OT bony Gilt

Keith Molden

Well-known Member
We just bought a Blue Butt Gilt that was pretty poor. She was in a pen with cold water and mud up to her belly. I don't believe they were feeding her near what she needed. We got her home Christmas day and she's now in a warm pen with plenty of feed and water and hay to make a warm bed. I just couldn't leave here in that condition, her water was green with algae. I haven't raised hogs in the last 25 years, so I bought some pellets and I'm feeding them free choice, but I know there is something I can give her to bring the weight back on. She's about a year old and I would guess her weight to be in the neighborhood of 200 lbs. Her back bone sticks up instead of being a depression. What should I feed her along with the pellets to get her in shape for breeding? Thanks in advance guys. Keith
 
Keith,

You can go to the modern view and quickly edit your post if you need.

Raised hogs as a kid (45 years ago), boy that stirred some old memories. At one time my brother and I had nearly 300 farrow to finish. We poured concrete in the pole barn and built a farrowing barn. Dad hated hogs but tolerated our venture.

We always fed ground corn to the feeders but a different mix for sows and gilts. Seems we added some fresh hay and even tried adding some wheat or spelt . We ground it ourselves and always used some special supplement for the sows a few weeks prior to giving birth.
 
Most pigs we have had much prefer mash feed to pellets. Give her all the table scraps you have and milk if you have acess, if not get a bag of milk replacer. If she has been underfed for a length of time, it will take a few weeks for her to get back on her feed. If she has been in a wet cold environment and is now in a warm environment, watch closely for signs of pneumonia.
 
Years ago when I had hogs and would buy some from guys that didn't have money to feed them out this is what I did. Get them in the building and let them settle for a weak to get use to it. Keep them warm and have plenty of water and all the feed them want. After the first weak I added 10 lbs of cheap dog food (ground up) to a 100 lbs of hog feed (from the feed mill) and mixed it in. I used an old electric cement mixer to mix the feed and dog food together and 110 lbs will fit in it easy. You will be amazed how much they will eat the first weak you do this. Wait 2 weaks and add the 10 lbs to it again and don't add anymore after that.

If you can find some high sulfer coal (lump) and toss it in the pen she will eat it and will help her build her immunity up from the sulfer in the coal. Hogs love good alfalfa hay so give her some.

By the sounds of the green water she could have worms, Easy to add 10 gallon of swimming pool water to a hog water'er (50 gallon tank style) to clean her out and get rid of the worms. You may have to do this 2 different times. I sold hog on the carkes merit program and allways got top dollar for my hogs. I know I'm old school but it works. Just some ideas to think about. Bandit
 
I farrow to finish. This time of year I make sure that there are always range cubes (you know, the 22% ones for cattle) in the trough. After they are done with their ground corn and get bored they will munch on them. I grind my own feed and bump up the protein a bit during the winter. Bagged feed is pricey - if you can store bulk have the coop grind you a batch ( or a close neighbor - I do custom grinding for one neighbor).

If you are going to breed her don't let her gourge herself. I made that mistake when I first started as we never farrowed growing up. She will put on fat and a fat gilt won't settle as many in a litter. She needs 5-7 pounds of feed a day as a full size sow. Give her enough so that she cleans it up shortly before you chore the next day and is eager to see you, but you don't want to pork her out. With the glut of hay this year I bed with brome and they eat some of that. Do you have chickens? My favorite sows get eggs as a treat - shell and all. My oldest sow will do just about anything for an egg right from the chicken house. I butter up the upcoming breeders with eggs, too. Good protein. Anything that will boost her protein will be good - especially when a cold snap is coming.
 
My experience is fattening up hogs for the freezer. Back in the day we'd buy feeder pigs10-15 at a time. 30 years later I've currently got 5 that I'm fattening up.

I've gotten away from the pelleted feed as they won't eat nearly as much or as fast as mixed feed. Plus it's too expensive.

I get feed ground 500lbs at a time. It has corn, distillers grains, and a vitamin/mineral supplement. I feed free choice and add greens out of the garden, pecans and acorns raked up from the woods, table scraps etc.

I'd give your gilt all she wants till she's looking good and then start rationing as others have said. You don't want her overwieght to breed. If you can't get a corn based feed ground add cracked corn to her pellets, that way she'll eat more.

I'd definitely worm her 1st thing.
 
Gilt is a female pig. The females are called gilts until they have their first litter of pigs then they are called sows. A barrow is a male pig that has been castrated.
 
I raise hogs. Have the sows/gilts in group pens 3 to a pen. Had one pen where one sow wasn't getting her share and she lost weight to where you could see her vertabrae. Tried everything but just couldn't get her to gain weight. Moved her to another pen with some less agressive/dominant gilts. Have had her on double feed with extra protein for about a week now and she is starting to look a lot better.
Getting your gilt on free feed will take care of your problem as long as you have her around 16% -20% protein. I would watch though that she doesn't get too large. Fat condition can be as bad for not breeding as extra lean.
 

Notjustair hit it on the nose. A fat gilt won't put out as many pigs and might have birthing problems. It needs the protein to stay alive and well but it doesn't need the fat. Pete's suggestion to worm is always a good. Is she itching and scratching a lot? Could have mange if she is.
 
A Blue Butt

blue+butt.jpg


Is a cross between a Hampshire.

hamp.jpg


And a Yorkshire.

york+sow.jpg
 
So that's what a blue butt is? A York-Hamp cross. I farrowed thousands of them back in the 70's and didn't know they were called that name. A York is a good breeder and gives a little more length to the Hamp. Both have way too much back fat for today's market but are rugged and do much better in outdoor living conditions than the skinny modern breeds.
 
Thanks guys for all the info. Bandit, thanks for the reminder about the coal, we've got an old strip mine right behind our place. That's what we used to give them, kinda worked like a tonic but this old mind of mine just wouldn't reach back that far LOL. I really don't think she's wormy, tho we're gonna worm her (sure won't hurt), I really think she's just not been fed enough and has been cold & wet so her body's used what it could to stay warm. We're going to get some ground feed as well but the pellets were the only thing we could get on the holiday. I'll keep you all posted on her progress. Keith
 

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