What you feed you're pigs

Tremone

I am getting into smallholding primarily as a way of being more self sufficient but always on the lookout to see if i could make a farming business out of it such as rare/traditional breed pork. With that in mind I bought 3 Tamworth weaners that I am rearing outdoors and they go into a shed at night. I am currently feeding them nuts and any veg from our garden. Just wondering what else pigs will eat(obviously no meat) and what I could grow as a crop to feed them which would take down my costs if I was to get any bigger.

Muckit

Tremone wrote: »

I am getting into smallholding primarily as a way of being more self sufficient but always on the lookout to see if i could make a farming business out of it such as rare/traditional breed pork. With that in mind I bought 3 Tamworth weaners that I am rearing outdoors and they go into a shed at night. I am currently feeding them nuts and any veg from our garden. Just wondering what else pigs will eat(obviously no meat) and what I could grow as a crop to feed them which would take down my costs if I was to get any bigger.

Pigs will eat anything! They are the ultimate recycling machine:) On ear to the ground 2 weeks ago, the presenter girl (can't think of her name) reared 2 pigs, Thought it was ingenius the way she was feeding them. She was getting 'gone off' /soft fruit and veg from her local Veg shops, for free!!

Also you could feed them on all your own household vegetable waste like peelings and leftover cooked veg etc.. You could make 'gruel' of it by pulping it up and mixing in cooked flaked meal or other cereals.

As you said yourself, anything and everything except meat/meat by-products.

I'd hold off on planting a crop especially for them, plant a garden for yourself by all means. I reckon you'd have enough 'waste' off that after you'd fed yourself to rear them.

Hope this helps a little. Having said that, I've never reared pigs personally, but plan too in the very near future and this is what I have in my head:rolleyes:

They are excellent for routing up and 'ploughing' an area of ground, so I'd be thinking about maybe letting them into a veg plot or around an old orchard for the winter. They might take the work out of getting the garden ready for planting in the spring? Maybe...?

Tremone

Thanks, it's ok now and we are really enjoying the three of them, but my question is really if we decided to get 2 rare breed sows and we get 2 litters, then we're up to at least 30 piglets and then the feed question becomes pretty important, you can't go around the shops/restaurant for scraps as it is illegal under food hygeine laws if you wish to sell them. It's fine if you're going to eat them yourself but the minute you went into selling mode then EHO would be down on you like a tonne of bricks(advice I got from a rare breed farmer). So basically with costs and self sufficiency in mind what crop..barley?

CJhaughey

I have kept a few pigs as a way of having nice organic pork for the last few years.
If you know a local fruit and veg dealer they always have waste and pigs will eat whatever they prefer out of it and leave the rest.
One thing to remember is that if you are taking waste, bring the lot carrot tops and all whatever the pigs don't eat will be trodden on and enrich the soil through composting.
The whole no meat thing is a bit strange to my mind. I don't feed mine pork but I will give them small bits of cooked meat from other animals like lamb or chicken.
Pigs are natural omnivores and will eat fish, prawns and other waste no problem.
The premise behind the no meat thing is to do with transmission of disease from other carriers.
Just remember that rare breeds will put a lot more fat on than the traditional landrace breeds and especially outdoor reared will need to fatten to keep warm.
I use organic feed, and fed this way I don't think they would be very saleable in todays climate given that pork has reduced in price so substantially in the last few months.
It is more about knowing what you are eating and having a better quality meat.
I don't keep mine for much longer than 6-7mths total it doesn't pay with rare breeds they put too much back fat on.

Muckit

Tremone wrote: »

if we decided to get 2 rare breed sows and we get 2 litters, then we're up to at least 30 piglets and then the feed question becomes pretty important

Hi Tremone

You hadn't mentioned in your first posting that you plan to breed them, that's a different arena entirely. With a crop of piglets that size, you'd want to investigate alot more than just feeding them!!:D (like who will but your end product and will it pay, have you costings made up?)

As stated I have NO practical experience of pigs, save from what I've seen on the internet/telly. From what I've seen though, lads tend to go down the "low cost/no cost" route of rearing them. Old woodlands/rough ground seems to be the ideal - shelter and scrub a plenty. This then is supplemented with old veg/fruit.

You seem to have your own mind on things, who am I to argue. Perhaps growing a crop is the way to go.

Whatever route you choose I wish you the very best of luck with it. Don't forget to post back in a year or so and let us know how you got on.

