Tables 3 through 6 show example diets for the growing pig, gestating sow and lactating sow. They serve as a few examples of the many diets you can use in natural or organic pork production. These examples are based on table values for the ingredient nutrient content. They do not consider the differences in nutrient digestibility of the ingredients.
Once you decide which ingredients to use, calculate the final diet using the standard ideals for digestible amino acids and phosphorus. Winter diets need a lower amino acid content because the pigs will eat more feed to meet their increased energy needs.
Thus, the pigs will still meet their amino acid needs. Ingredients will differ somewhat from the nutrient levels assumed in these example diets. You should sample and test the nutrient content of these feedstuffs before formulating diets. Survey available ingredients that meet organic specifications and then formulate diets based on the needs of your operation and the cost of the nutrients found in the ingredients. Use a diet formulation program or consult with a professional nutritionist when formulating diets.
You can successfully use pasture forage in complete feeds and silage for pork production. Before , pasture was seen as a key component to swine diets because it provides minerals, vitamins and unidentified growth factors. There are too few data sets to estimate the quantity of forage pigs eat and the nutritional value of that forage. Most nutritionists give little or no nutritional credit to the forage when formulating diets for pastured pigs. You can have stored forage or silage tested for nutrient content.
You can then use these results for formulating diets. Note that the digestibility of forage nutrients is generally lower than that of grains. The Pork Information Gateway publication titled " Forages for Swine " outlines how to use forages in swine diets:.
National Organic Standards require that livestock have access to the outdoors, which can be a dirt lot or pasture. Pasture must be certified as organic before organically-raised pigs can graze on it. Using forage can lower grain and protein supplement costs. In pasture systems, equipment and building costs decrease, which results in lower fixed production costs than intensive confinement production systems.
Good quality forage can replace up to 50 percent of grain and supplement needs when you breed sows in the late spring to farrow early in the fall. One acre of good pasture can accommodate up to eight sows for one season. During other seasons of the year, forage quality and availability will vary. You will also need to adjust grain and protein supplements to provide the nutrients the pigs need. These factors also affect forage availability and quality.
You can stock pigs that are less than pounds at rates of 15 to 30 pigs per acre. You can stock pigs that are over pounds at 10 to 20 pigs per acre. You can greatly increase these numbers with more intensive management such as rotational grazing. Grow-finish pigs on pasture are full-fed in most cases. You may be able to limit feed with pastures providing sufficient nutrients. The previous example diets do not assume pasture supplementation due to the wide variety of pasture plants and nutrient contents of each.
Jerry Shurson, Extension animal scientist; Lee J. All rights reserved. The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer. Home Animals and livestock Swine Small-scale swine production Designing feeding programs for natural and organic pork production. Quick facts The National Organic Program NOP provides guidelines for your ingredients, production protocols and other practices to qualify for organic certification.
Keep records of your livestock and feeding operations to prove your animals have been raised according to certified practices. There are many different diets you can use in natural or organic pork production. You can use pasture forage in complete feeds and silage for pork production. What does it mean to raise organic pork? Open all Close all. Has no added color. Is minimally processed: processing does not fundamentally alter the product.
National Organic Program The National Organic Program NOP provides guidelines for ingredients, production protocols and other practices to qualify for organic certification. Becoming an organic producer If you wish to produce certified organic pork, you must complete the organic certification process.
Implement the OSP and have the certifier review it. Allow the certifying inspector to complete an onsite inspection of your farm. The certifying agent will review the inspection report.
The certifying agent decides whether to grant certification to your farm. Documentation and records needed The National Organic Standards requires organic producers to keep records of their operations. This will provide as an audit for tracing: Sources of animals. Sources of feed. The amount of feed fed. Feed supplements.
Animal health. Why do you need to keep records? Thorough records ensure the following: No co-mingling of non-organic livestock or feed ingredients occurs. Allowable medications are identified. Sick animals receive proper medical care regardless of certification status. Animal documentation. Feed documentation Feeding programs To document feeding programs, you must list Diet formulations.
Feed ingredient sources with organic certificates. Dates of purchases. Copies of ingredient labels. Locations of feed storage. Crop production certification if you produce on-farm ingredients.
Synthetic substances Certified organic crops serve as the base feedstuffs for organic livestock nutrition, but some synthetic substances are allowed. Feeds can include synthetic and nonsynthetic substances as described: You cannot use synthetic substances unless specifically allowed by NOP.
Consult the complete list. Allowed examples: vaccines, iodine, electrolytes. Natural substances are allowed unless specifically prohibited by NOP. Prohibited example: strychnine. Medication Antibiotic and drug use is not allowed in animals for organic markets, but you still must maintain animal welfare when an animal is sick or injured.
Managing pig health without antibiotics and animal-derived ingredients. Increasing weaning age. Preventing disease Preventing disease is key to healthy pigs and reducing the potential use of prohibited medications in organic production. Biosecurity All swine operations should maintain strict biosecurity. Closed herds Keep your herds closed to reduce disease risk.
Traffic control Restrict visitor access to animal facilities. Post signs telling visitors where to report. Make sure delivery trucks, especially those that visit other animal sites, are clean before entering animal areas. Put procedures in place that prevent rendering trucks from entering areas around pig facilities. On-farm methods composting, burial and incineration for disposing swine mortalities eliminates the risks related to rendering trucks entering the farm.
