Many people believe that pork is the most delicious meat. Many delicacies are prepared from it, and it is offered in almost all restaurants. And this meat cooks very quickly. Delicious independent dishes have also been invented from lard, and real Ukrainian borscht or dumplings with cracklings are simply unthinkable without pig farming. Is it possible, thinking about the quality of future pork, to give apples to piglets?
Is it possible to give apples to pigs?
These animals eat everything that people eat. The range of products edible for pigs is even wider.Indeed, for a complete set of components necessary for the harmonious development of their body, they need to be given food:
- dry – corn, wheat, other grains, hay, mixed feed, grass meal;
- juicy – chopped raw vegetables and fruits;
- with animal protein - bone, fish, meat and fish meal, whey;
- green - leaves of carrots, sunflowers, corn, beets, leaves and stems of Jerusalem artichoke, fresh grass;
- kitchen waste.
Apples are a long-proven product in animal diets. This symbiosis of a pig and an apple tree is beneficial for the tree: the fruits do not rot under the crown, and the moths that emerge from them do not remain over the winter, waiting for a new harvest.
Suckling piglets are accustomed to feeding from 10 days of age. First, give a teaspoon of succulent feed. From the 20th day, the amount of grated vegetables and apples increases to 20 g per stigma.
What are the benefits and harms of the product?
Apples contain a large range of substances necessary to maintain the health of piglets and adult pigs.
| Animals | Amount, mg | |||||||||||
| β-carotene
|
E | B1 | B2 | B3 | B5 | B6 | B9 | K | C | H | ||
| Should be in 1 kg of feed | Piglets | 40-100 | 1-3 | 5-8 | 25-40 | 8-16 | 3-6 | 0,2-0,5 | 2-3 | 80-100 | 100-150 mcg | |
| Fattening pigs | 25-50 | 0,5-1,5 | 2-5 | 15-30 | 6-12 | 2-4 | 0-0,5 | 0,5-1 | 0-50 mcg | |||
| Sows | 200-400 | 20-100 | 1-3 | 4-7 | 20-35 | 8-16 | 3-6 | 1-2 | 1-3 | 100-200 mcg | ||
| Found in 1 kg of apples | 0,2-0,5 | 2-6 | 0,1-0,3 | 0,1-0,3 | 2,5-40 | 0,7 | 0,8 | 16-20 mcg | 22 mcg | 100 | 3 mcg | |
Popular foods contain low amounts of calcium. To replenish it in the pigs’ diet, prudent owners introduce special additives. But a natural product like an apple contains significant amounts of this element. A deficiency in magnesium is experienced by small piglets, pregnant pigs, and representatives of breeds with an intensive increase in body weight. There is also a lot of this element in the fruit.
When using predominantly roughage, dry grain, stress and diarrhea, a deficiency of potassium, chlorine and sodium occurs.And this is where apples come to the rescue. You can enrich your diet with sulfur using the same fruit.
Pregnant and lactating sows and suckling piglets need additional amounts of iron. If this group of animals is kept on regular feed, the piglets will suffer from anemia and will lag behind in development. The introduction of apples to the mother’s menu corrects the situation, as it affects the composition of milk. Along with other feeds, apples contribute to supplying pigs with iodine and cobalt, which animals need in small quantities.
The fruit consists of 8-10% starch, which, as it ripens, turns into sucrose. These foods give the animal energy. Red varieties of apples are especially high in calories.
A fruit beloved even by humans can cause harm in one case: if a product recently treated with pesticides is fed to pigs. When using fungicides, bacterial agents, insecticides, and liquid fertilizers, it is necessary to adhere to the timing of their application and use of the crop.
How to give apples to animals?
Pigs belong to the category of animals that are not recommended to be given a lot of roughage. Therefore, if the apples are hard and also produce a lot of fresh root vegetables, then it is preferable not only to chop them, but also to steam them. But some of it should be given fresh, since it retains more vitamins and microelements.
Adding fruit to the silage mass enriches this type of feed with selenium. Fruit seeds contain many enzymes and biologically active substances, so they also do not need to be thrown away. If you feed pigs mash with grated or steamed apples, they will eat more feed, as it becomes fragrant and more appetizing.
