Alternative feeds for pigs: What you need to know
What you need to know:
- Most pigs reared exclusively on kitchen or agricultural waste attain maximum weight gain of about 400g per day, but to achieve this, they must consume the waste in large quantities than they would commercial feeds.
- Conduct regular nutrient analysis. Although generally the diets will not be balanced in the traditional sense, this will help in determining deficiencies and implementing supplementation strategies.
- You can take the feeds to laboratories for analysis once in a while to know what you are feeding your pigs.
- Supplement wet food waste with dry feeds such as grounded maize to improve nutritional value. Consider including a commercial vitamin or mineral premix with the maize.
Feeds contribute about 60 to 80 per cent of total costs of production in commercial pig rearing.
Under the system, different commercial diets are used to meet the animals’ energy and protein demands.
In small-scale production, feed costs are normally minimal because the animals scavenge for food or are fed on agricultural and household waste.
Regardless of the type of the production system, offering the correct quality and quantity of feeds is essential to ensure proper feed utilisation, reproduction and growth.
It is also important to note that nutrient requirements, especially digestible energy and protein of the various production classes differ. These production classes include:
- Boars and pregnant sows.
- Sows with piglets.
- Young pigs under nine weeks.
- Three to 10 weeks old
- Growing pigs ready for slaughter at a live weight of 60 or 90kg.
Given that prices of commercial feeds (concentrates) are constantly rising, there is need for farmers to cut down costs. The best way for large and small-scale farmers to reduce costs is by integrating commercial feeds with locally available feeds.
Kitchen waste:
In many cases these foods come from hospitals, schools, hotels, distillery, fish processing firms, abattoir or farms.
These feeds are organic in nature and as such subject to rapid deterioration and contamination by micro-organisms, some of which are extremely pathogenic.
Not all waste materials can be fed directly to livestock as some must go through treatment and processing, especially those that contain or have been in contact with meat or meat by-products.
This is done to reduce the risk of diseases and to eliminate any other harmful pathogens.
These diseases can be spread to human beings. They include cholera, foot and mouth, African swine fever, and swine vesicular disease.
Agricultural waste:
They are nutritionally poor feed resources for pig production due to the following reasons:
First, they have low protein and energy levels in comparison to commercial feeds.
Second, they have lower dry matter content of 20 to 25 per cent. In addition, the nutrient content is variable and highly dependent on the source of waste material.
These feeds lower carcass quality in terms of nutritive value, taste intensity, flavour and texture and may interfere with the rate of growing.
Most pigs reared exclusively on kitchen or agricultural waste attain maximum weight gain of about 400g per day, but to achieve this, they must consume the waste in large quantities than they would commercial feeds.
Monitor nutrient content of wastes regularly and supplement according to the animals’ needs.
On average, 15 to 18 per cent crude protein concentrate should be used as a supplement to improve daily live-weight gain to about 600g per day.
A common practice usually employed to control this is reduction of moisture content by drying the kitchen waste prior to feeding.
Guidelines when using the food wastes:
Conduct regular nutrient analysis. Although generally the diets will not be balanced in the traditional sense, this will help in determining deficiencies and implementing supplementation strategies.
You can take the feeds to laboratories for analysis once in a while to know what you are feeding your pigs.
Supplement wet food waste with dry feeds such as grounded maize to improve nutritional value. Consider including a commercial vitamin or mineral premix with the maize.
Do not start feeding young pigs exclusively on waste since this can be disastrous. The food should be introduced slowly.
Avoid trashy food waste such as that which comes from restaurants. Collect the waste from places where separation is practised. Supermarkets and schools may be the best sources.
Avoid feeds that are too wet. Low dry matter will result in slower gains.
Follow cooking regulations if food waste contains meat or meat by-products. Feeding agricultural waste products and supplementing with concentrates forms will help to improve efficiency in production of pigs as it reduces costs and at the same time ensures that growing animals reach desired weight in a shorter period.
The concentrates can either be bought or the farmer can mix them himself, which reduces costs but it is important to consult an expert on how to mix the ingredients.
The ingredients must be measured correctly before mixing to avoid ending up with toxic feeds.
Miyumo works at the Department of Animal Sciences, Egerton University
