Today we continue our piglets series with some insights on feeding and watering growing pigs. Pigs grow so fast that any missteps in feeding and watering can have dramatic consequences. Too little feed can permanently damage a pig, while too much can lead to plenty of issues, too. That being the case, there’s a lot of leeway in the correct amount to feed a pig.
Feeding Pigs
When we first started with American Guinea Hogs, we had a hard time finding guidance on how much to feed this pigs. With their smaller size and slower growth rate, the advice for conventional pigs wasn’t relevant. We found the best advice for feeding these pigs was to watch the pigs. If you’re over or under feeding, you’ll quickly see the problem as the pig will be too fat or too thin. Using conventional pig free feeders is not recommended with AGHs. They’ll overeat, and the excess weight gain will cause problems. They can break legs, etc.
The conventional feed for pigs is grain. Corn, oats, and soy are main components. This feed works well for growing fat pigs! With American Guinea Hogs, a little feed goes a long way. From my conversations with those who grain feed, one 3qt. scoop will be split between piglets, and the max an adult boar would get is two scoops. The biggest negative to grain feeding is the cost. Over the life of a pig, it eats a lot! Those feed costs can add up. The big benefit is pigs grow well on this feed, and it’s supplemented with everything pigs need.
AGHs will also eat hay. We have heard this from others, and seen it ourselves. In winter we bed their house with hay, and found we’d have to replenish the house weekly as they’d eat all the hay! Now we keep a round bale of hay in the pig pen for them to eat. They seem to prefer eating some hay and other food, not exclusively hay.
Historically, pigs were useful on homesteads because they converted waste food into edible food (pork!). The idea of buying special food for pigs would’ve been considered crazy! We are blessed to have a resource for expired groceries, so we can follow in this frugal and environmentally friendly tradition. The bulk of our pigs’ diet is produce and baked goods. They eat a wide variety of these products, based on what we’re given that week. It appears that the pigs are getting the nutrients they need as we’ve had no growth or fertility issues with the pigs. In the photo below you can see them chowing down on produce, including mini peppers.
One of the challenges with feeding waste food is not being able to measure out the amount of food to give the pigs. As we’ve grown more experienced with pigs, we can see if the pigs are getting too much or too little food based on their actions. If they’re mobbing me in the morning when I go in the pen to feed them, I know they need more food. If they take all day to eat the feed I gave them, that’s probably more than they need. Their behavior coupled with their body composition tells us if the pigs are getting the correct amount of feed.
Watering Pigs
At some point the piglets will start drinking so much water, that using rubber pans will no longer be sufficient. At that point, we love our 55 gallon waterer with pig nipples. Here’s a picture of it from last winter:
We bought the pig nipples online. We installed two in the barrel, one at piglet level, one at adult pig level. This is a great waterer that works unless the temperatures are below freezing, and the nipples freeze up. In freezing temperatures we revert back to using rubber pans for water.
In the heat of summer, with 8 pigs in the pen, this waterer gets empty in about 5 days. Last fall, we had 3 pigs on the waterer, and the lower demand and cooler temps meant this lasted about 3 weeks.
Some people make their waterers even more awesome with a hose hookup and float that automatically fills the barrel. We don’t have a hose near our pig pen, unfortunately.
In Conclusion
Hopefully this provides you some ideas for feeding and watering pigs! We love how our pigs make sure nothing goes to waste on the homestead, and we love the delicious meat they provide! Please read the rest in our piglets series, too.
Leave a Reply