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Feeding requirements during drought.

Since swine rations rely on grain, when grain supplies are limited, you as a producer must work out the most economical ration for your animals. Remember, if you use a ration low in energy, your hogs will gain weight more slowly and be home longer. You will have to watch closely how much less supplement you use so you don't waste grain by feeding longer than is necessary. You will probably still rely on wheat, oats, and barley for rations, although you could use pelleted screenings in some of your rations.

You can use wheat as the major grain in hog rations. If used alone, as finely ground, it does "paste up" in the mouth. Also, because it is high in energy, limit wheat or the pigs become overfat. So you will probably be better off mixing it with another grain such as oats. Oats are much lower in energy than wheat and need to be supplemented with a feed higher in energy. A 50:50 mixture of wheat and oat is equivalent in feed value to barley.

You can use pelleted screenings as up to 25 per cent of rations for growing pigs. Avoid them in sow rations because they may contain large amounts of unprocessed canola and wild mustard seeds which may cause reproductive problems.


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This page was last updated on November 16, 2002