All the best
Muckit:)

reilig

CJhaughey wrote: »

I have kept a few pigs as a way of having nice organic pork for the last few years.
If you know a local fruit and veg dealer they always have waste and pigs will eat whatever they prefer out of it and leave the rest.
One thing to remember is that if you are taking waste, bring the lot carrot tops and all whatever the pigs don't eat will be trodden on and enrich the soil through composting.
The whole no meat thing is a bit strange to my mind. I don't feed mine pork but I will give them small bits of cooked meat from other animals like lamb or chicken.
Pigs are natural omnivores and will eat fish, prawns and other waste no problem.
The premise behind the no meat thing is to do with transmission of disease from other carriers.
Just remember that rare breeds will put a lot more fat on than the traditional landrace breeds and especially outdoor reared will need to fatten to keep warm.
I use organic feed, and fed this way I don't think they would be very saleable in todays climate given that pork has reduced in price so substantially in the last few months.
It is more about knowing what you are eating and having a better quality meat.
I don't keep mine for much longer than 6-7mths total it doesn't pay with rare breeds they put too much back fat on.

When I was younger, a relative of mine, a butcher, used to rear about 100 pigs in batches. He fed them on the stomachs of the cattle and sheep that he slaughtered. I felt that it was a disgusting practice. Thankfully he no longer slaughters for his shop and therefore no longer has the food to keep pigs.

CJhaughey

Reilig
That is not the way I would tend to feed pigs either aside from it being illegal, disease transmission is a problem.
The price for the piglets is dropping rapidly rare breeds are getting €50 for a 2mth old now around me.

Muckit

reilig wrote: »

When I was younger, a relative of mine, a butcher, used to rear about 100 pigs in batches. He fed them on the stomachs of the cattle and sheep that he slaughtered. I felt that it was a disgusting practice. Thankfully he no longer slaughters for his shop and therefore no longer has the food to keep pigs.

I wouldn't like to be eating that bacon :eek: 'You are what you eat' and all that!

I've heard of 'turkey mash' been fed to bulls (cheap form of protein), but it ain't right

JohnBoy

I dunno, cows are herbivores but I was always under the impression that pigs are true omnivores, like ourselves,

I'm not advocating feeding meat and bone meal, but I really dont see what the issue is with some meat scraps from the kitchen table.


doubly so if they're cooked, if it was good enough for me to eat it, why isnt it good enough for my omnivorous pig?

djmc

Yes pigs are omnivores like ourselves and would eat meat in the wild if given a chance
If a pig died in a pen the other pigs would eat him if he was not removed in time.
They will eat each others tails off if they get stressed (tail biteing) most piggerys tail dock bonhams to reduce this.
If you just feed them barley and wheet (even organic) I would think they would taste the same as any other pig you would buy in the supermarket.
But if you vairey the diet with veg apples scraps from the house you will have a better tasting meat.

supersean1999

Tremone wrote: »

Thanks, it's ok now and we are really enjoying the three of them, but my question is really if we decided to get 2 rare breed sows and we get 2 litters, then we're up to at least 30 piglets and then the feed question becomes pretty important, you can't go around the shops/restaurant for scraps as it is illegal under food hygeine laws if you wish to sell them. It's fine if you're going to eat them yourself but the minute you went into selling mode then EHO would be down on you like a tonne of bricks(advice I got from a rare breed farmer). So basically with costs and self sufficiency in mind what crop..barley?

if you feed barley on its own to fatten a pig you will have a big ball of fat, i give 75% pig meal 25% barley, also as much grass fruit as poss, no point feeding the pig cheaper meal and taking longer to finish it, also avoid excess bread, i have large white x landrace that i finish for meat, and two pure breed tamworths to breed.

Tremone

For me it's a tread softly, i see a rising tide in locally sourced food, i have sounded out a few restaurants about the pigs and they seem genuinely interested. I won't make a big splash I may try 2 sows, saddleback and another breed(possibly landrace) and AI then with corresponding boar. It would be a rearing outdoors approach as piggeries just disgust me. I have a field that needs clearing anyway but if I put a good field into barley I can get feed and bedding. I agree with previous poster nuts will also be involved and just like humans a balanced diet is best. Anybody with any ideas of what they feed their pigs, just for the record of you are selling pigs for food it is illegal to feed them any meat so we can rule that out.
I'm a novice smallholder so any advice from real farmers/smallholders would help

jap gt

Tremone wrote: »

For me it's a tread softly, i see a rising tide in locally sourced food, i have sounded out a few restaurants about the pigs and they seem genuinely interested. I won't make a big splash I may try 2 sows, saddleback and another breed(possibly landrace) and AI then with corresponding boar. It would be a rearing outdoors approach as piggeries just disgust me. I have a field that needs clearing anyway but if I put a good field into barley I can get feed and bedding. I agree with previous poster nuts will also be involved and just like humans a balanced diet is best. Anybody with any ideas of what they feed their pigs, just for the record of you are selling pigs for food it is illegal to feed them any meat so we can rule that out.
I'm a novice smallholder so any advice from real farmers/smallholders would help

how many acres have you

ihatetractors

Random idea,

The uncle has 30-40 acres of forestry planted, about 20 spruce/20 deciduos trees. They're 5-6 years old so reasonably hardy. Could you let a few pigs out in say a small fenced plot as there are still lots of weeds in the tracks between them in the less palitable spruce??