How much do pigs eat a day

Any spillages should be swept up and removed immediately. Check regularly to ensure that there is no rodent damage to bags — if there is, deal with it immediately. Always check the best before date on feed; while the feed value will be fine in terms of protein, fibre and oil, the vitamin and mineral levels will decline after it. Feeding instructions are on the bag but these are for guidance. In cold weather, you may need to increase feed as the pig will use up energy to keep warm.

Your best guide is the condition or level of fat cover on your pig. Regularly check the body condition of your pigs. As a rule of thumb, you feed 1lb g of food each day for each month of age, up to a maximum of 6lbs 2. Do not feed more than this - you will waste money and end up with over-fat pigs. Only lactating sows need more food than this. Furthermore, weigh the food. Six pounds is probably less than you think.

As a second rule of thumb, all feed should be cleared up within minutes — if not, reduce the amount then increase gradually as appetite increases. On average, taking a weaner from 8 weeks to slaughter six and a half months later will use about kg of feed 19 x 20kg bags. Amateur Gourmet. Candy Addict. Chez Pim. Chicago Tribune. Chubby Hubby. Cooking with Amy. Dave's Kitchen. Desert Candy. Dorie Greenspan. Gurgling Cod. Marion Nestle's Food Politics. Miami Herald. Nat Decants on Wine. New York Times.

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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. However, temperatures too low or too high can have adverse effects on stock. If, for example, temperatures are too cold, a pig will feed more but expend more energy to stay warm, resulting in slow growth.

Hot weather can lead to heat stress and reduce feed consumption and can possibly lead to death , so it is important to keep livestock cool in summer. Consequently, growth and mature rates slow, conception rates fall, and pig flow is reduced, disrupting stock levels.

Depending on the season, keep buildings well-ventilated or heated, and provide adequate air space within the pen to ensure pig growth and production rates are maintained. So at about 9 weeks he will be eating about 1kg of feed per day and at 14 weeks about 2kg per day. The red line shows the average weight for a growing pig during the same period. At 10 weeks he will be about 30kg and at 18 weeks around 80kg.

From the chart above it can be seen than commercial pigs grow quickly. When selecting a feeder for a particular size of pig always select the feeder with a head space which will accommodate him at his biggest size during the period of time he will be using the feed hopper. As an example our No2 Weaner Feeder is designed with a mm wide feed space for pigs from 7kg to 35kg. A 7kg pig needs a mm wide feed space and a 30kg pig needs mm, so the feeder is suitable for this pig as he reaches his maximum weight.

Some pig feeders may be supplied in 3', 4', 6' or similar lengths, the problem with this method of manufacture is the feed spaces will vary in width because of the fixed length of the hopper, and this will result in too small feed spaces in some hoppers and too big in others. Extensive research has been carried out to determine the optimum number of pigs per ad lib feeder.