# Feeding piglets?



## JennNY (Aug 10, 2006)

At what age do you start giving your piglets food? Our last litter, (7 piglets)we didn't feed them at all, for 6 weeks. They just ate from mom and were completely satisfied. This batch (10 piglets) we have now, they will be 3 weeks tomorrow, are hungry! Dh started feeding them this week. Do you think it is the size of the litter that they aren't getting as much from mom? Or are most piglets eating at this age?

Thanks,
jenn


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## Up North (Nov 29, 2005)

Is it the same sow for both litters? On our place it seems to vary by sow. I've noticed most of my litters start stealing grain from mom when the are around 3 to 4 weeks old though. We'll throw in a little extra grain for them but they still get most of their nutrition from the sow. I do have this old sow who tires of her piglets after a few weeks. She'll wean them off herself once they start eating grain. Good thing about them eating good now is they will be ready to wean off all the sooner. 
Heather


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## JennNY (Aug 10, 2006)

Heather,
Same sow. Not sure what the difference is this time?

jenn


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## Misty (May 29, 2005)

we put creep feed in at about a week old.


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## Ronney (Nov 26, 2004)

I have my farrowing area set up in such a way that I can easily let the sow out and leave the piglets behind. I start doing this for an hour a day when they are three days old and leave the piglets a slurry of warm milk and piglet feed. Most of it gets wasted as they trample around in it, lie in it and do everything but eat it. When the do start to eat it I lengthen the time the sow is away from them and by two weeks old they are eating everything. At four weeks old I wean them and feed them three times a day for another two to three weeks, then cut them back to twice a day until they are sold at 8 weeks of age. 

Until I wean them, they are still getting their mothers milk but are not so hungry that they are milking the life out of her - and the larger the litter, the more she has to try and satisfy them. The result is that they do well and mother comes out in good condition. Piglets are quite capable of eating "solid" food from almost day one and I have brought up more than one runt without ever giving it a bottle.

Cheers,
Ronnie


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## highlands (Jul 18, 2004)

After a week or so they start eating hay, pasture, cheese trim and what ever else their sows are getting. In another week or so they begin drinking the whey or milk at the sow's trough. The sows are generally feeling like weaning them by five or six weeks. If I don't wean them the sows can end up a bit peaked by eight weeks. We generally wean around four or five weeks. No good comes of leaving them to nurse the sows for too long.

Cheers

-Walter
Sugar Mountain Farm
in the mountains of Vermont
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/blog/
http://HollyGraphicArt.com/
http://NoNAIS.org


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## zoki-macedonia (Jan 2, 2007)

Ronney said:


> I have my farrowing area set up in such a way that I can easily let the sow out and leave the piglets behind. I start doing this for an hour a day when they are three days old and leave the piglets a slurry of warm milk and piglet feed. Most of it gets wasted as they trample around in it, lie in it and do everything but eat it. When the do start to eat it I lengthen the time the sow is away from them and by two weeks old they are eating everything. At four weeks old I wean them and feed them three times a day for another two to three weeks, then cut them back to twice a day until they are sold at 8 weeks of age.
> 
> Until I wean them, they are still getting their mothers milk but are not so hungry that they are milking the life out of her - and the larger the litter, the more she has to try and satisfy them. The result is that they do well and mother comes out in good condition. Piglets are quite capable of eating "solid" food from almost day one and I have brought up more than one runt without ever giving it a bottle.
> 
> ...


For how long do you give them milk+feed,and when you wean them do you give them just feed,or still milk+feed?


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## Ronney (Nov 26, 2004)

They get milk plus feed right the way through. By the time they are 2-3 weeks old I've swapped them over on to cooked food mixed with milk. So yes, they get milk right through their lives or at least until they are sold. Anything we keep through as growers get milk until the day they go on the hook.

Cheers,
Ronnie


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