Content
Pig fattening is one of the main tasks of a pig breeder. Only the best individuals are left for breeding, the rest must be grown and sold as quickly as possible. The longer the pig grows, the less profit its owner will receive after selling the meat. The rations for pigs have been developed, allowing to receive meat or lard at the exit.
What pigs eat
Pigs are omnivorous mammals. In the wild, they eat whatever they can find:
- roots;
- mushrooms;
- grass;
- acorns;
- insects and their larvae;
- bird eggs and chicks;
- carrion.
The wild boars will not refuse to come to the potato field and plow it conscientiously, having eaten the entire crop. Domestic pigs in this respect are no different from wild relatives. At home, no one will feed pigs with “forest delicacies”. The exception is acorns. But even here, pigs leading a semi-wild lifestyle are more often fattened with acorns. This method of pig breeding is practiced in Hungary.
Usually, pigs are fed at home with grain concentrates, root crops and kitchen waste. Pigs rarely get meat. Controlled feeding of pigs allows you to get products of different quality:
- lean pork with hard lard;
- fatty meat and soft, greasy lard;
- lard with layers of meat.
The pig diet in this case is strictly rationed and regulated. Such animals cannot be sent to free grazing in the forests.
What can not be fed to pigs
Contrary to the saying "the pig will eat everything", you can not feed the piglets with all kinds of products. The principles for identifying feed that are not suitable for pigs are the same as for other livestock. When giving fresh grass, you need to make sure that no poisonous plants get there. There are quite a few such plants and there is no point in listing them, since the “herbaria” differ depending on the region. Each owner will have to independently study the flora near their farm.
Other feeds for pigs are "standard": cereals, roots and animal feed. Do not give to pigs:
- compound feed with a moldy smell;
- "Burning" grain;
- rotten roots;
- sprouted potatoes.
Such feed will lead to animal poisoning.
Types of pig feeding
Pigs are fed, wishing to get 3 types of products:
- meat;
- fat;
- bacon / lard with meat streaks.
It is impossible to get everything from the same pig, so you need to choose how to feed the pig in order to get one or another product.
No matter how ridiculous it may sound, the types of feed are the same for any direction of cultivation. Their ratio and feeding time vary. There is no miracle food that is better to feed pigs so that they gain weight quickly. There is the right balance between protein, fat, carbohydrates, amino acids and minerals. Without lysine, it will be very difficult to fatten a pig for meat, and without vitamins, not a single pig can be raised. At the same time, feeds differ in efficiency and the result obtained. Therefore, when feeding, you must also take into account the properties of each type of feed.
How to feed pigs properly
The protein ratio in the diet affects the building of muscle or sebum mass.The protein ratio is calculated using the formula:
PO - protein ratio;
BEV - nitrogen-free extractive substances.
Pig gets digestible protein from feed containing nitrogen. A narrow protein ratio is a ratio of 1: 6, that is, on the right side of the formula, the result should be 6 or less. With this protein ratio, the pig builds up muscle mass. The fat yield is small, the product is solid.
With a wide protein ratio: 1: 8-1: 10, the pig is salted, gaining a small amount of meat. The fat is soft, smearing. The quality of such lard is considered low.
The feed itself also affects the quality of pork. They are all divided into 3 groups:
- improving;
- deteriorating fat;
- degrading meat.
When feeding the second group, the fat turns out to be watery, soft, smeared and tasteless. When feeding the third group, the meat acquires an unpleasant aftertaste and a watery consistency.
Improving feeds include:
- peas;
- wheat;
- rye;
- barley;
- carrot;
- beets;
- buttermilk;
- return;
- meat flour.
Table pumpkin is not very suitable as feed for pigs. Therefore, young animals raised for meat are usually not fed with it. The production of fodder gourds is underdeveloped. But research has shown that feed pumpkin - one of the best feed for pigs - is not available only during fattening. The breeding stock was fed up to 19 kg per head per day. Feeding fodder pumpkin in the amount of 30% of the diet led to an increase in daily weight gain in half-year-old gilts to 900 g.
But feed pumpkin is more suitable for fattening pigs for bacon and lard. When feeding raw and boiled pumpkin in an amount of 15-20 kg per day, gains were obtained from 500 to 800 g.
Group of feeds that deteriorate fat:
- soy;
- corn;
- bran;
- oats;
- cake;
- potatoes;
- fish flour.
