All of your pig talk got me in TROUBLE!

[misfitmorgan]

I cant watch the video as i am at work atm but i will watch it on my lunch break today.

Get a weight on them and then keep feeding them as you are. Once you get the current weight i can let you know what they should be gaining, after that you can measure them in a week again and see if your feed needs to be changed. The cafe scraps are not the best thing ever only because of all the refined things in human food but calories are calories and i doubt that small amount is hurting them any. What kind of hog feed are you giving them in that mix?

I'm going to guess they should be gaining between 1 1/3 to 1 1/2lbs per day. So at the end of the week if they are getting the amount of feed and the type of feed they need they should have gained 9-10lbs, the growth rate is exponential so the bigger they get the more weight per day they gain. Measuring them wont be dead accurate but you should be able to tell if they have gained near what they should or not.

This is my same chart from my first post with approximate daily gain and daily feed intake added to it. The feed amount is based on feeding a commercial hog feed with appropriate protein, vitamin/minerals, etc so I expect your pigs will be eating a larger volume as their diet is lower in protein. Thats not bad per say just a difference to be aware of.
Age Weight Gain Feed
4 weeks = 15lbs 0.5lbs 0.75lbs
8 weeks = 45lbs 1.3lbs 2.25lbs
12 weeks = 85-90lbs 1.6lbs 3lbs
16 weeks = 145lbs 2.15lbs 4.25lbs
20 weeks = 210lbs 2.5lbs 5.3lbs
24 weeks = 265lbs 2.4lbs 5.9lbs

Not really related but i would also point out this chart shows why we butcher at 6 months/250-300lbs. You'll notice the gain goes down while the feed still goes up, at that point its a losing battle.

 

[Baymule]

I fed my pigs free feed until they went to slaughter. Before slaughter, 3 pigs were eating 50 pounds every other day.

 

[misfitmorgan]

no mistake made they will eat more then the listed amounts if it's available, the listed amount is the minimum needed to gain weight at the rate shown, purebred and heritage breeds will always need more to gain and will eat more.

That chart is for mixed breed pigs, they have hybrid vigour.

 

[Bossroo]

no mistake made they will eat more then the listed amounts if it's available, the listed amount is the minimum needed to gain weight at the rate shown, purebred and heritage breeds will always need more to gain and will eat more.

That chart is for mixed breed pigs, they have hybrid vigour.

The hybrid vigor thing may or not apply as it all depends on which genes are dominant or recessive in each individual.

 

[misfitmorgan]

If you are breeding correctly you dont breed stock that doesnt show the hybrid vigor themselves. If we get stock with crumby lines they go to freezer camp.

Bad litters, freezer camp
Bad attitude, freezer camp
Bad weight gain, freezer camp
Bad weight retention, freezer camp
Need for excess feed, freezer camp
Slow growth, freezer camp
Failure to thrive in general, freezer camp
Gilt going nuts after farrow, freezer camp

Those are the reasons we maintain a small breeding herd and end up with a large number of freezer pigs. Most people will breed to breed or breed anything, nothing wrong with that if your only after a few meat pigs. Our goal is to have the best meat pigs we can and the best show quality stock we can, so we dont breed just anything. That's why we got into pigs again, because the only thing available locally was junk pigs, those with no choice were forced to buy those junk pigs for $75-$125 a piece, those with a choice were driving 3+hrs one way to buy show stock at $200-$300 a piece. This was all for 4-h kids, thats why we got into pigs again, same reason for the suffolk sheep.

 

[Latestarter]

 

[Baymule]

If you are breeding correctly you dont breed stock that doesnt show the hybrid vigor themselves. If we get stock with crumby lines they go to freezer camp.

Bad litters, freezer camp
Bad attitude, freezer camp
Bad weight gain, freezer camp
Bad weight retention, freezer camp
Need for excess feed, freezer camp
Slow growth, freezer camp
Failure to thrive in general, freezer camp
Gilt going nuts after farrow, freezer camp

Those are the reasons we maintain a small breeding herd and end up with a large number of freezer pigs. Most people will breed to breed or breed anything, nothing wrong with that if your only after a few meat pigs. Our goal is to have the best meat pigs we can and the best show quality stock we can, so we dont breed just anything. That's why we got into pigs again, because the only thing available locally was junk pigs, those with no choice were forced to buy those junk pigs for $75-$125 a piece, those with a choice were driving 3+hrs one way to buy show stock at $200-$300 a piece. This was all for 4-h kids, thats why we got into pigs again, same reason for the suffolk sheep.

You are building a good name for your pigs, it will pay off. When someone wants good breeding stock, they will come to you. Plus, your pigs are eye candy!

 

[misfitmorgan]

You are building a good name for your pigs, it will pay off. When someone wants good breeding stock, they will come to you. Plus, your pigs are eye candy!

Thank you @Baymule

 

[misfitmorgan]

@misfitmorgan that is eye opening information. The pigs have NOT grown as much as I would have expected, but being first time pig keepers I wasnt sure what I should be looking for. They were definitely worm infested when we got them, but we were able to clean them out using a LOT of pumpkin and a bit of tobacco and now they seem to have cleaned up very well. 3 and 4 months old were just what the breeder told me. I doubt he keeps any real records. I think its time we get a measured weight of our own and see where they are and start tracking their growth rate. We currently feed them twice a day. It will be a mix of hog feed/wet cracked corn with quite a bit of scraps from a local cafe. like half a 5 gallon bucket full.

Maybe we should start going with free choice on the feed. They are hungry in the morning which is another sign their worm load is way down because they had very little appetite in the beginning. The video above shows the pigs as of 1 week ago at the end when they are in the kiddy pool. I would say they are filling out a bit more but it isnt any dramatic change. Ill try to get a new video of us tape measuring them and then calculating the weight.

How did the pig taping go?

 

[Matt n Lee]

How did the pig taping go?

not successful We may have a good FAILURE to measure pigs video coming! They just werent having it and their pin is so large there is really no way to force them into it. I will be uploading a video later with just a pig update, please take a look they seem TINY to me honestly. They are gaining weight but SLOWLY. We have had them a month and I feel like a month is a LONG time for a pig and we should be able to look at them be like "WOW look how much they have grown" and that is definitely not the case. Also the larger of the two is built like a damn bulldog instead of a pig and he runs and jumps around a lot. Very surprising stuff.