Raising a few hogs for the freezer

I'm gonna raise 4 feeder pigs for the freezer. I grew up doing
this and back in the day we had our feed ground at the mill. I
was too young to know what was in it besides corn.

I called the local mill and they couldn't give me a price till I told
them how I wanted the ration mixed. I asked them what do
you recommend? He didn't know. I think I'll find another mill.
They have a 1 ton minimum. I can handle that.

At any rate a couple questions?

What do you all recommend for a feed mix? What little I can
find on the Internet says corn,alfalfa, and a supplement such
as Purina 40.

Will 4 hogs eat a ton of feed before it spoils?

Thanks in advance.

I buy a hog feed concentrate and grind my own corn to make what ever protein I want. Amounts need for each protein feed is listed on the label. The concentrate is soy bean meal with the proper minerals, etc for a pig. Makes it real simple. Four pigs will easily eat a ton of pig feed.

I use exactly the recipe you mentioned for my hog operation. I grind two tons at a time, throw in half a bale of alfalfa for roughage and then add a dozen bags or so of the concentrate 40. You need a good coop that will take care of you. If I wanted mine to do it they would gladly. You tell them what grains you want in it and what percentage you need. I usually shoot for 15.5 - 16 percent protein. I have been using only corn due to pricing but have been known to use equal parts milo and wheat. I've also added oats for roughage.

Two tons won't last me but a few days or maybe a week, but those four you have will eat a ton no problem. Plan on feeding them generally 700 pounds of feed each to get them to slaughter weight. It would be better if you had a friend close by that had a grinder and you could hire it out. It isn't rocket science.

A feed mill that can"t recommend a hog ration? I"d find another, too. Whoever you deal with, remember that required protein level drops as hogs gain weight. 2-3 step program.....3 step will save you more money.

If the feed is dry when mixed and is stored in a dry place..it will not spoil. I'd recommend a 14% protein ration for the entire feeding period. Yes, you will be short changing them "a little" on the front end, and over feeding protein "a little" on the back end. However, it simplifies the ration and the extra protein on the back end makes for a leaner meat and you'll get some "compensatory" gains on the tail end as well. A 14% hog ration would use 1650 pounds of corn and 350 pounds of a 40% concentrate per ton. Keep it simple.....the hogs won't mind. AS the others have said, if the feed mill can't tell you what to use........definitely find another mill as it's obvious they don't know a darn thing about hogs.

I Have been raising 4 to 16 hogs a year for last few years doing exactly what you are talking about. Yes 4 hogs will eat a ton before it spoils easily if you can keep it dry and the bugs and mice out of it.

I feed a corn soy ration with a vitamix 40 hog supplement. its basically a multi vitamin for hogs. I like to feed 15-16% protein as an all around feed.

It takes 700 to 750 lbs of feed per hog to get to 250 to 300 lbs(depending on how big they are when you get them could be more or less). when I started my first batch of 4 feeder hogs were in a 30x30 paddock and feed a 5gal bucket of feed a day. later I bought a used PAX bulk feeder. its round has doors the hogs move with there snouts to access the feed mine holds about a ton of feed. this made it much easier. I throw a few squares bales of hay in every week to give them roughage. now I like to find small rounds like 4x4 they are small enough to move around my hand if needed and they give the hogs roughage and something to do.

also give them a good mud whole. used my tiller and a shovel in an existing low spot in the pen and they seem to keep using it other wise they will make it where ever they want witch may make you more work.

give them clean water. shade and a place to get out of a storm. if you feed them in the same spot they seem to save that area for feeding and at least in my experience wont root that area up so much.

if you want you can call the feed elevator near me they get lots of calls like this and they will explain the options and what the different products are and so forth. even if you don't live close they will be happy to answer your question
call
Kern, Kirtly and Herr elevator
765-482-4120
ask for Denny

Thanks for all your help.

I'm just south of Houston. We have no commercial hog operations and only a few hobby farmers mess with pigs. Feed mill just doesn't deal with it. I talked to them again today and he's going to talk to his supplement rep and get a recipe. I posed the question to him about how long the feed would last and he said 3-4 weeks depending on how much molasses goes in. I just don't think he knows anything about it. Nice enough folks so I'm going to figure it out and walk them through it.

They quoted me $8.80 per 100 for cracked corn. That's about 1/2 what it costs at the local feed store.

Your probly going to want to do corn with enough bean mill to bring protein level up to around 15%. You can buy these high dollar pre-mixes but you can pretty much acheive the same thing with the correct portion of bean mill. One thing you are going to want to do if going this route is to add mineral to the feed. You can buy a pre-mix that is only the minerals (no high dollar protein and medications and all that jazz). Simply mix in proper amount to the batch of feed. Brother does this all the time and never has problems.

I would just buy some "complete feed" form a feed company , like Purina's "Porcina" . I feed this when I fattened hogs in the 80's. Comes in a nice pelleted form, and is easy to work with. Low dust. Bruce

If the elevator handles any name brand product, basic mixing instructions should be readily available to them from the supplier/manufacturer. These usually do need to be tweaked based to meet the producer's needs. If they're mixing individual minerals and other ingredients to make up custom formulas, they may want/need much more imput from you. Every elevator around here that handles any significant amount of livestock feed either has a nutritionist or someone very familar with both the products they handle and the animals they're fed to on staff. They also should have access to help from the company who's products they represent. Additional protien sources and different grains other than corn may be used. A ration to suit your needs shouldn't be hard to formulate.

Some potential supplement suppliers:

McNess: http://www.mcness.com/
Kalmbach: http://www.kalmbachfeeds.com/
Nutrena: http://www.nutrenaworld.com/
Cargill: http://www.cargill.com/feed/index.jsp
ADM (Supersweet, Moormans, Master-Mix, etc.) http://www.moormans.com/
Purina: http://purinamills.com/
Kent: http://kentfeeds.com/
Akey: http://www.akey.com/

I'm sure that there's more that I've forgotten, and there's many more that focus on "show feeds".

AG

I found a different mill. A little further out but close enough.
In my area:
Bagged production feed runs $6-750/ton. This mill will mix 19% "show" feed for $500/ton and a 14% for $360/ton in a super sack. $390/ton in 50lb sacks. They have a 500lb minimum.

Cracked corn or chops as they call it here is $8.80 per hundredweight.

Thanks for all your help.

I raised 2 for the household here and buy my feed from the local feed mill. I asked what goes in and she said they make it in 2000# batches, I think she said 1400# corn and 600# soy bean and one 40# block of hog grower mineral packet. (just iron and calcium I think) they sell it to me for 15$ to 20$ for a 100# bag all ground and mixed up. not sure why the price is different every time I buy it. something to do with the price of corn i guess.