Swine
Health Management - Feed
How much feed should my pigs
eat?
Controlling feed wastage and
common problems with feeders
Managing the feed system to
eliminate feed wastage
Feed cannot be wasted on pig farms
In a time of record feed prices, it is essential that feed wastage be
minimized. It is estimated that 10% of
feed delivered is wasted on the average farm.
On a 250 sow unit this can be more than 150 tonnes of feed per year
(whole farm – farrow to finish - feed consumption at 6.3 tonnes per sow per
year). Feed is wasted along the entire
feed line from field to rectum! This
article details some of the areas where this wastage occurs at the farm level
and focuses on simple management practices to reduce this waste. Reducing feed wastage by half would amount to
a reduction in cost of 8-9 c/kg deadweight - $6.30 per pig sold (70kg dead
weight – head off). This could be the
difference between profit and loss on many farms. (Calculation: 7.5 tonnes x
$377 average feed price divided by (250x20x70kg) dead weight)
Link to
demonstration spreadsheet
Where is feed wasted?
Feed distribution system and storage
Feed bin management
Avoid unnecessary waste while cleaning feed bins. Leaving spilt feed under the bin only
encourages rodents and vermin to the farm – which then consume their own share
of feed. Routinely and regularly check
the outside, inside of feed bins and their distribution systems.
Feed bin filling
When the feed bin is being filled, avoid all wasted and split feed. Once the feed had been delivered, ensure that
the feed bins are properly re-sealed.
Feed outage
Manage and understand feed movement within a feed bin and ensure that
feed outages do not occur. If a pig is
without feed for 24 hours, a gastric ulcer may occur. This results in poor feed digestion and
leakage of blood – which has to be replaced – a chronic feed wastage. Pigs going without feed for more than 6
hours is extremely common on pig farms – to the point it is a normal occurrence
at least once in every batch of pigs produced.
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Feed spillage under a feed bin |
Feed being split during delivery |
These pigs ran out of feed – 8 pigs died
suddenly associated with gangrene of the stomach because of the outage. |
Feed storage
Creep feed should not be exposed to temperature extremes and because it
may get hot and go stale. A typical
example is when that the creep feed is “stored” within the hot nursery, making
the feeding easier for the stockperson.
However, it can result in but food becoming spoiled?
Feed barrows
If feed is moved around the farm in barrows, ensure that the barrow is
kept out of the rain and is covered at all times. Do not overfill feed barrows as this often
leads to spillage of feed while moving the barrow around the farm.
Wastage associated with medications in the feed
Place medicated feed into the correct bin.
Ensure that all feed bins are numbered and the driver places the correct
feed in the correct feed bin. This will
avoid having to empty a feed bin or having to live with unintended and
expensive medication withdrawal times.
Palatability
All feed which enters the farm should be tasted by the stockperson in
charge of the area and the manager to ensure that feed palatability standards
are being met. This should include wet
feed ingredients.
Do not allow medication to make the feed unpalatable. If there is any concern regarding
palatability consider the use of talins to mask the taste. Discuss this with your veterinarian if you
have any concerns.
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Do not store creep feed at high
temperatures |
Do not allow feed barrows to waste feed |
Number all feed bins and regularly check |
Feeder Setup
Adequate feed space
To allow all the pigs to grow evenly it is essential to provide
sufficient feeder space for all the pigs in the pen. This is particularly important in the first
three days post-weaning.
Table 1 Feed space availability in a trough feeder:
Weight
of pig |
Trough/hopper
length (mm)/pig |
|
(kg) |
Restrict
fed |
Ad Lib Fed |
5 |
100 |
75 |
10 |
130 |
33 |
15 |
150 |
38 |
35 |
200 |
50 |
60 |
240 |
60 |
90 |
280 |
70 |
120 |
300 |
75 |
Sow |
400 |
N/a |
Note that the newly weaned pig requires 3x longer feed space than is
required a week later. This is because
newly weaned pigs feed as a group and do not understand the concept of ad lib feeders.
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Weaned pigs having to fight over feed
when there is insufficient feed space |
The use of a narrow trough can enhance
post-weaning feed intake |
Feed distribution
Ensure that the feed is distributed evenly along a feeder to minimize
aggression and fighting at the feed space.
This will also minimize uneven growth within a group of pigs.
Feeder in wrong position in the pen
When siting the feeder consider the ability of the pig to reach it. Feeders placed in cold corners will often
become fouled with urine and faeces as the pigs use the area as a toilet. Feeders placed too close to a divider or
other obstacle – drinker for example may have feed spaces, which are inaccessible. Note pigs should not have to jump up to gain
access to the feeder. This is typically
seen when young pigs have to cope with raised feeders.