Lard turns out to be worse in taste, soft and smearing. It is better to feed these products in the first stage of fattening.
Foods that deteriorate the quality of meat include waste from the production of wine, alcohol and sugar:
- pulp;
- pulp;
- bard.
The meat takes on an unpleasant smell and taste.
Compliance with the regime
All animals are conservatives who do not like changes and violations of the established regime. Animals very quickly get used to the established daily routine. Violation of the regime causes anxiety and stress. It is even better to clean the stalls at the same time, and haphazard feeding impairs the digestibility of the feed and can lead to gastrointestinal diseases.
Therefore, it is better to feed the pigs at the same time. Knowing the schedule, the pig will wait for feed, and the stomach will start producing gastric juice in advance. The frequency of feeding is set by the owner. The minimum amount is 2 times a day. If there is someone to look after, then they are fed three times a day. At enterprises, fattening pigs generally do not restrict access to feed. But in this case, dry feed is usually given.
It is convenient for a private owner with a large livestock to use bunker feeders, where dry concentrates or compound feed are poured. The feeder prevents pigs from throwing feed on the floor and does not restrict access to feed throughout the day.
Although the pig is omnivorous, whole grains are very poorly absorbed by it. Her teeth aren't really meant to be chewed for long. The animal swallows food in large pieces. Because of this, whole grains pass through the intestines intact. It is better to give cereal to pigs in a chopped form. For better assimilation of food by animals, cereals are cooked. In winter, the warm porridge also helps keep the piglets warm.
Separate feeding of piglets
Up to a month, the main food of a piglet is mother's milk, although they start trying "adult" feed after 10 days.Piglets are taught to vitamin and mineral feeding from the 5th day of life. After 7 days, a little fried cereal is given. 10 days after birth, piglets are fed with fresh cow's milk or milk replacer. From the same time, concentrates are fed.
From a month to two, piglets can feed with the sow, and she will not drive them away from the feed too much. But it is better to separate the sow for the period of feeding the milk to the piglets. Also, the pig still allows the piglets to suckle themselves, although from a month it is advisable to feed the brood with skim milk and milk porridge separately from the mother.
From 2 months, the sow believes that the cubs are able to obtain food on their own, and begins to aggressively drive them away from the feed, not allowing them to reach the teats. From this point on, the piglets are separated from the sow and fed separately. Dairy products must be included in the diet of a piglet up to 3 months old.
The division of the diet according to the type of feeding is done from 3-4 months of age of piglets. At this time, the pigs are put to fattening. The diet is calculated based on the type of desired product.
Fattening pigs at home for meat
In theoretical pig breeding, to obtain lean pork, you need to take elite meat breeds: Landrace, Duroc, pietrain... In practice, everything is more complicated. The breeds listed do indeed produce high-quality meat with a minimum of fat. But because of the thin body fat, these pigs are very demanding on temperature. It is difficult for a private trader to maintain a narrow temperature range year-round, therefore, in practice, they use a large white breed of pigs. This breed is officially considered to be meat and greasy, but it has lines of the meat direction. When crossing large white with meat breeds, the hybrids inherit good climate resistance. The quality and yield of meat per carcass in hybrid pigs is also increasing.
Piglets are put on meat feeding from 3-4 months. Finish feeding when the piglet reaches 100-120 kg. At the beginning of fattening at 3 months and daily weight gain of 550 g in 6 months, a pig can be grown up to 120 kg. With the meat version of feeding, it will not be possible to fatten pigs as quickly as with lard, since meat grows more slowly, although it is heavier than fat.
When feeding for meat per 100 kg of piglets, 4.2-4.8 feed is required. units in the first period of fattening and 3.5-4.2 feed. units in the second. In the first period, you need 90-100 g of digestible protein per feed. units, in the second - 85-90 g.
The average daily weight gain can be increased or decreased. For rapid growth, pigs need to be fed correctly, that is, to give food, in the dry matter of which there will be as much energy and as little fiber as possible. When fattening meat, the optimal content of fiber in dry matter is not more than 6%.
Pig Feeding Rations
The basic principle when feeding pigs for meat: in the first period, they give more protein feed, in the second - carbohydrate. There are 3 types of rations for winter feeding. They differ in the presence or absence of potatoes and root crops in the feed.
The feed is indicated as a percentage of the feed unit requirement.
