People raising piglets often face problems when choosing suitable feed. You don't have to buy it in stores, as you can make it yourself. However, before this, you need to familiarize yourself with how to make feed for pigs at home.
What can be used to make feed for pigs?
Before preparing your own food for pigs, you should familiarize yourself with the components that may be included in its composition. When creating feed, you can use the following ingredients:
- Cereals.They must be added to feed, as they contain a lot of carbohydrates. Their maximum amount is found in corn grains, oats and barley.
- Cake or meal. They contain a lot of vegetable fat and proteins. Thanks to these components, piglets will gain muscle mass faster.
- Bran. They are added to saturate the feed with fiber. It is needed for the normal functioning of the intestines and gastrointestinal tract.
- Fish and bone meal. Such components are added to feed to provide animal protein. It is recommended to mix flour together with milk waste or whey.
- Premixes. Rich in mineral trace elements and vitamins that piglets need for rapid growth, strengthening the immune system and building muscles.
Preparatory stage
Before you start preparing the combined feed, you need to carefully prepare. Particular attention should be paid to the parameters by which the diet is compiled. These include the following:
- Nutritional value. Food for adult and small pigs should be nutritious. It should contain fiber and protein, which will make the food not only nutritious, but also healthy.
- Mineral components. The feed mixture should be rich in elements such as S, P, Fe, Na.
- Grinding Grains in their usual form are poorly digestible by animals and therefore need to be ground. There is coarse, medium and fine grinding. The crushed grains should be given to young piglets. Large grains are suitable for adult animals.
- Diameter of granules. Pelleted feed is often added to nutritional formulas. Granules with a diameter of 10 millimeters are suitable for adult animals, and 5-7 millimeters for small animals.
How to make compound feed with your own hands?
The nutrition of adult pigs and small piglets is different and therefore it is necessary to figure out in advance how to make feed for them.
For piglets
Some people believe that piglets need to be given food from birth, but this is not true. In the first week of life, they should eat only mother's milk. However, it must be said that it contains little copper and iron. Therefore, if necessary, animals are given special medications.
After a week and a half, mixed feed is gradually introduced into the piglets’ diet. First, dry skim milk with corn kernels and pea flour is added. Then a mixture prepared from sunflower cake and alfalfa is added to the diet. The cooking proportions are one to two.
At the age of one and a half months, pigs are given more grains. However, before this they are fried to make them more tasty and smell good. Then, green grass and beets are gradually added to the feed.
For adults
In adult pigs, adipose and muscle tissue actively develops. Therefore, their daily diet should include components that contribute to the growth of these tissues. The piglets' feed should contain oats with barley, premix and mineral concentrate. You can also add more meat meal and dairy waste to the feed. Instead of oats and barley, you can use corn or wheat grains.
It is very important to give piglets the daily amount of feed every day. They are given at least three kilograms of combined food per day. However, if animals are fattened for slaughter, the quantity is increased to 4-5 kilograms.
Conclusion
Some farmers prepare their own feed for piglets.However, before you do it, you need to understand the peculiarities of feeding piglets.