Feeders placed so that they cannot be easily examined
All feeder should be placed so that the
stockperson can easily examine the feeder for leakage, overflowing of feed or
soiling. Feed
and drinker position Pigs like to drink shortly after
feeding. If the drinkers are more than
2 metres from the feeder, pigs will walk between the feeder and drinker and
carry food in their mouths. |
Feeder facing away
from the passageway |
This feed will be dropped (and wasted) on
the floor and bedding. Ensure that the
pigs do not have to cross the sleeping area to get from the feeder to the
drinker. |
Covering feeders
Feeders which are uncovered will contribute up to 30% of the dust in the
air. In addition, the feeder is exposed
to rodents and possibly birds, which can both eat the feed and soil the
remaining feed. All feeders should be
covered. If the stockperson needs to
examine the feed level, ensure that the feeder has a see through area where
this can be assessed..
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Poor feed distribution. Ensure that the downpipe is properly placed |
Feeder in the wrong place in the pen and
being used as a toilet area |
Distance between the feeder and drinkers
is too great resulting in feed being split |
Use the right feed at the right time
It is essential that pigs progressively move to the cheaper diets as
soon as possible while maximizing their growth potential. Keeping pigs on the expensive early diets for
longer than warranted, increases costs.
On several farms, the pigs are kept on expensive weaner diets too long
to compensate for the poor feed intake and growth in the first week
post-weaning. Carry out regular feed
budget audits to ensure that the farm is feeding appropriate levels of feed
intake.
Figure 1
Example of percentage of total feed usage on a farrow to finish farm
Pigs fed weaning to 110 kg liveweight
Use correct feed
It is essential to adopt a suitable diet. In times of high prices it is tempting to
simplify and cheapen the feed, but growth and health could be affected. Note if the pig’s growth slows down this cannot
be allowed to affect pig flow and all-in/all-out systems. Poorly formulated diets are more likely to
result in diarrhoea, resulting in raw feed ingredients ending up on the floor.
Feed preparation
Feed which is incorrectly prepared – ground or rolled, can result in
increased waste. Whole grains cannot be
digested by the pig and are passed out whole and undigested – and are therefore
wasted.
Feed available when pigs enter a house
It is essential that pigs are fed the correct diet immediately when they
enter the house. Requiring the pigs to
eat up the last of the last group of pig’s feed is not acceptable. Such feed may contain the incorrect
ingredients or medications, or if it has been left for more than a couple of
days has become soiled with moulds, rodent faeces or urine.
2 1 |
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Pigs cannot digest whole maize grains
(arrow 1) – they pass through the pig thus wasting the original feed. Note also the cotton seed (arrow 2)– these
may carry the toxin gosssypol |
Final finishing feed left to be eaten by
the next group of 30 kg pigs. Note the
feeders are not covered. |
Feeding routines
Creep feeding in the farrowing house
If the farm practises 3 week weaning, creep feeding needs to be
carefully justified. It must be
demonstrated that the effort and waste involved in creep feeding enhances
weaning weights and post-weaning feed intakes.
With 4 week weaning, creep feeding can be beneficial. However, it must be practised so that
expensive creep feed is not wasted and soiled.
Creep feed should be fed at least 3x daily – little and often.
Adult pig feeding
The feeding routines practised in the farrowing, breeding and gestation
areas can result in enormous feed wastage.
In the farrowing area attempting to get the sows to eat too fast can
result in loss of appetite in the lactating sow. The pig then fails to clean
out the feed trough, resulting in mould development and in the worst cases, fly
infestation of the feed. Note the feed
problems can result in water availability problems affecting milk supply to the
piglets.
In the breeding area, when sows are in oestrus they often will not eat
and this results in feed remaining in the feed troughs and being wasted.
In gestation areas feeding routines can be extremely careless resulting
in large amounts of feed being wasted on the floor. Combined with poor cleaning routines this
feed becomes soiled. Overfeeding of the
gestating sow is extremely common on pig farms.
This extra feed is wasted, does not benefit the growing piglets and
reduces subsequent feed intake during lactation.
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Well constructed farrowing house creep
feeder |
Farrowing house feeder overfull |
The sow came in heat but her empty crate
was still provided with feed |
Feeder empty as the pigs leave the farm
Do not dispose of feed remaining in the feeder by pressure washing the
feed down the slats. Management of the
feeder in the finishing pen is an essential component of finishing.
Hospital pen feeders
The feeders in the hospital pen are often overfull and over running for
only one or two pigs. This can result in
tremendous wastage. Adjust feed in the
hospital pen feeders according to the needs to the pigs.