Limit the contact of dogs, cats, birds and wild animals with pigs to lower disease risk. Excellent sanitation Keep facilities as clean as possible to reduce the amount of pathogens in animal living areas. Consider these practices where appropriate and permitted: Pasture rotation: limits parasite load on pigs. Moderate climates allow greater flexibility in favorable outdoor or extensive farrowing. In some cases you can use year-round farrowing, with outdoor or extensive environments providing a measure of disease control.
Use standard vaccines and parasite control on sows not to be sold as organic up to third trimester. Use organically approved substances that may enhance health and performance such as diet acidifiers, oligosaccharides, enzymes, herbs, probiotics, etc. The certifying agency must approve these substances, guaranteeing no use of grain from genetically modified organisms in swine diets. Formulating diets without using animal or grain by-products. The less pasture the animals are eating, the more carefully their diet must be balanced.
You can feed pigs grain but there are many options for supplementing or substituting different sources of nutrition. Dairy products are great for supplementing pasture and cheese makers are often looking for a place to get rid of their whey.
Market gardeners have cull vegetables they might normally compost. The list is as extensive as you can imagine. Pigs are often used for clearing land. If you put them in a wooded lot they will eat the underbrush first and then move to girdling trees. How much you feed them will depend on the production levels you want and the age of the pigs. Older pigs will do a better job of scavenging.
You can also grow crops for hogging down. Some folks will grow a field of corn, grain, beans, or turnips and let the pigs harvest them. Make sure that there is plenty of fresh water warm in the winter available for pigs at all times. Water is necessary for proper digestion and pigs eating dry feed rations particularly require plenty of water. A constant supply of water using nipples on a barrel is the ideal set-up. Minerals and salt must be available to all pigs unless they are fed a commercial pig ration.
Even then, keep kelp, at least, in a mineral feeder. There are many diseases that can affect swine, but as with raising any organic livestock, prevention is the key.
Sound management practices copy the natural environment: fresh air, sunshine, freedom for natural behavior, shelter as needed, healthy feed, PASTURE, variety in the diet, clean water, good sanitation and manure management. The major concern for most smallscale hog growers is intestinal parasites. These can be managed with proper pasture rotation.
Never put piglets on ground that infected animals have been on for at least a year. If you need to worm them a good helping of fresh garlic and wormwood powder will eliminate many parasites. It pays to do a fecal sample on new animals after treating and on unthrifty animals.
Worm animals before moving them to new pasture and isolate for 3 days, either in a trailer, quarantine stall or sacrifice area. Treat and test on the new or full moon; parasites have been shown to be more active then.
Piglets need to have dirt or sod to root in early in life or it is necessary to give them iron shots. If you decide to clip their needle teeth, do it before they are a week old day 1 or 2 is even better , the same for castration. This greatly reduces the stress to you, the piglets, and the sow. Piglets benefit greatly from Probiotics.
This immunity will be passed to the piglets in the colostrum. Skip to content. Raising Organic Pigs. They get their top and bottom final, third molar at 20 months of age. Breeds Groups of pig breeds: Lard Type Poland Chinas, Cheshires, Essex, Mulefoots; have compact bodies, large hams, docile, and a heavier fat layer, although recent breeding has made them more similar to bacon and meat typing.
Bacon and Meat Types Landrace, Yorkshires, Tamworth; longer bodied and legs, trim profile, higher energy, less external fat. Dual-purpose Berkshires, Hampshires, Large Black especially docile because of the large flopped ears , Saddlebacks. Housing Types of housing can vary as much as pig producers. House space: Piglet to weaners- 16 sq. Weaners to finished- 40 sq. Farrowing sow- 40 sq. Handling Quiet, purposeful, humane handling is important for livestock. Pigs eat about 0. The diets that the UNUT recommends for pigs will revolve around the following materials, although some pigs will require more of these materials than others:.
The UNUT indicates that people can create home mixed diets based on these ingredients. Lactating sows will need more of almost everything, but in many cases, the UNUT has guidelines for how much of each ingredient pigs should receive at different life stages. The UNUT also has guidelines about the sorts of foods to keep to a minimum when feeding pigs, such as corn gluten feed.
MHGF also avoids giving pigs too much corn. Organic farmers can certainly produce their own pig feed with the right ingredients. The Organic Farmer OF has included formulas for pig feed as well as feeding guidelines. The UNUT also goes into suggestions for home mixed diets for pigs. Both guides are good resources for farmers looking to make their own pig feed.
The OF indicates that these ingredients can be blended in a specialized feed mixer, so the actual preparation is simple. Different pigs will have different needs when it comes to feed, and this recipe will create approximately 95 kilograms worth of pig feed. The OF indicates that a gilt needs three kilograms of feed daily, a sow with suckling piglets needs six kilograms, and boars need as much as four kilograms a day.
This recipe could satisfy the needs of a wide range of pigs, so the number of pigs that this recipe will feed will depend on the pig population of a given farm. As an estimation, this recipe could feed about 30 pigs.
Farmers can also be somewhat flexible when it comes to the ingredients. The OF uses maize germ instead of wheat and barley to provide carbohydrates for the pig.
The OF places a great deal of emphasis on lysine and zinc, and the UNUT emphasizes calcium, so farmers need to make sure that those nutrients are represented in the vitamin supplements that they choose.
Most organic farmers should be able to meet the needs of their pigs. Organic livestock is part of sustainable organic agriculture. Raising pigs on organic diets is certainly practical. To a certain extent, the farmers that go in this direction are going to be returning to more traditional ways of farming. In other respects, their farming methods could not be more modern. Organic Pig Feed Options There's plenty of demand for organic pig feed since many farmers are interested in raising pigs that are as healthy as possible.
Intensive Livestock Farming vs.
0コメント