# What is the cheapest way to feed out a pig for butcher?



## Guest

I have raised several pigs for butcher but it always seems that I could have probably got the meat a lot cheaper if I had of just bought it at the supermarket. May not have tasted as good but I think it would be cheaper. So I've been pondering on the ideal of raising most of my own corn for feed, thinking it might be a whole lot cheaper then buying those little 50# sacks all the time. Build my own little corn crib and fill it up every summer and shuck out what I need daily. 

But I've also been wondering about instead of filling the corn crib up with corn ears that I have raised, what about buying a huge amount of corn kernals from a feed company that delivers to the big farmers? Making a one time purchase every summer. Do you think they would deliver to the small guy? Would the corn be any cheaper per pound then buying it 50# at a time? What's the cheapest way you raise them?


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## Oxankle

RH:

Where are you? 

If you are withing driving range of Slick just get 3 or 4 of the 55 gallon barrels with tops and drive over to the mill there. They sell bulk pig ration CHEAP. (They have a high protein and a "regular") A barrel holds right at 350 pounds as I recall and three should feed out a pig; with four you will have a start on the next.
Ox


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## djuhnke

I just bought 18.75 bushels of corn for 2.15 a bushel (came to like $42 with tax). I do buy the soy meal by the bag (50 lbs) for 8-10 per bag. I'd love to get the soy beans in bulk btu I don't know of a feed place by me that would sell it bulk. For piglet growth I do a 1:2 1:2.5 ratio of soy meal to corn. For maintaining my sow, she is more like 1:3 - 1:4 soy vs. corn. They are all very lean.


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## Snakeoil

r.h., your not home free by raising or buying your on corn. You have to grind it and add vitamine supplements to have the proper feed. 

Years ago I use to buy wheat shorts and day old bread and mix that with water, the pigs loved it, and it was cheap. The draw back is the amount of fat you get. Example, today 8/6/05 I went to the locker this morning to pick up my hog I had slautered, I had requested all the hard fat so I can make my on sausages, but I was told there wasn't any fat worth keeping the hog was so lean. So you my feed cheap but I'm not sure it would worth the cheapness.


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## GeorgiaberryM

This year we are raising five pigs for meat. We are partnering with a couple of friends, so I keep track of the expenses - in five weeks we have spent $84.00 on feed.

We are trying different kinds of feed, we only fed pig ration at the beginning. We also supplement with lots of stuff from the garden. We have fed extruded soybean meal, cottonseed meal, alfalfa pellets, corn, whatever.

A week ago we butchered the smallest pig - he weighed 80 pounds. And he tasted good!

So on that pig we spent $22.00 for the pig and $17.00 for food, so $38.00 total. (Just forget fencing etc. for this discussion) We got 47 lbs of meat. So that is about $0.81 per pound.

Hubby points out that the pig we killed was the slowest to gain; the others have far more meat for that same $17.00 share of food, so the cost per pound would be even less.

So how do these figures compare with what you all are doing?


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## Siryet

I get a special feed ground at my feed mill for $88.00 per 1000lbs. It fills three 55 gal plastic drums. So far this year I've bought 2000lbs for 4 hogs. 

2 of them are close to 200 lbs already and the smaller one is about 125lbs

I try to make it come out to 3lbs feed = 1lb meat.

A friend is feeding two hogs on pizza shop slop and his hogs aren't as heavy as ours so the difference for the really cheap way isn't worth it to me. 

I also know that my hogs are being fed healthy. Now I sell one of my hogs to pay for the feed and butchering of the other one also I raise one for a neighbor and he pays me per live lb weight which gives me more money in the bank.

raising them and selling one really cuts down on my costs.


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## Ed Norman

We waited til later in the year to get 4 pigs. The garden is going good and we give them lots of squash and greens and lettuce and beets, anything else that is ready. We also give them grass clippings and weeds. The feed is a bulk mix we feed to all the animals, it is $160/ton. They don't eat much aslong as we give them the fresh vegetables. Last year we spent $30 per pig on feed, this year should be alot less.


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## bluelacedredhea

Ed, What's in the mixture? Is it COB (corn oats barley) or something different?
I know someone nearby who has found a source for COB at $150/ton. Her cattle and sheep are thriving on it, but her poultry is not. 

