigs of any age love it. This plant contains a lot of sulfur, due to which the digestive system of piglets works much better. Cabbage is used as feed less often and in small amounts. Before slaughter, they stop feeding cabbage about a month before, otherwise the meat will acquire a sour taste. For turnips, the tops are first fed, and then the roots themselves.

Almost from birth until slaughter, piglets are also given the following green herbs: nettle, quinoa, vetch, burdock, as well as dandelion, peas, clover, alfalfa, beet tops, pumpkin and zucchini leaves. In the summer, these herbs are visible and invisible all around, which significantly reduces the cost of meat.

Many novice breeders do not know how to give nettles to piglets. If it has already outgrown, then it must be brewed, but young ones can simply be chopped in a trough and mixed with other feed. Nettle can also be dried, crushed and added to feed. A pig should receive about 8 kg of greens per week. This amount is enough to better assimilate food, as well as to grow and develop faster. By eating green mass, the quality of pork improves.

Nettle for piglets

Also, many people are concerned about whether it is possible to give spurge to pigs (since there are many poisonous species in the spurge family). The answer is simple: yes, you can. In addition to milkweed, piglets can be given almost any weed from the garden: sow thistle, clover, quinoa. Speaking of swan. It is considered a poisonous herb, but during the war it saved many lives, and cattle still eat its delicate silky stems and leaves. So the question of whether it is possible to give quinoa to piglets disappears by itself. In addition, piglets have a well-developed sense of smell, and they will not eat harmful grass, but will eat the one they need at the moment.

You can prepare many herbs for future use at home. They can be dried (best in the shade), crushed and stored in a closed container.

Important! To replenish vitamin C reserves, piglets can be given sorrel in small quantities. Fresh green feed should be 30-40% of the total daily diet.

Diet of adult pigs

The diet of animals depends on gender and season. It is best to feed pigs with mixed feed consisting of:

• cereals;
• bran;
• dry skim milk;
• meat and bone meal;
• fishmeal;
• yeast.

Its composition must be balanced, containing all useful substances.

Summer period

In the summer it would be very useful to let pigs out into the meadow. If there is such an opportunity, then you need to graze in the morning, before the sun starts to get hot, and in the afternoon to avoid redness of the skin (piglets, like people, can sunbathe). But often this is impossible; in this case, the owner himself must provide his pigs with green food.

Piglets

Winter period

In winter, piglets are given dry chopped hay, dried nettles and other prepared herbs with the addition of concentrated feed. They also provide silage. When there is no green food, pigs eat it with pleasure.

Table of nutritional norms

Potatoes should not be given raw, as they contain a toxic substance that is dangerous to pigs. Moreover, you should not give green potatoes. Beets, on the contrary, should be offered raw. And it’s better if it’s a stern one, not a red one.

Important! In no case should food be fed that is moldy or rotten.

The following plants can also cause poisoning in pigs:

• Black nightshade - the entire plant is poisonous, especially the berries when unripe;
• Cockle is a beautiful flower whose seeds are poisonous;
• Buttercup is a plant that lives on the banks of rivers and other bodies of water. It is most poisonous in the spring and is then attractive to piglets;
• intoxicating tares;
• Veh is poisonous. In this dangerous plant, poisoning can be caused by the stem, leaves and rhizome;
• Datura is also considered a poisonous plant, especially its fruits.

Experienced livestock breeders advise that in order to raise a good boar or pig you need:

With proper care and a balanced diet, you can get a hundredweight, or even more, of first-class pork in 8 months. All of the above tips will help even a novice farmer achieve this.

Breeding and fattening piglets for meat at home is somewhat different from how animals are raised on large industrial farms. But in any case, the goal is the same - to achieve the required slaughter weight in the shortest possible time. In the article we will look at what to feed pigs for rapid growth, what food consumption standards exist, and whether they need to be additionally enriched with vitamins. We will mainly talk about a small private farm, where 2-3 individuals are raised for personal needs.

General standards

After the piglet is weaned from the sow (at about 1.5-2 months), it is raised on dairy products, kitchen waste, cereals - everything that can be prepared in your own kitchen. The diet of weanlings must include 15-20 g of chalk and salt. Juicy foods include potatoes, carrots, grass, tops. In winter, young animals are given chaff, silage, and hay dust twice as much as in summer. Fattening pigs at home can begin when the individual reaches 50 kg.