Weekend feeding
It is extremely lazy to overfill feeders – especially in the newly
weaned pens, with feed just to avoid having to feed at the weekend. We all want an easy a life, but this laziness
can result in wasted and soiled feed.
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Feed wasted between groups |
Hospital pen feeder wasting feed and not
providing good food to the compromised pigs |
Feeders filled up for the weekend, but
this can increase feed wastage |
Feeder management
Holes in the feeder
It is imperative that all feeders are examined regularly – at least
between batches. Where a feeder is
found to have a hole, fix or replace the feeder. Holes that occur over slats cost thousands of
dollars, where chronic feed leakage occurs without trace. Note holes can occur in down-pipes and feed
systems – sometimes out of sight.
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Any feeder with a hole should be thrown
away or immediately repaired |
Feed under slats |
Feed quantity available
The adjustment of feeders should be done every day. This is one of the most important jobs for
grow/finish stockpeople. It is not
acceptable that feeders are allowed to over run just to ensure pigs have
“sufficient” feed. Feed efficiency can
be maximized when the pigs have to work for their feed. Placing less feed in the feeder by lowering
the downpipe into the feeder will reduce feed wastage and dust production –
although the feed auger may need to run more often. All stockpeople should understand in detail
how the feeder works and how to adjust the feed availability. A feeder, which is overrunning will also tend
to allow the feed to become powder. This
can result in feed intake refusal, increased dust contamination of the room,
limited feed space and increased respiratory problems in the pigs.
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Too little feed |
Feeder working correctly |
Feeder over running |
All feeders on the farm should have
information sheets clearly describing how the feeder should be running. |
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Three different feeder design all
providing too much feed, resulting in feed wastage |
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Feed very powdery being fed |
Analysis of the feed in the feed bin –
very little powder |
Analysis of the feed in the feeder – a
lot of powder very few pellets |
It is essential to ensure that the pigs
actually get to eat the feed in the format designed |
Ignoring overrunning feeders
If stockpeople are in too much rush, they may miss a feeder which is
overrunning. A personal example: the
downpipe fell out of the feeder and the auger tried to fill the slurry pit over
the weekend. The result: 30 tonnes of
wasted feed as well as the time taken to dig out the slurry pit by a young
stockperson – who would never make that mistake again! Obviously large
quantities of feed can be wasted within hours.
Feeders and feed systems should be equipped with suitable alarms to
prevent this occurrence.
Water in the feeder
Any feeder with an additional waterer should receive careful
management. Ensure that the water does
not leak and fill the feeder, restricting feed access. Likewise, ensure that feed does not build up
and limit water availability. Drinkers
in feeders should be considered as feed intake enhancers not as a specific
water supply.
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This feeder sprung a leak resulting in 3
tonnes of feed being spilt |
Excessive water in the feeder can result
in feed waste and obstruction to feed intakes |
Soiling of the feed
Feeder incorrectly placed
As discussed above ensure the feeder does not look like a toilet to the
pig.
Effects of the weather and the feeder
The feed must not be spoiled by the effect of the weather – in
particular during rain. This is to
include feed barrows.
Floor feeding / feed as bedding
Floor feeding, for whatever reason should be avoided. Feed is an extremely expensive bedding
material. While it is not uncommon
post-weaning to feed on the floor mat – the provision of a simple inexpensive
trough will not only reduce waste but also provide the stockperson with detail
of feed consumption rather than just usage.
It is particularly surprising the number of farms where feed is spread
on the floor merely to indicate to the pigs where their “sleeping area” is
located. Review pen layout and provide
a draught free sleeping area to all pigs.
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Feed exposed to the weather |
Floor fed gilts, note the feed wastage |
Feed spoiled by a leaking water line |
Mouldy feed
The feed can become soiled by water running into a feeder – for example
from a drip cooling system poorly managed.
This wet feed can rapidly become mouldy and fly infested. Feed bins which are not sealed after filling
or are sited where condensation can occur in the bin, result in feed wastage
through mould. Feed bins placed directly
in front of outlet fans are an example of this.
Mould not only results in wastage, but a potential health risk if feed
is eaten.
Farrowing and gestation sows
Adult sow’s feed supplies are particularly prone to soiling through
attempts to overfeed by stockpeople.
Rodent and vermin control
Birds, mice and rats can consume vast quantities of pig feed and their
faeces and urine contribute to the soiling of even more feed. Feeders should be covered to reduce access to
vermin. Buildings should be bird-proofed
to reduce access and thereby improve salmonella control.
