Lecture 22,23 Feeding of Pigs

Feeding of Swine (Pigs)
Dr. Chet Raj Upreti

C.C #: ANU – 223
Lecture # 22, 23
Proper feeding is an extremely important item of management since feed represents a

very high percentage of the total cost of production of pig, some time as high as 80 %.
Pig grows at a very faster rate and thus the demand for feed very high. At birth the birth
weight of piglets is about 1.4 kg and at an age of 18 months the body weight is 163 kg.
Thus in 18 months, the weight is 120 times higher. Pigs are 12 times faster growing than
calves.
Pig is omnivorous, i.e. it can eat all types of feed. Although it likes to graze or chew
forage but due to the singe stomach they can not live entirely on roughages.
Characteristic of Swine and Their Production
1. Superior feed conversion power: The capacity of swine to convert vegetable

concentrated feeds into animal protein such as in to pork, bacon etc has brought
them an especial importance in the human diet. The can produce more live weight
gain from a given weight of feed than any other class of meat animals. On average
pigs can produce a kilogram of pork from 3.0 to 3.5 kg of feed.
2. Swine store fat Rapidly: No other animal produces per unit of live weight, so
much fat in so short a time or at the expense of so little feed. The waste fat
problem in swine is very important. Feed efficiency will not be improved until
excess fat is eliminated.
3. Swine are prolific and bring quick return. Swine grow rapidly, mature quickly
and are prolific. A unit of 10 sows and 1 bore will produce about 160 piglets
during the first year.
4. Enterprises Requires moderate investment: The initial investment is small.
5. Swine excel in dressing percent: A 65 to 80 % meat of their live weight.
6. Pork is most nutritious: Due to higher content of fat, the energy value of pork is
higher.
7. Swine are sensitive to unfavorable ration and careless management:
8. Because of their rooting and close grazing habit, hogs are hard on pasture:
Nutritionally, the feeding pigs is a complicated affairs, which may be realized
from the fact that about 30-40 % of all pigs farrowed die before they reach
market. This losses is generally due to bad feeding mostly because of nutritional
2
deficiencies. Producer can reduce these losses only by practicing an improved

feeding
Nutrient Requirement of Pigs
The recommended nutrient as shown in Table 5, at the end of this lecture notes,
should be used while feeding to the pigs.
Practical Feeding of Pigs
1.0 Feeding of Weaning Pigs ( Creep and Starter Ration)
Usually swine are weaned at 6 weeks of age. But experiences show that pigs should be
weaned considering by weight rather than age. They are fed with special ration known as
“creep ration” when they attain the weight of 2 kg. The creep ration should be fortified
with protein, mineral, vitamins, antibiotic, and highly palatable energy feed. A good
creep feed should contain 20 % CP, low in fiber, and palatable.
The composition of creep feeds and the mineral composition are shown in Table 1 and 2.
Table 1. Composition of Creep Mixture ( for Asian Region)

Ingredients Percent/gram
Ground yellow maize 40 %
Skimmed milk 10 %
Ground nut cake 10 %
Sesame cake 10 %
Molasses 10 %
Wheat bran 10 %
Fish Meal 6%
Brewer’s yeast 2%
Mineral mixture 2%
Add vitamin (A+B2+D3) 10 gram
Table 2.The composition of mineral mixture

Ingredients Quantity
Sterilized bone meal ( finely powdered) 45.0 kg
Ground chalk 10.0 kg
Dicalcium phosphate 12.0 kg
Common salt 30.0 kg
Yellow oxide of iron ( Ferrous sulphate) 0.5 kg
Potassium iodide 0.25 kg
Starch 0.75 kg
Sodium carbonate 0.75 kg
Sodium thiosulphate 0.75 kg
Add for 100 kg
Cobalt chloride 55.0 gram
Copper sulphate 265.0 gram
Manganese sulphate 330.0 gram
Zinc chloride 750.0 gram
3
Piglets are more prone to the pig let anaemia. Generally a dose of copper and iron should
be injected at the age of two weeks to these piglets to prevent from anaemia. Creep meal
should be offered at 10 days of age and continue to feed up to the weaning of 56 days of
age as formulate using ingredient in Table 1 and 2.
2. 0 Grower Ration
When the pigs are 10 to 12 kg, they are fed with grower ration. The following are some
of the formulated composition of grower’s ration as suggested by S. K. Ranjhan 1994.
(a) Cereal Ration
Maize 30.0 part

G. nut cake 20.0 part
Wheat bran 40.0 part
Fish meal 7.5 part
Mineral & vit mix. 2.5 part
(b) Non cereal ration

Rice [polishing 30.0 part
Yellow maize 10.0 part
Til cale 10.0 part
Fish meal 2.0 part
Common salt 0.5 part
Rovimix (A+B2+D3) 10 gram
3.0 Finisher Ration
Pigs are fed with finisher ration when they attain the weight of 50 kg and continue to feed
finisher ration till they attain 80 to 90 kg weight. The experiment in India has shown that
the slaughter weight of 70 kg is more economical compared to 90 kg body weight.
Following is the composition of the finisher ration.
(a) Cereal Ration
Maize 40.0 parts

Til cake 10.0 part
Fish meal 5.5 parts
Mineral mixture 2.5 parts
Rovimix (A + B2 + D3) 10 gram
4
(b) Non – cereal