In order for weight gain to be fast and effective, you need to use the most nutritious foods. Vegetables, meat, cereals, flour, fruit and vegetable peelings, bread mixed with bran are allowed from food. Moreover, by the age of seven months, a piglet can weigh up to 100 kg.

In order to fatten a pig as much as possible in a personal household, you need not only to follow the nutritional rules, but also to comply with the mandatory maintenance and care standards:

• the pig barn should be warm and bright;
• clean and fresh water is freely available - for piglets 6 liters daily, for adult pigs up to 12 liters;
• the premises are disinfected every month;
• the diet consists only of high-quality and fresh products;
• waste from the home table is used fresh or after heat treatment;
• the grain is crushed before serving;
• Remains of food from the feeders are removed.

It doesn’t matter what types of fattening are used - meat, bacon or lard, but the general rules are the same for all. However, there are some tricks that allow you to get meat with a layer of lard or, conversely, lard with a strip of meat. Let's look at a more detailed diet for each of them.

Bacon meal plan

To obtain high-quality bacon meat with a fatty layer, the pig must necessarily eat barley, dairy products, and legumes. Due to them, muscle tissue is actively built up.

Young animals are put into fattening when the piglet is 2.5 months old and the individual weighs 25 kg. Don't forget that males must already be neutered. In the article we talk about this in more detail.

When fattening a six-month-old piglet for bacon, you can adhere to a feeding diet where there will be 3 kg of succulent feed per day, 1.5 kg of skim milk with concentrates and 2 kg of various root vegetables. These are carrots, beets, potatoes, pumpkin. Salt as an additive – 20 g. Two meals a day are provided.

As mentioned above, barley must be added to the food of bacon-fed pigs, as it improves the taste of the meat. Average daily gains in the last 2-3 months of fattening can reach 600 g. At the same time, the supply of soybeans, bran, and fish waste is stopped, as they worsen the characteristics of the future bacon.

Walks at home should be daily, which, for example, is not always feasible on a farm. Physical activity contributes to the formation of a series of meat and fat layers in the meat.

Landrace and Duroc breeds are suitable for bacon carcasses, as they have a long body. The products from the middle part are the best. A 100kg pig can produce, on average, about 10kg of bacon. So, this is an expensive delicacy.

Meat carcass

If you want to get a meat pig at home, then it is fattened at three months. The process lasts until they gain weight from 100 to 120 kg. Almost all breeds of pigs are suitable. If there is a lot of food and time available, then the animals are fattened slowly. This method is often chosen on private farms, and it is called low-intensity.

But when feeding at home, you can choose an intensive option. It is usually practiced on pig farms because it will allow you to achieve the desired weight in a short time. The weight gain per day will reach 650 g. In turn, this period is divided into preparatory (longer) and final (shorter). Together they last approximately 4 months. If a pig weighs 20 kg, then it is given 1.3 feed units per day. At 60 kg – 2.6, and at 90 kg (at the end of fattening) – 4.

It is best to start the first period in the warm season - spring and summer, because greens are the main component for feeding pigs. They are given root crops, melons, and legumes.

In winter, the diet includes grass meal and combined silage. Protein premixes are needed for intensive weight gain, but they are usually not given at home, and hormonal drugs are not used, because the meat is prepared for one’s own use and not for sale. Increase the amount of protein due to legumes.

With a lack of protein, animal growth stops and fat mass increases. To prevent this, 115 g of digestible protein must be provided per unit of feed. Vitamins, minerals and amino acids must be added to food.

The final period is short and at this time the daily gain should reach 750 g. If the pig is fattened with potatoes, then it makes up half of the diet. The other part is the concentrate. Protein is given within 100 g per feed unit.

In addition to potatoes, beets, food and dairy waste are allowed. And salt is required - 40 g per day. Food that can spoil the taste of meat is fish products, soy, bran and millet. Therefore, during the fattening period it is completely excluded.

Good lard

Pigs are fattened for lard at home when their weight has already reached 100 kg. The animal is sent to slaughter with a mass of 200 kg. It happens that the weight of sows can reach 250-280 kg. We will tell you how to feed animals correctly so that the lard is not tough and the amount of meat is no more than 40%. The correct diet will allow you to achieve an increase of 1 kg of live weight per day.

