Rural Pig Farming Techniques: How to Formulate Pig Feed and Points to Note

In rural pig farming, people generally prefer to mix their own pig feed, and the formulation of pig feed is a key part of the pig farming process, so how do you formulate pig feed? What points should be noted?

1. How to formulate pig feed?

1. Suitable nutrition: the various nutrient levels in the formula should be balanced, with special attention to the balance of amino acids.

2. Moderate volume: attention should be paid to the relationship between the pig's feed intake and the volume of the feed. If the volume is too large, the pig cannot finish it; if the volume is too small, the pig cannot eat its fill. If the volume of feed for boars is too large, it can easily cause a pendulous abdomen.

3. Flexible application: select suitable feeding standards and feed ingredients, and through feeding trials, observe the pigs' growth and development and production performance, and make corrections as appropriate. Use more of ingredients with good palatability and less of those with poor palatability.

4. Crude fiber content: no more than 3% for piglets, no more than 6% for growing pigs, and no more than 12% for breeding pigs.

5. Diversification: reasonably combine a variety of feeds to give play to the complementary role of various substances and improve feed utilization. A portion of roughage can be appropriately added, but it must first be fermented with EM bacteria before it can be added.

6. Use of biological feed additives: biological feed additives can improve feed conversion rate and reduce feed costs. Rational use of feed additives can improve feed digestibility and utilization, reduce feed and farming costs, and increase economic benefits. However, it must be used rationally and not blindly. For example, microbial EM bacteria, biological feed additives, fermented feed bacterial strains, and so on.

2. Points to note in pig feed formulation: avoid these 5 misunderstandings

1. Misunderstanding one: feeding large amounts of soybean cake or peanut cake during the fattening stage

Many pig farmers hold an unscientific feeding idea, namely feeding large amounts of soybean cake or peanut cake during the pig fattening stage, believing that only by feeding this way can pigs grow fast and the meat be firm, but this is actually wrong. During the fattening stage, the pig's growth focus is on gaining fat, not muscle, so large amounts of protein feed are not needed. If large amounts of protein feed are fed during the fattening stage, the pig must remove the nitrogen-containing part of the protein in the gastrointestinal tract, and only the other non-nitrogen-containing part can be converted into fat, but de-nitrogenation consumes more energy. In addition, soybean cake or peanut cake contains large amounts of unsaturated fatty acids. After being fed in large amounts, it can make the pig's fat soft and yellow, and will not make the meat firm at all; instead, it lowers the quality of the meat. The market price of cake-type feed is higher than that of other feeds, and using more of it increases feed costs, which in itself is a waste.

2. Misunderstanding two: using cooked feed to feed pigs

The technique of feeding pigs with raw feed has long been popularized, but many rural pig farmers still use the feeding method of cooked feed for pigs, believing that pigs fed cooked food gain fat easily, but this is not the case. After feed is cooked, almost all vitamins are destroyed, and the protein in the feed ages and denatures. According to statistics, during the cooking process about 20% of the nutritional components in the feed are lost, and the loss of nutritional components in green feed is even greater. If it is left in the pot for a long time during stewing, nitrite poisoning may also occur at feeding time, causing pig death.

3. Misunderstanding three: filling the belly with thin soup

Some pig farmers feed pigs with water-mixed feed, with a feed-to-water ratio of 1:8 to 10, or even thinner, and also supply water to the pigs. This feeding method is very unfavorable for pig fattening. The disadvantages of feeding pigs with water-mixed feed are: it increases the energy required for water metabolism in the pig's body and increases the burden on the kidneys; it dilutes the concentration of digestive juices, which is not conducive to the secretion of digestive juices; and it speeds up the passage of feed through the digestive tract, thereby reducing feed digestibility. In order to increase the pig's feed intake and let the pig eat more and grow faster, it is generally advocated to feed thick porridge-like feed, with a feed-to-water ratio of 1:2, or to feed raw wet mixed feed, with a feed-to-water ratio of 1:1. In addition, sufficient drinking water should be supplied.

4. Misunderstanding four: feeding pigs with swill is the most economical

At present, a small number of pig farmers still feed pigs with swill and establish long-term cooperative relationships with restaurants. After transporting the swill home, they store it in a built pool for use. In fact, swill contains many pathogenic microorganisms, which affect the pig's growth and development, and some are even fatal. In addition, when swill is stored, large numbers of pathogenic microorganisms multiply and can be spread through flies and so on, bringing losses to farmers. Pig farmers should completely stop feeding swill.

5. Misunderstanding five: randomly adding antibiotics to feed

For some epidemic diseases, there is currently no effective vaccine for prevention, especially some bacterial infectious diseases, for which drug prevention has good results. In order to control the occurrence of diseases and promote pig growth, many farmers add antibiotics indiscriminately without clearly understanding the mechanism of action of antibiotics, posing a threat to food safety and human health. Farmers should establish a concept of safe production and add antibiotics in a targeted, appropriate amount and at the appropriate time.