Wheat bran 75 parts
G. nut cake 17 parts
Fish meal 5.5 parts
Mineral mixture 2.0
Common salt 0.5 parts
Rovimix ( A +B2 + D3) 10 g
The above formula can be modified according to local conditions. All these rations
supply adequate amount of essential amino acids as per the requirement shown as below,
Table 3. Essential amino acid requirements of swine*
Growing pigs weighing (kg) Finishing Pig Bred sows

Amino acids 5 – 10 10 - 20 20 - 30 and gilt
Agrinine 0.28 0.23 0.20 - -
Histidine 0.25 0.20 0.18 - 0.20
Isoleucine 0.69 0.56 0.50 0.35 0.37
Leucne 0.83 0.68 0.60 - 0.66
Methionine 0.69 0.56 0.50 - 0.28
Phenylalanine 3.69 0.51 0.50 - 0.52
Threonine 0.62 0.51 0.45 - 0.34
Tryptophana 0.18 0.15 0.13 0.90 0.07
Valine 0.69 0.56 0.50 - 0.46
Lysine 0.96 0.79 0.70 0.50 0.42
* Each requirement is expressed as percent of the diet.
4.0 Feeding of Pregnant and Lactating Sows
A 2 to 2.5 kg of meal can be sufficient for pregnant sows. Higher amounts of meal may
cause embryonic mortality.
In lactating sows 3.5 kg of meal with 0.2 kg of meal per piglet in the litters can be
incorporated.
Table 4.Trace minerals for swine

Minerals element Requirement ( mg/kg diet) Toxic ( mg/kg diet)
Copper 6* 250#
Iron 80* 3,000
Iodine 0.2 -
Magnesium 400* -
Manganese 20 4000
Zinc 50@ 2000
Selenium 0.1 5
# Baby – pig requirement.
# Toxic systems have been obtained on a few occasions.
@ Higher levels may be needed if excess calcium is fed.
5
Guidelines in Formulating Swine Ration
Mostly swine are reared as intensive system in commercial farm and fed with
commercially prepared concentrate feed. These are either purchased from the commercial
manufacturers or prepared at farm using cereals mixed with protein rich feed ingredient,
minerals, vitamin and feed additives to correct the deficiencies. Some of the rule for
effective formulation has been discussed as follows;
1. Knowledge of feed formulation and the nutrient composition is essential.

2. Based on cost, feed ingredients of similar nutritive value can be interchanged
while formulating ration to formulate the “Least – cost feed” for swine.
3. Check the feed ingredient for its purity while purchasing from the market to
avoid the adulteration
4. Only to maintain the protein content is not the final aim in feed formulation
particularly for non ruminant such as swine, but the quality of amino acids and
their ratio should be taken in to consideration.
5. All grain in mixed feed should be grounded. Palleting of feed is recommended
when feed contain more of fiber.
6. Prepare the complete ration as per recommended levels for different class and
offer at recommended level distributing in to 2 to 3 times a day which they will
eat without waste.
7. Antibiotic and other chemotherapeutic agents are carefully added to swine diets
secure an even distribution. Use only those materials specifically authorized for
swine.
Further Reading
(1) Animal Nutrition by Dr. D. V. Reddy
(2) Livestock, Poultry abd Fish Nutrition in Nepal by Chet Raj Upreti, Pub Balika
Upreti pp 170-182.
Review Questions
Q1: What is creep ration? Give the composition of creep ration.

Q2: Give feeding schedules for growing and finishing swine.
Q3: Give feeding schedules for pregnant and lactating sows.
Q4: Write down the guidelines in formulating swine ration.
Note: Please do some more review work in addition tom the lecture note to answer the Question 2
and Question 3.
Further Reading
Banerjee, G. C. 1998. A Text Book of Animal Husbandry (8th Edition). Pp 825 to 835.
6
Table 5: Nutrient requirements for growing swine fed ad libitum:

Pp 807 to 811 should go here
***

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Feeding of Swine (Pigs)

Dr. Chet Raj Upreti

Proper feeding is an extremely important item of management since feed represents a

Characteristic of Swine and Their Production

1. Superior feed conversion power: The capacity of swine to convert vegetable

4. Enterprises Requires moderate investment: The initial investment is small.

5. Swine excel in dressing percent: A 65 to 80 % meat of their live weight.

7. Swine are sensitive to unfavorable ration and careless management:

deficiencies. Producer can reduce these losses only by practicing an improved

Nutrient Requirement of Pigs

Practical Feeding of Pigs

1.0 Feeding of Weaning Pigs ( Creep and Starter Ration)

Table 1. Composition of Creep Mixture ( for Asian Region)

Table 2.The composition of mineral mixture

(a) Cereal Ration

Maize 30.0 part

(b) Non cereal ration

Wheat bran 30.0 part

3.0 Finisher Ration

(a) Cereal Ration

Maize 40.0 parts

(b) Non – cereal

Table 3. Essential amino acid requirements of swine*

Growing pigs weighing (kg) Finishing Pig Bred sows

* Each requirement is expressed as percent of the diet.

4.0 Feeding of Pregnant and Lactating Sows

Table 4.Trace minerals for swine

Guidelines in Formulating Swine Ration

1. Knowledge of feed formulation and the nutrient composition is essential.

Q1: What is creep ration? Give the composition of creep ration.

Table 5: Nutrient requirements for growing swine fed ad libitum:

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