This type of nutrition involves carbohydrate foods - potatoes, corn, root vegetables. Concentrates that contain wheat and corn are used. Towards the end of fattening, they can be replaced with millet and barley. This will improve the quality and taste of the products. The set of products recommended for fattening a pig for lard is the same for both personal farming and a pig farm. Just different scales.

An approximate diet for fat-fed piglets weighing 100 kg or more consists of 4 kg of green feed, 3.5 kg of pumpkin, 3 kg of concentrate, 50 g of salt. Animals lead a sedentary lifestyle and towards the end of such feeding, after 2-3 months, they become round. As weight increases, the amount of food consumed also increases. For example, if the pig’s weight has already reached 150 kg, then it should receive 5-6 kg of potatoes, 4-5 kg ​​of fodder beets, 55 g of salt, 2 kg of crushed barley per day.

Feeding occurs 2 times a day. A pig is considered to eat normally if the food is in the feeder within an hour of being served. If everything is eaten much faster, then you can increase the amount of succulent and green food. If food is absorbed very slowly, then its amount should be reduced.

Food additives

We told you how and what to feed piglets at home for rapid growth, now we move on to supplements for growing organisms. With them, the fattening time can be significantly reduced. At the same time, the taste of the meat improves and the nutritional value of the product increases.

There are different options for supplements, but it is better not to overuse them, since a pig can gain weight well even on homemade food. It is necessary to select those that are quickly eliminated from the body and do not have a negative effect on pigs and people. If antibiotics are used, they can cause dangerous bacteria to become addicted to them.

Among the most popular drugs in home pig farming are monosodium glutamate and baker's yeast. Thanks to the first substance, the taste of the feed improves and pigs can eat more of it than usual. Its negative effect on humans and animals has not been proven.

The most effective way to grow a piglet in a short period of time is the second substance, yeast. The homemade recipe looks like this. Add 100 g of dry yeast to hot but not boiling water (5 l). You need to pour 2 kg of feed into this solution. The dough sits for 6 hours, after which 15 liters of water and 7.5 kg of grain mixture are poured into it.

If you feed pigs with this additive at home, this means significant savings on feed. At the same time, animals experience increased appetite and improved digestion. Usually piglets are given this dish twice a day. For pigs weighing up to 50 kg and castrated boars, the portion is 50% of the total daily ration, for animals weighing up to 100 kg - 20%.

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You may also be interested

Depending on the content of cryptoxanthin, the corn grain can be white, yellow or red in color. When feeding pigs, yellow grain is preferred, but in some countries, during the final fattening period, white grain is given so that the lard does not turn yellow.

Like other cereals, the use of corn as the only feed in the diet is also limited, primarily due to the low protein content and insufficient amino acid composition. The zein protein present in the endosperm of grain, which occupies most of the protein, is deficient in amino acids such as lysine and tryptophan. In general, in corn grain tryptophan and lysine respectively account for 0.6 and 2.5% of the total amount of amino acids, and in germ proteins - 1.3 and 5.8%. Another protein, corn glutelin, found in smaller quantities than zein, is a better source of these two amino acids. The biological value of corn germ proteins is 64-72%, and endosperm proteins are 44-59%.

By adding the amino acids lysine and tryptophan to pigs' corn diets, as well as special protein supplements with a high content of essential amino acids, the growth rate increases and the feed consumption per unit of pig weight gain decreases.

In recent years, breeders have developed many new varieties of corn that are rich in both protein and amino acids, as well as varieties with very little fat. When using corn with a high fat content in the form of unsaturated acids - linoleic and linolenic - soft lard is obtained from fattening pigs. For food purposes, corn varieties have been developed that accumulate up to 14-15% fat in the grain. Waxy or gluten varieties contain starch, which contains 93-100% amylopectin. The breeding program in some countries of the world provides for the development of special varieties of corn, in which amylopectin is 20% and amylase is 80%. Corn grain is low in calcium. In diets with large amounts of this food, there is a sharp lack of calcium, as well as sodium and chlorine.

Before distribution to pigs, corn grain is crushed, or roughly ground, or prepared into flakes, which are highly digestible. During storage, grain is often affected by mold fungi, which do not have a harmful effect on the pigs' body, but reduce its nutritional value.

During the industrial production of starch and glucose from corn grain, a large amount of waste is obtained, the main of which are: germ meal, bran and gluten meal, which are used in animal feeding. The mixture of these wastes contains up to 24% crude protein, at least 5% crude fat and about 3-5% crude fiber, but due to poor protein quality they cannot be used as the main source of protein in pig diets. In addition, when feeding these feeds to animals, soft lard is obtained.