In this case, concentrates mean:
- corn;
- peas;
- barley;
- wheat;
- wheat bran;
- compound feed (2-3 kg per day);
- meal: soybean, linseed, sunflower.
In the first half, you can feed any concentrates, but a month before slaughter, you need to exclude those that worsen the quality of pork.
The category of juicy feed includes:
- silage;
- beet;
- potatoes;
- feed pumpkin;
- kale;
- fodder beet;
- carrot.
Cabbage has the ability to stimulate the secretion of gastric juice. When feeding large quantities of cabbage, the stomachs of animals swell. Root crops and vegetables are fed in the amount of 3-5 kg per day. Silage yields 1-1.5 kg. Since silage is a fermentation product, you shouldn't get carried away with its quantity either.
Pigs are fed from animal products:
- return (1-3 l);
- buttermilk (1-3 l);
- meat and meat and bone meal;
- blood meal;
- low-fat minced fish and fish meal (20-40 g).
Herbal flour made from leguminous plants is given 200-300 g per day. Flour should be soaked in cold water before feeding. It is often sold in tightly compressed granules. Swollen in the stomach, flour can clog the intestines.
In the summer, instead of grass meal, legumes of 2-4 kg per day are included in the diet. At any time of the year, mineral supplements must be mixed in.
Vitamin-mineral premixes are put at 10 g per 1 kg of dry matter of feed. If necessary, balance the ratio of protein and carbohydrates with the help of protein-vitamin and protein-vitamin-mineral supplements. Lysine deficiency in the diet is replenished with lysine feed concentrate. The requirement of pigs for this amino acid is 5-10 g per day.
Pigs are fed for meat for about 6 months with a daily weight gain of 550 g. A larger weight gain usually means that the pig has begun to grow salted.
Final feeding period
Before slaughter, the pig must gain at least 100 kg of live weight. At the second stage, it is undesirable to feed products from those groups that worsen the quality of pork. It is better to give up fish products immediately after the beginning of the second feeding period, replacing them with meat flour or dairy products. Also, at this stage, it is better not to give feed that degrades the quality of the fat. A month before slaughter, you need to stop giving feed that degrades the quality of meat.
How to feed pigs for bacon
Fattening for bacon is considered a type of meat, meat pigs in the West are also often called bacon. In Russia, there was a certain division of concepts. Bacon became known as lard with meat streaks. Meat breeds and their hybrids are also chosen for bacon. Meat piglets can sometimes be used if the breed is not very obese. In Russia, most often and for these purposes, they prefer to choose a large white breed.
Feed gains for bacon can be even higher than for meat. No wonder it is considered intense. But the weight gains increase when gaining fat, not meat. Fattening for bacon is considered the most profitable with a daily weight gain of 600-700 g.
Piglets are selected more strictly for bacon than for meat. The piglet should have a long body and an even bottom line. No sagging belly. For bacon feeding, pigs are preferred, as they produce less bacon than boletus. Piglets are put on fattening from 3 months of age, after reaching a weight of 30 kg.
Animals not suitable for bacon production:
- older age;
- pregnant or overgrown sows;
- uncastrated boars;
- boletus castrated after 4 months of age;
- late maturing breeds;
- pigs with traces of injuries;
- animals with signs of disease.
Features of feeding and maintenance
Pigs gain fat from a quiet lifestyle and feeding with carbohydrates with a high energy value. Meat grows with a lot of movement and protein-containing feed. It is not enough to feed the pig so that the lard is with layers of meat. She also needs to be forced to move during that period of time when she should build up meat. That is, they combine 2 factors: feed and lifestyle.
But for this, in the "greasy" period, it is necessary to provide the pig with a calm life in the barn, and in the "meat" period to force it to walk. The ideal option at this moment would be to "walk" the animal to a distant pasture.
In other words, "convenient" keeping the pig in the barn and giving it feed is not suitable here. If we are talking about bacon in the foreign sense of the word, that is, about pork cut from the ribs, everything is simpler. Most often, for these purposes, they take all the same meat breed and put it on more intensive fattening than when receiving meat.
3-month-old piglets are first fed in the same way as for meat, receiving 500 g of daily weight gain. In the second half, they are transferred to fattening with a daily weight gain of 600-700 g.
