Comparison table of fattening pig age and feeding amount
Precision feeding is a mindset: it involves a deep understanding of pig growth characteristics, integrating the individual pen environment, feed nutritional levels, and individual pig farming techniques to maximize the potential of both pigs and feed. This results in more meat at a lower cost, essentially minimizing the feed-to-meat ratio.
Today, I’m primarily trying to explain this basic concept. The data I’ve shared represents an optimal solution based on the specific conditions of a specific farm. It may not be suitable for every pig farmer. However, under suitable conditions, a standard soybean meal and corn diet should provide the optimal feed-to-meat ratio for crossbred pigs within this feeding range. In practice, flexibility is required, including considerations such as feeding frequency, whether the pigs finish their meal within half an hour and do not have diarrhea afterward, weather conditions, and herd health, to comprehensively assess the appropriate feeding amount.
In practice, nursery pigs are generally fed 3-4 times. Two feedings are considered normal for finishing pigs, with the basic criteria being that the pigs finish their meal within half an hour and do not have diarrhea afterward. Because the feed is fixed, it’s crucial to ensure that all pigs receive their food at the same time, regardless of whether the system is ad libitum or precision feeding. Regularly separating the obvious stragglers from the pen and combining them into a separate pen is also essential. Many people think this is too much trouble and uneconomical, but that’s because they don’t understand its importance. As I’ve mentioned in previous articles, reducing the feed-to-meat ratio by 0.1 with precision feeding can reduce costs even more than weaning five more piglets per litter. Think about the difficulty. Don’t you think that raising fattening pigs well with a little attention to detail would be a very cost-effective approach, especially when feed raw materials are expensive and pig prices are low?
High feed intake version
This is a crossbred breed, using a soybean meal-based corn-based feed, designed to achieve daily weight gain. The feed rate is adjusted weekly until 19 weeks of age, maintaining a daily weight gain of 5.2 catties (1.5 lb) until the standard market release date of 180 days. If the equipment can support this feed rate without diarrhea, a 13 catties piglet weaned at 21 days will grow to 250 catties (1.5 lb) in 180 days, consuming a total of 590 catties (1.5 lb) of feed, for a feed-to-meat ratio of approximately 2.49. In practice, feed nutrition and environmental factors vary greatly, so these figures are for reference only. You will need to be flexible in your approach.
.Lower feed-to-meat ratio version
This plan consumes 500 catties of feed over 180 days, resulting in an average pig yield of 220 catties, with a feed-to-meat ratio between 2.35 and 2.39.
Practical implementation depends on the hardware conditions and the pigs’ performance after consuming the feed. For farms with limited hardware, a low feed rate can be used in the early stages, followed by a high feed rate later in the cycle. This is my personal recommendation. The optimal feed rate is between the high and low ranges, depending on the actual situation. Exceeding or falling short of this range will result in significant waste.
Finally, a chapter is attached on the comparison table of pig age and feed intake
Once again, unless the pig prices are particularly good, there is generally no need to care too much about daily weight gain. The key is still to look at the feed-to-meat ratio.