For pigs, starter feed SK-3

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Starter complete feed for piglets SK-3 is produced by NTK LLC and is intended for fattening piglets aged 9 to 42 days. Used as the main feed.

Pig farmers suffer the greatest losses when feeding young animals. In the first weeks of a piglet's life, the enzyme system of their digestion changes radically very quickly. At the same time, the composition of the feed and the method of feeding change.

Starting from the second week, dry mixtures are added, which requires adaptation of the digestive system. Weak gastric secretion of suckling piglets does not allow them to digest starch. 7-8 days after the start of complementary feeding, secretion increases very quickly. During this period, extruded feeds provide excellent results. A significant increase in weight gain is observed already with the inclusion of 10 extruded feeds. This is due to the increased availability of gelatinized starch.

The process of weaning piglets is always accompanied by stress. Often due to the development of diarrhea, immunity decreases and weight gain decreases. This can be successfully solved using extruded feed.

In diets for piglets, it is very important to provide the required level of energy in an easily digestible form, since the efficiency of carbohydrate absorption during this period is low.

Full-fat soybean with a high content of high-quality protein and vegetable fat is an ideal component for feed used in pig farming.

Compound:

Grain feed for fattening pigs.

The best grain feed for fattening pigs is barley. It has high nutritional value and is well eaten by pigs. Barley contains the following nutrients:

— protein — 10.7;

— nitrogen-free extractives — 62.1;

Corn has high nutritional value and contains easily digestible carbohydrates and fats. However, corn contains insufficient digestible protein and has low biological value. Therefore, it is recommended to feed corn along with peas, cake and dairy products.

White varieties of corn contain almost no essential vitamins. For suckling piglets, corn is given mixed with other feed. Corn can make up 40 - 50% of the diet, but two months before the end of fattening it must be excluded from the diet. Otherwise, the lard will turn out soft, spreadable, and without grain. It quickly turns yellow and has poor taste and quality.

Compound feed.

Compound feed is the most nutritious type of feed for pigs, since it contains nutrients in the ratios most desirable for the body.

Bran contains a lot of fiber, so it is fed to pigs in small quantities. But bran, especially wheat bran, is rich in vitamins. For this reason, they are recommended to be included in the diets of all age groups of pigs.

Cake and meal.

Cake and meal are valuable protein feed for growing pigs. They should be used as an additive to potatoes, beets and corn in an amount of 10 - 15%. A month before the end of fattening, cake should be excluded from the diet, since the fat it contains impairs the quality of pork.

Feeding grains.

Grain feed is fed only in crushed form. At the same time, their more complete digestion and assimilation is achieved.

It has been established that whole grains and coarsely ground turd are digested in the body of pigs by 67 - 80%; medium grind - by 82%; finely ground turd - 85%.

It should be borne in mind that finely ground turd when fed dry leads to the appearance of ulcers and dysfunction of the digestive system. Therefore, finely ground grain feed should be given in a mixture with succulent feed or food waste.

Cooking benign grain feed is not effective, since at high temperatures vitamins and biologically active substances are almost completely destroyed. In addition, boiled food quickly turns sour.

However, crushed grains of legumes must be boiled before consumption due to low digestibility in their raw form.

How to distinguish feed corn from food corn?

When buying corn at the market, we hardly think about the fact that our menu includes feed corn, and not food corn at all. Of course, it is impossible to get poisoned from feed corn; it is quite edible, but its taste is clearly inferior to food. It is edible corn that cooks quickly and has a unique delicate taste. But if you come to the market, armed with some knowledge, you can choose the most successful one from all the options offered.

Places of growth

Corn is not the most demanding plant; it is widespread throughout the world. But for some varieties, a certain climate is preferable.

Feed corn It grows everywhere in temperate climates, and with normal humidity and well-fertilized soil it produces a good harvest.

Edible corn more whimsical. It ripens well in the southern regions, where throughout the growing season the temperature is maintained at 21-27°C during the day and at night around 14°C.

Appearance and taste

Fodder corn is the closest ancestor of wild corn; it was on its basis that sweet corn was later developed.

Fodder corn grows in length, its color is most often bright yellow, sometimes orange. If feed corn is not boiled, then the hard grain is unpleasant to chew, and besides, it does not have any taste. Cooking time is 2-3 hours. One hundred grams of boiled corn contains 120 kcal.