Feeding rations
At the first stage, you can use the rations developed for meat products. From the second, protein feeds are halved against the meat feeding option. Conversely, the proportion of cereal concentrates should be higher than when feeding for meat. From the second half of fattening, the pigs can be fed with fodder pumpkin, which helps to gain fat.
For the first two months, pigs can be fed with low-cost, high-protein feeds:
- oats;
- bran;
- cake.
These feeds have a negative effect on the final product, but at the first stage it does not matter. From the second period, cheap feed is removed and pigs are switched to barley, peas and rye. You can also give millet, but it will come out more expensive.
Another option for a more detailed feeding ration for bacon, in which animal feed is completely removed in the last step.
The final stage
As in the case of fattening meat, in the last month before slaughter, all feeds that worsen product quality are excluded from the diet. In general, pigs are fed for bacon in the same way as for meat. All pigs are prone to mourning. Feeding for the meat on the ribs produces the same bacon, but with a thinner layer of bacon. Moreover, the thickness of the bacon often depends on the individual characteristics of the pig.
Bacon piglets are fed for about 6 months. At the end of fattening, the piglet should weigh 80-100 kg.
Technology for fattening pigs
For fattening pigs are selected not so by breed, as by unsuitability for anything else. Usually mature sows and boars culled by age from the main livestock are fed for fat. This group also includes young, but unproductive sows. For this reason, feeding for lard begins with the weight at which meat and bacon fattening ends. That is, to fatty conditions, pigs begin to feed from 120 kg of live weight.
If initially there was a goal to get exactly fat from the pig, then for fattening to fatty conditions it is better to take the same large white from the lines prone to salting. Also get a good return on Hungarian mangalica.
The task of such feeding is to get the maximum amount of high-quality fat and internal fat in the shortest possible time. Feeding lasts 3 months. During this time, the pig should gain another 50-60% of its original weight. The thickness of the fat in the region of the ridge in the region of the 6-7th ribs should reach 7 cm.
Pigs are examined before fattening. The emaciated in the first month are fed like meat, bringing them back to normal condition. Further, the technology of fattening is used.
Such meat is used for cooking sausages. It's too tough to be eaten as steaks and chops.
How to feed pigs
Pigs are fed 2 times a day with wet nutrient mixtures. In the first half of feeding, up to 60% of concentrates are produced. The rest is supplemented with voluminous feed:
- root crops;
- potatoes;
- silo;
- hay;
- other vegetables.
Oats, bran and cake are given in very small quantities. The need for feed units is calculated taking into account the live weight of the pig and the planned weight gain. On average, there should be almost 2 times more feed units in the diet than when fed for meat.
In the second half - the last third of the period, the proportion of concentrates when feeding is 80-90% of the total diet. Juicy feed is reduced to 10-20%. The cakes and bran are completely removed and concentrates from the "improving" group are introduced: wheat, rye, barley, peas.
Practice shows that good results are obtained when feeding pigs:
- silage of corn cobs in milky-wax ripeness;
- shit from corn;
- potatoes.
But these products are only suitable for the first stage of feeding. It is better to feed cornmeal mixed with fresh grass or hay of legumes.
When fattening a large group of pigs for fat, not only feed is important, but also the conditions of keeping. "Greasy" pigs contain 25-30 individuals in one pen. For a private owner with a small livestock, this issue is not relevant. But even a small farmer will be forced to comply with the conditions of detention.
How to feed pigs for fast growth
It is beneficial for the owner that the pig grows up as quickly as possible. This is not to say that the addition of vitamin and mineral premixes accelerates the growth of pigs. But without vitamins and minerals, the development of piglets stops. Therefore, the premixes must be added for the normal growth of the pig.
Growth accelerators are antibiotics that fight against pathogenic microflora. Without gastrointestinal infections, a pig grows slightly faster than one that spends energy fighting microorganisms. When grown for sale, it is beneficial to use such bactericidal preparations. These are usually found commercially under the name “growth boosters”. One of these drugs is Etonium.
The advantages of any antibacterial drugs are that fattened pigs get sick less and gain weight better. Cons from a consumer's point of view are drugs.
With accelerated growth, bones and joints do not have time to form. The animal grows up disabled. But it doesn't matter for the future of meat.
Conclusion
Fattening pigs for meat these days, promoted healthy eating is more beneficial. But lard provides a significant amount of energy and in some cases it is better to feed pigs for lard than for meat.