But I only have poultry, horses and hogs any more, so I think the saving alone for the hogs would be well worth it, as you pointed out. 

I could still buy the more expensive feed for my show birds, and feed the hogs the COB and pasture..
Thanks for the info


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## .netDude

GeorgiaberryM said:


> ...we spent $22.00 for the pig ...


Wow, feeders are cheap down there.


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## Ed Norman

bluelacedredhea said:


> Ed, What's in the mixture? Is it COB (corn oats barley) or something different?


We get 850 oats 850 barley and 300 soybeans, all ground up. We feed it to everything, chick starter, pig finisher, duck maintainer, layer, grower, and everything else.


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## bluelacedredhea

Thanks Ed.
I'll ask the local feedstore for a price on a mix the same as yours (soybean being the wildcard here)..
I'll let you know if it's comparable.
:goodjob:


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## agmantoo

IMO with purchased feed the cheapest method is to buy bulk corn, bagged soybean meal and supplement. Instead of grinding the corn get a plastic barrel and soak the corn in water up to 12 hours in advance of feeding. At time of feeding add the meal and supplement making a slop. Balance the protein to meet the needs of the pig reducing the protein percentage as the pig grows. Additionally, provide clean fresh water at all times. If the pig is fed the same quantity of feed but fed multiple times per day supposedly it will gain more efficiently.


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## djuhnke

agmantoo said:


> IMO with purchased feed the cheapest method is to buy bulk corn, bagged soybean meal and supplement. Instead of grinding the corn get a plastic barrel and soak the corn in water up to 12 hours in advance of feeding. At time of feeding add the meal and supplement making a slop. Balance the protein to meet the needs of the pig reducing the protein percentage as the pig grows. Additionally, provide clean fresh water at all times. If the pig is fed the same quantity of feed but fed multiple times per day supposedly it will gain more efficiently.



What would you use for supplement?


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## agmantoo

When using just corn and soybean meal you will want to add vitamins, salt and trace minerals as a supplement. If you buy a prepared hog supplement/protein mix then nothing additional will have to be added. The discussion was for the cheapest method and to me buying the 3 ingredients, corn, meal, supplement and then mixing as slop, without grinding, is the least expensive means of achieving gain for cheap and without compromise. Feeding the 3 ingredients individually free choice as compared to feeding as a mix will not produce gain as efficiently.


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## abachler

Sorry to resurrect a thread this old, but I buy commercial bulk feed from the local feed store. I get 1000#'s at a time and it runs about 9.9 cents per pound. Its a complete feed consisting of corn, soybean cake, rolled oats, distiller grains, rice bran, a mineral supplement, and a bunch of other stuff. When I first picked it up I told the guy it smelled so good it was making ME hungry, he laughed. It's the malt from the distiller grains. It is a big hit with the hogs, They pigged out on it, eating 2 five gallon buckets of it between 3 of them the first day. Fully half of it in the first hour. I laughed as they lay there grunting with their bellies distended.

Cheap and the hogs love it, cant beat that combination.


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## highlands

For me the cheapest way is also the highest quality: pasturing with the supplements of what is available free locally. In my case that is primarily whey plus some spent barley from a local brew pub. The whey is delivered - I maintain the driveway (big job in Vermont winters) and feed out system (tanks, troughs, lines, valves). The spent barley we pickup but do it back hauling at the end of our delivery route each week.

-Walter

PS. It's fine to revive old threads. That is one of the beauties of discussion lists. Threads can cover years and continue to be enjoyed and extended.


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## 19disbre

Your real job as a farmer is ensuring that your pigs get what they need in the amount of food they eat each day. If a pig has the capacity to eat 5 pounds of food a day you want to meet it's needs. It may cost more but 5 pounds of feed will get you 2.5 pounds of gain, where as 5 pounds of pizza may only get you 1 pound of gain. They will also be very fat because their diet is not balanced so the unused nutrients are stored (Fat) until they can be combined with the missing nutrients to make muscle. I am not saying not to feed free stuff, you just need to make sure that stuff is good, balanced, or only a limited amount of their diet.


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