Feed corn

Edible corn, or sweet corn, is a plump cob with very large and plump kernels. The cob itself is rather white, sometimes pale yellow. If you take a grain of edible corn, it will be soft and sweet in taste. To prepare sweet corn, half an hour, and sometimes ten minutes, is enough. 100 grams of boiled edible corn contains 180 kcal. Edible corn is richer in proteins than any other type of corn.

Usage

Feed corn is quite suitable for human nutrition, but it is grown, as a rule, as feed for cattle.

Feeding pigs | University of Illinois researchers confirm that glycerin is essential as pig feed.

Increased interest in biofuel production and a growing need to find cost-effective feed alternatives has led University of Illinois researchers to further evaluate the use of glycerol in pig diets.

The study, led by University of Illinois researcher Omarh Mendoza, was published in the journal Animal Science and reports that a pork diet can include up to 15 percent glycerol and achieve similar performance to a conventional corn or soy diet.

Glycerin is not a new product, but little is known about its role as a pig feed ingredient, said Michael Ellis, a professor in the Department of Animal Sciences. Previous studies have shown varying results.

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When organizing feeding pigs, the peculiarities of their digestion, the need for nutrients, the quality of feed and other factors are taken into account.

The peculiarity of pig digestion is that their ability to digest feed containing high amounts of fiber is limited. Therefore, with a high fiber content in the diet, the digestibility of feed worsens and its consumption increases for the appearance of growth.

Good feeding of piglets in the post-weaning period, when they are especially demanding of feeding conditions, is of no small importance.

With age, the content of dry matter in the body of pigs increases, the amount of water decreases relatively, and the intensity of metabolism decreases. Feed nutrients are used less efficiently. At the same time, the animals’ need for certain nutrients is reduced, and feed consumption per unit of body weight gain increases. Therefore, pigs should have adequate nutrition at an early age. Animals' need for feed increases during the gestating period, which is mainly due to an increase in the consumption of nutrients for the development of embryos.

Proper watering of pigs is also important. The absence or lack of water causes a decrease in appetite, feed intake and digestibility, slower growth and decreased productivity. On hot days, pigs can only go without water for a few hours. Therefore, it is worth providing pigs with free access to water at a temperature of 12-15°C.

Feeding of pigs is organized taking into account their need for nutrients: protein, carbohydrates, fat, minerals, vitamins. Pigs are particularly demanding regarding the level and quality of protein nutrition. Per one feed unit of diet (1 kg of feed for pigs has approximately the same nutritional value) there should be 100-110 g of digestible protein, and for weaned piglets and suckling dams 110-120 g. The need for pigs in protein largely depends on its composition , in particular on the content of essential amino acids. Most often, their diets lack lysine, methionine, and sometimes tryptophan. The need of growing pigs for lysine ranges from 4.2 to 5%, for methionine - from 2.8 to 3.2%, for tryptophan - from 0.7 to 1.2% (of the total protein content in the diet).

Grain feeds of cereal crops are rich in carbohydrates, but they do not contain enough protein. Valuable components for balancing pig diets in terms of protein are legumes (peas, vetch, etc.), cakes, meal, feed yeast and animal feed (meat and bone meal, fish meal, milk, skim milk, etc.). A lot of complete protein is found in grass flour prepared with legumes (alfalfa, clover, peas, vetch, etc.).

It is important to provide pigs with minerals, including trace elements, and vitamins. One feed unit of the diet should contain about 8-10 g of table salt, 6-8 g of calcium and 4-6 g of phosphorus.

Of the vitamins, pigs primarily need vitamins A (or carotene), D2 and vitamins of the B complex. Due to a lack of vitamins, productivity decreases and animal diseases are observed.

Vitamin A activates growth, helps increase the body's resistance to infection; when it is deficient, animals become less mobile, they develop convulsions, fetuses dissolve in pregnant uteruses, abortions occur, and dead piglets are born.

With 1 kg of combined feed, queens and boars should receive about 6-8 mg of carotene, fatteners 1-1.5 mg.

Carotene is found in plant foods: green grass, grass meal, carrots, pumpkin, silage, etc. When grinding feed, drying and storing it, loss of vitamin A is also possible.

