What do feeder pigs eat

Boosters help increase the immunity level. Boosters are required for many vaccinations to be effective. Follow the vaccine label instructions for the timing of boosters. The basic vaccinations for feeder pigs are atrophic rhinitis bordetella , actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae APP , mycoplasmal pneumonia, and erysipelas. Vaccinate for circovirus type 2 if this has been a problem in the past. As mentioned before, this relationship is required in order to receive a Veterinary Feed Directive.

In order to be effective, vaccines must be handled and administered properly. Use the proper needle size for the age of the pig and the type of injection. Give intramuscular injections in the neck just behind and below the ear. Give subcutaneous injections in the loose flaps of skin in the flank or elbow. Injecting medications in other body parts may damage valuable cuts of pork.

It is especially important that show pigs have boosters before a fair or show. It takes 10 to 21 days after vaccination for the pig to develop either a protective or increased immune response. Treat pigs for internal and external parasites. In many cases, sanitation, proper feeding and comfortable housing will reduce the potential for serious parasite outbreaks. But, use some type of parasite control to keep the parasite numbers at low levels. Pigs that are infested with worms and lice may look unthrifty and not gain well.

It is important to observe withdrawal periods for all medications. The withdrawal period is the time between the last treatment and slaughter, as listed on the label.

Excessive heat can stress pigs as much as cold weather. As the pigs grow and summer arrives, be sure to provide plenty of cool, clean water, shade, and good ventilation if the pigs are housed inside a building.

There is a growing interest in pasture-raised pork. This may be a viable alternative to confinement production because costs of housing and equipment are lower, and it may also satisfy the concerns of animal welfare advocates. A pasture or free-range system can consist of one or a combination of two different feeding systems. Pasture-raised usually means pigs are allowed free range on pasture but are also fed a commercial swine feed. Pasture fed or forage fed pork comes from pigs that are fed or graze a diet almost entirely of forage or vegetables or both.

As described in the feed section for traditional systems, pigs are monogastrics, so they need a concentrate diet in order to gain well. Pigs on a forage diet grow more slowly but may have a cheaper feed cost per pound of gain. Evaluate all aspects of the production system to determine the most economical way to feed and house feeder pigs.

Feeders can be positioned on movable platforms or be stationary in a shelter. Clean, fresh water is important, especially during hot weather. Shade is also necessary to avoid heat stress and sunburn. A forage-fed system is a true swine grazing operation. This may involve some farming to grow forages that pigs desire. Some of the feeds pigs prefer are legumes like alfalfa or clover.

Other favorable feeds are brassicas such as forage rape or kale. Tender cereals, such as oats and barley, are another source. Pumpkins and squash are favorite foods. Older feeder pigs make better use of the previously mentioned forages than young pigs. The recommended number of growing and finishing pigs per acre ranges from 15 to 34, depending on the size of the pigs and the amount of available forage.

Be sure there is a sturdy fence, such as woven wire or electric netting, to enclose the pasture or foraging area. You can use temporary fences if you want to divide the pasture into smaller plots for rotational grazing. Pigs often root under a woven wire fence, so one or two electric fence wires near the bottom may deter them from digging out.

The electric fence wires can be converted to one hot and one ground in the summer as the soil dries up and soil grounding is ineffective. Parasites may also be a problem with pasture-raised swine.

Your veterinarian or Extension professional can recommend procedures to monitor the level of parasitism and the appropriate dewormer anthelmentics to use. If you expect to sell your pigs for meat, you need to develop a marketing plan. Your pigs could be ready for harvest when they are six months old. It is important to find and establish customers long before the harvest date to avoid paying for meat storage while you look for buyers.

Your marketing plan should answer these questions:. Most small-scale pork producers do farm-direct marketing selling directly to the customer because it gives you the most profit.

This method requires sales and marketing skills to develop a customer base. Establishing relationships with your customers takes considerable time and effort, but it is critical for repeat business. Most available feeder pigs are gilts and castrated males.

In some cases, there may be intact males available to buy as feeder pigs. One of the issues with raising intact male pigs is boar taint. This occurs as the male reaches puberty. From there, you only need to put electric fencing around ankle height to your knee. Pigs will use their snout to root around. They have no interest in going near it ever again. In our case, I made our electric fence 5 strands high.

Which is more to deter our goats from coming into the pigpen, than the other way around. You have multiple options when it comes to feeding your feeder pigs. Your first option is to purchase store-bought pig feed. Your next feed option should be used with another feeder option, but you can grow a garden for your pigs or feed them garden scraps. The third option for feeding your pigs should be used with another feeder option as well. Not only does this prevent waste, but it helps add to the girth of your pigs.

Finally, you can search social media outlets for people selling old food products. The upside to purchasing feed from your feed store is you can buy a bag at a time. This will keep water, mice, and rats from eating your feed.

One of the most significant hurdles of feeding pigs is safety and securing the feeder. We cut a barrel in half and used one half as a trough. We secured it with cinderblocks for added weight. It has worked quite well for us.

We can unplug the electric fence and access the feeder, water barrel, and even clean the pen from any angle. One will be medicated, and one should not be. Most typically corn-based feeds are used because they are high in digestible carbohydrates, low in fiber, and cost effective. The feed should be supplemented with other vitamins, proteins, and some antibacterial compounds to their feed to slow the growth of naturally occurring bacteria that may be harmful to the animal or your stock.

Piglets, younger pigs that weigh less than 40 pounds, should be introduced to a solid diet through creep feeding while they are still suckling.

Growing pigs, those weighing 40 to pounds, and finishing pigs, those weighing pounds to market weight approximately pounds or more should transition from the grower feeds that are nutrient dense with more protein to the finisher feeds that are less dense.

With a proper diet, expect weight gains of about 1. After that, weight gains of 1. To maximize feed intake, a number of other factors need to be considered as well.

This includes temperature and environmental control, adequate supply of water, and sanitation control programs. Pig temperature requirements are important to growth and production. Pigs are a highly adaptable animal and can perform well within a range of temperatures. If you are using a bulk feeder, keep it full. If the feeder attaches to the side of the pen, check daily to make sure it is still secure.

If it is a free standing feeder, keep it full. The weight of the feed will make it stay upright. If not, a quick, not so great fix would be to tether it to the side or corner of the pen.

Finishing a pig just means growing it to market hog butchering weight and condition. Both body size and fat covering are part of the term finished. Most people would get a few feeder pigs and raise them to finishing weight, around pounds and 5. Consider the outline of a feeder pig. You can see they have a longer, leaner look to them than a finished hog, even with the chunkier body type feeder pigs.

On the other hand: A market hog that is sloppy fat is over finished. It was at the ideal body condition previously and just kept packing on the fat since then. It should be flat across the back or even have the spine sit a bit lower than the back if you want more fat covering and wide across the hams and chest. Look at the jowls where the jaw meats the neck a finished pig will have an easy to see double chin. The reason finish fat covering is so important in pigs is flavor and juiciness of the pork.

You want your pigs to have marbling, just like beef people talk about. All you need to finish a pig is time and the appropriate care: including feed, water, shelter and something to keep them busy like bedding to spread around or dirt to root up.

The feed part is easy, just go to your local farm store and get what they have in stock. Read the labels, there should be a few options. The choice of feed will be based on the weight of your pigs, so you need to have an idea of how much they weigh before you go to buy feed.