# Pigs and Oats



## chrisnev (Sep 3, 2004)

We just got 3, 8-10 week old pigs and want to know if it is o.k. to feed them oats. Do we need to soak them first? A friend of ours has a farm and we able to get them quite readily and inexpensive.Any help would be greatly appreciated...Thanks Chris


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## agmantoo (May 23, 2003)

I would wait until the pigs weigh 75 to 80 lbs before going on the oat diet. You can get some fabulous gains while they are small off a higher protein feed. I would have them on a ground corn/soy meal ration for now.


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## chrisnev (Sep 3, 2004)

They are around 50-60 lbs now..A friend said it will swell in their bellies and hurt them. Also will the dust from the oats give them respatory problems. Have you ever heard of such things? Thanks and we appreciate your input... Chris


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## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

agmantoo said:


> I would wait until the pigs weigh 75 to 80 lbs before going on the oat diet. You can get some fabulous gains while they are small off a higher protein feed. I would have them on a ground corn/soy meal ration for now.


Oats have higher protein than corn. That said, I would use the oats in conjunction with other grains. Talk to your feed mill about them working up a recipe for you. As far as oats plugging them up, nothing could be further from the truth. Of all the feed grains, oats are the least likley to compact in the stomach.


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## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

http://www.ipic.iastate.edu/reports/02swinereports/asl-1819.pdf

Here is a study on feeding oats.


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## agmantoo (May 23, 2003)

tinknal, these are small pigs chrisnev has, you need to go back and read the text in the post you made since the post was a study on much larger hogs.. Due to the small amount of feed these smaller pigs can consume they need a diet of 16 protein and when they get larger and can eat more they can be shifted over to the bulker oats. Most oats will not weigh what those in your post article weighed.


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## mtman (Sep 2, 2004)

allso make shure they are wormed


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## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

agmantoo said:


> tinknal, these are small pigs chrisnev has, you need to go back and read the text in the post you made since the post was a study on much larger hogs.. Due to the small amount of feed these smaller pigs can consume they need a diet of 16 protein and when they get larger and can eat more they can be shifted over to the bulker oats. Most oats will not weigh what those in your post article weighed.


I never said oats should be the main protein source, thats what bean meal is for. Oats have higher protein than corn. Ever look at the ingredient statement on a bag of high priced baby pig feed? You guessed it! Oats. 50-60 lb pigs are not "small pigs" they are feeders and have the easiest and cheapest gain right in front of them. Why do you think 60 pound pigs sell for very little over what 40 pounders cost?


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## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

http://ohioline.osu.edu/b869/b869_51.html

Oats have higher crude protein levels than corn, and have greater amounts of the most esential amino acids. The only catagory corn beats oats in is energy.


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## mpillow (Jan 24, 2003)

I fed some oats after they got their one bag of medicated starter....I always soaked all food....because we didnt have water free choice...we fed 3 times a day to start...feed soaked in 1 gallon of water then add 1 gallon of water while they were eating....for two pigs. It worked fine. I now have a full freezer.

Now alot of you pig farmers will scoff at my methods but we have no power or water at our barn and we sort of do things old fashioned.....out of necessity.


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## cowgirlone (May 9, 2002)

We feed a mixture of oats, cracked corn and soybean meal. If you can get the oats at a discount from your neighbor........I'd go for it and mix them with cracked corn at the least. You could even add your own soybean meal. Just a thought.


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## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

I just fed out 2 pigs on bread and cheese. Worked great and the pork is wonderfull.


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## BobK (Oct 28, 2004)

dry might throw the little guys off a bit but soaking the oats with a pinch of soybean meal........ seems like it would work to me


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## seedspreader (Oct 18, 2004)

tinknal said:


> I just fed out 2 pigs on bread and cheese. Worked great and the pork is wonderfull.


Tell me of this bread and cheese diet... the sources, the gains, fatty or not...

Do tell all, Al!


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## Misty (May 29, 2005)

sometimes we feed oats to the show pigs to keep them from gaining too much. It is a wonderful filler with not a lot of nutrition. We use that and beet pulp.


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## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

ZealYouthGuy said:


> Tell me of this bread and cheese diet... the sources, the gains, fatty or not...
> 
> Do tell all, Al!


I get the bread from a comercial bakery chain, $9 a pickup load. The cheese is from work, whatever hits the floor, and from cleaning the equipment. The cheese is a little high in salt but they seem to self regulate on it, they only eat a pound or two a day. I fed the bread free choice. One of the pigs hed some health issues. The first was a navel infection that resulted in a badly infected leg joint. Cleared that up with a shot of pen. I'm sure that was not diet related. The second issue was bleeding from the nose (a lot!) . No idea what caused it or what to do about it. It cleared up in about a week. That pig finished at around 240# and was in perfect market hog condition. The hog with no health issues finnished over 300# and was lardy, but the chops still had good meat on them. The lard is no problem for me, I render it all out. I didn't figure out daily gains and such but I bought them in mid July at around 50# and butchered them just before Thanksgiving. The hams and bacons are in the brine and go to the smokehouse this Friday.


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## cowgirlone (May 9, 2002)

That sounds interesting tinknal. Wonder if your ham will go good with a glass of wine? Let me know.  

Buckshot, I agree, oats should not be fed alone, along with cracked corn, soybean meal and scraps, they will do great.


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## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

cowgirlone said:


> That sounds interesting tinknal. Wonder if your ham will go good with a glass of wine? Let me know.


Fat chance.........but I'll let you know how it is with beer..................


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## cowgirlone (May 9, 2002)

That sounds good too!


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## John Schneider (Sep 9, 2005)

To answer your question directly, it is perfectly alright to feed your pig the oats and yes, it would be a good idea to process them somehow ie. soaking. 

Oats are a good source of protein and vitamins and minerals to the same extent that any grain is. The protein however is not high enough in ANY grain for a healthy pig diet especially the growers that you currently have. You need a supplementary protein source and this can come in many forms. We use Alfalfa on our farm because we have a pasture based breed of pig. Most white breeds are not pasture based so assuming that this is the breed you have, you will need something like a Soy based protein (soy meal, whole beans etc). The easiest way to obtain the proper diet is choose your base feed...in your case, this will be oats; then add a commercial bagged supplement which will mix with the oats and give them a complete feed. Good luck.


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