Vitamin D takes part in the metabolism of calcium and phosphorus, stimulates the absorption of calcium through the intestines and maintains its optimal level in the blood, promotes the deposition of phosphorus and calcium in bone tissue. Vitamin D is synthesized in the body of animals due to exposure to sunlight.

With a lack of vitamin D in adult animals, appetite decreases, bone osteomalacia occurs, and young animals develop rickets.

1 kg of feed should contain approximately 200-300 IU of vitamin D. It is found in fish oil and animal feed.

Vitamin B2 (riboflavin, lactoflavin) is part of many enzymes that regulate redox reactions; it takes part in intracellular metabolism and affects carbohydrate metabolism. With hypovitaminosis (lack of vitamin B2), animals (primarily piglets) suffer from cataracts and dermatitis, digestive disorders, and their growth is stunted. Vitamin B2 is found in milk, yeast, green feed, cakes, meal, and bran.

Feeds and their nutritional value

A wide variety of feeds are used to feed pigs. Among them, it is worth highlighting cereal feeds that have common properties: they contain a lot of starch (40-70%), few minerals (especially calcium) and fat, and are relatively poor in protein (10-12%).

Barley contains the following amount of nutrients (%): protein 10.5, fat 2.3, fiber 5.5, nitrogen-free extractives 65.7, ash 3, calcium 0.11, phosphorus 0.34. 1 kg of medium quality barley contains 1.2 feed units. It is included in the menu of piglets, queens, and boars in the form of finely ground flour. When fattening pigs, using barley, high quality meat is obtained.

How should pigs be fed so that they grow quickly?

Barley can account for 40-70% nutritional value in pig diets.

Oats contain (%): protein 10.7, fat 4.1, fiber 9.9, nitrogen-free extractives 58.7, ash 3.3, calcium 0.14 phosphorus 3.3. Nutritional value of 1 kg of oats 1 feed unit. Oats, just like barley, should be fed to pigs in the form of finely ground flour, since the films contained in the grain can cause irritation of the mucous membrane of the gastrointestinal tract.

Oats are not very suitable for fattening pigs with bacon, as they produce soft, spreadable lard. Hulled oats have dietary properties and are an indispensable feed for piglets.

Wheat contains 12.1% digestible protein and 1.18 feed units. Rich in carbohydrates. A small amount of wheat flour should be introduced into the diets of piglets. In the diet of adult and fattening pigs, crushed wheat can make up 50% or more.

Corn is a rich source of easily digestible carbohydrates (starch) and fat. Corn contains (%): protein 10.2, fat 6.0, fiber 2.5, nitrogen-free extractives 66.8, ash 1.4, calcium 0.01 and phosphorus 0.3.

Corn can be fed to pigs of all age and sex groups. But when it is fed to fattening pigs, the lard comes out soft, spreadable and yellowish.

Pig diets should include 25% cornmeal and up to 50% cornmeal.

Legumes are an excellent source of protein. The protein it contains is distinguished by its high nutritional value and has a beneficial effect on the growth of animals and the quality of the resulting pork. Legume grains are rich in essential amino acids and especially lysine. For example, 1 kg of peas contains (mg): lysine 14.8, methionine 3.2, cystine 2.5 and tryptophan 1.8. Legume grains can make up about 20% of the diet.

Cake and meal are high-protein feeds. The nutritional value of 1 kg of these feeds is approximately 1.1-1.2 feed units. 1 kg of cake and meal contains 280-400 g of digestible protein. To balance the diet in terms of protein, up to 10-15% of cakes and meals are introduced in terms of nutritional value.

When feeding cottonseed cake or meal, care should be taken, as they contain a toxic substance - gossypol, which causes poisoning in animals. Unneutralized cottonseed cake and meal cannot be fed to pregnant and suckling queens and piglets. In order to neutralize this food, it should be steamed.

Potatoes are a valuable carbohydrate feed that is well digested by pigs. It contains (%): water 75.9, protein 1.66, fat 0.21, fiber 0.64, nitrogen-free extractives 20.4 and ash 1.15. Soluble carbohydrates in potatoes are 19.94%, their basis is starch (14.10%). Organic matter is approximately 90% digestible by pigs. 1 kg of boiled potatoes contains 0.36 feed units and 14 g of digestible protein. Due to the fact that potatoes are a watery food, large amounts of water should not be added to the feed mixture prepared from them. It is better to feed potatoes boiled, mixed with concentrates and protein supplements. It is necessary to balance potato diets in terms of protein, calcium, phosphorus and carotene, because there are few of these substances in potatoes. Potatoes can be included in the diet up to 35%. It is also used as the only source of carbohydrates, adding protein-rich feed, vitamins and minerals.