FCR has been reduced by 0.3 (3.0 to 2.7 – 30-100 kg liveweight) in sheltered pigs purely by covering the
feeder! In outdoor units seagulls and birds can swoop down and take several
pellets at one time. What is
particularly galling is that the sows will often stand to one side while the
birds eat!
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Birds around weaner arcs |
Bird feaces on covered and uncovered
feeder – a salmonella risk |
An adult rat will eat 15 g a day
– with a 100 rats on the farm this is nearly 4 tonnes per year
A seagull will eat 100 g a day – with a 100 seagulls eating their ration
a day this is 25 tonnes per year.
Do your own calculations of the feed
eaten by birds and rats
Avoid feeding unnecessary
animals
Non pregnant sows
It is essential that all sows 6 weeks post-mating are actually
pregnant. A sow which is discovered not
pregnant in week 16 of ‘gestation’ has just consumed 175 kg (2.5x7x10) of feed
since mating. On many farms, this can be
as many as 7% of sows. On a 250 sow unit
this is accounts for 3 tonnes of sow feed a year.
Cull sows
Once the decision to cull a sow is made, ensure that she is culled as
soon as possible. Cull sows are eating
2.5 kg a day.
Overweight finishing pigs
Finishing pigs must be weighed and sold into the slaughterhouse
matrix. Outside the box the pig becomes
extremely expensive. When they get to
120kg with a P2 of 16 mm not only are they not going to pay for the
extra feed they have consumed they are going to result in a penalty at the
slaughterhouse, reducing their return.
Review the pigs in the hospital area.
Rectal strictures are not uncommon on pig farms. These pigs will often have ravenous appetites
but they will not be suitable for marketing.
Adopt a 7 and 14 days rule in the hospital area and review all cases
after 7 and 14 days. Cull all pigs that
are not going to be marketable.
Ileitis
and chronic diseases
Ileitis is associated with the bacterium Lawsonia intracellularis.
This disease results in chronic feed waste as it increases the thickness
of the gut, resulting in less digested feed being absorbed into the pig. This can result in a loss of growth of 40g a
day – which at a FCR of 3 is 120g a day.
Partial and full depopulation?
If the disease problems on the farm become chronic, consider a partial
or even full depopulation to allow for full cleaning and refurbishment of the
farm. A reduction in 0.5 FCR is not
uncommon on farms post-partial depopulation.
Animals that have to live in a heavy pathogen load environment have to
divert nutrients from growth to immunity defence thus wasting feed.
In general, gastric ulceration occurs because the pig fails to eat over
a 24 hour period. If the feed is very
fine (<700 m) the feed will then aggravate an existing gastric ulcer. Gastric ulcers result in feed wastage by poor
feed digestion and chronic anaemia. In
addition, the pig is weakened and more prone to secondary infections and
bullying by other pigs.
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Ileitis – variable pigs |
Gastric ulcer (arrow) with chronic bleeding |
Pig with rectal stricture. Immediate euthanasia is advised. |
How much is feed wastage costing
you?
The impact of feed wastage
The cost of feed wastage is demonstrated in table 2.
Table 2.
The effect of actual feed usage at various levels of feed wastage
Link to an adjustable table to illustrate your own farm
circumstances
Age (weeks) |
Gain (g/day) |
FCR idealized |
Consumption (g/day) |
Actual feed usage feed wastage (%) |
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2 |
10 |
15 |
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4 |
215 |
1.3 |
280 |
286 |
308 |
322 |
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6 |
395 |
1.3 |
500 |
510 |
550 |
575 |
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8 |
630 |
1.4 |
852 |
869 |
937 |
980 |
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10 |
660 |
1.8 |
1220 |
1244 |
1342 |
1403 |
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12 |
715 |
2.3 |
1620 |
1652 |
1782 |
1863 |
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14 |
800 |
2.6 |
2100 |
2142 |
2310 |
2415 |
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16 |
965 |
2.7 |
2600 |
2652 |
2860 |
2990 |
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18 |
1000 |
3.2 |
3200 |
3264 |
3520 |
3680 |
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20 |
1100 |
3.4 |
3800 |
3876 |
4180 |
4370 |
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22 |
1100 |
3.6 |
4000 |
4080 |
4400 |
4600 |
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Adult |
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4 |
5000 |
5100 |
5500 |
6750 |
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With a unit farrowing 10 sows a week the cost increases are: |
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6.3 tonnes per sow per year
with an average price of $377 per tonne farrow to finish at 70kg dead weight |
Per kg
deadweight |
8c |
16c |
24c |
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Per pig
sold |
$5.67 |
$11.35 |
$17.02 |
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Per
year |
$28026 |
$56052 |
$84078 |
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To survive today’s feed prices, we must minimize feed wastage to
minimize cost of production.