In combination with concentrated feed, boiled potatoes can be fed to pigs in the following quantities (kg): weaned piglets 1, fattening pigs 2.5-3.5, dams and boars 4-6.

Unripe tubers and sprouts of sprouted potatoes contain solanine glucoside, which can cause poisoning and diseases of the digestive system. This kind of food must be boiled.

Beets can be included in the diet in an amount of no more than 20-30%. Composition of fodder beet (%): water 86-88, protein 1.3, fiber 0.9, ash 1.5 and nitrogen-free extractives 10.3. 1 kg of beets contains: 0.12 feed unit, 9 g of digestible protein, 0.4 g of calcium and 0.4 g of phosphorus. The dry matter of fodder beet is represented by easily digestible carbohydrates (sugars), which are quickly digested and absorbed. Beetroot has a beneficial effect on the metabolism of pregnant and suckling queens, which can be fed 6-8 kg of raw chopped beets.

Sugar beets contain: 21.9-23.7% dry matter, 1.3-1.4 protein, 1.2-1.3 fiber, 17.9-19.2 BEV and 1.0-1.5 % ash. 1 kg of sugar beet contains 0.26 feed units and 12 g of digestible protein. Organic matter in sugar beets is approximately 88% digestible.

Skim milk (skimmed milk) is a good protein feed for pigs; it is especially indispensable when raising piglets. The composition of skim milk includes (%): dry matter 9.3, protein 3.4, fat 0.1, sugar 4.0, calcium 0.12, phosphorus 0.10. It contains essential amino acids, B vitamins and other substances that have a beneficial effect on the growth, development, health and productivity of pigs.

For fattening pigs, 1 liter of skim milk is added to the feed, which has a good effect on their growth and meat quality.

Whey, which is a waste product from cheese making, contains a lot of sugar, minerals, and does not contain protein or fat. When feeding whey to fattening pigs, good results are obtained.

Carrots are used as a rich source of carotene. 1 kg of carrots contains: 0.14 feed units, 7 g of digestible protein, 0.60 g of calcium, 0.49 g of phosphorus, from 50 to 200 mg of carotene.

Carrots are a good food for pregnant and lactating sows, suckling piglets, and weaned piglets. It should be fed in small quantities.

How should you plan your diet? Diets are prepared based on feeding standards developed taking into account the age, weight, physiological state, and level of productivity of pigs in individual nutrients. To do this, using the feeding standards for pigs, they first determine the animals’ need for individual nutritional elements, then they create a diet from the available feed, checking the nutritional value of the ingredients included in it using the tables. The amount of nutrients in all feeds in the diet must correspond to the required animal feeding standards.

Preparing feed for feeding and feeding techniques. The preparation of feed for feeding, the system and technique of feeding pigs are of great importance.

Currently, two methods of feeding are most widespread: rationed and ad libitum. Single and pregnant queens, fattening young animals, replacement young animals and breeding boars should be fed according to the norms. Lactating queens, suckling piglets and weanlings with a live weight of up to 22 kg – ad libitum. In a backyard farm, where the quantity of products obtained is of primary importance, fattening pigs should also be fed ad libitum. This allows you to make maximum use of the animals' growth abilities and obtain maximum production from them in a short time.

Pigs are often fed unmilled grain, which is very poorly digested by pigs and passes through the digestive tract largely unused. The results of such feeding can be figuratively compared with the effect obtained from heating the stove with banknotes.

Pigs need to be fed crushed grain (dert) or wholemeal flour. Usually dry food or wet mash is used. Lactating queens and suckling piglets are most often fed with wet mash, and pigs of other sex and age groups are fed with dry food, preferably in granulated form. As for fattening pigs, from the point of view of saving labor costs, feeding dry food from self-feeders is considered the most rational.

But in homestead farms, where food scraps, potatoes, succulent and other cheap feeds are used to feed pigs, it is more advisable to prepare wet mash. It is important to remember that as dry matter intake increases, fattening results improve. The consistency of the feed mixture for pigs should correspond to thick porridge, i.e. the ratio of feed to water should be 1:3 (3 kg of water per 1 kg of feed).