Pigs and minerals

big John

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I was wondering if anyone fed their sows free choice minerals. I was raised up with hogs and we never did that. Just wondering what yalls opinions might be. Thanks.
 

Latestarter

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Greetings and welcome to BYH from NE Texas. I see it took you almost a year to post your first time. Glad to have you with us. I've never read or heard about doing minerals for pigs... I've never raised pigs though so I'll tag a couple of pig folks who do have experience. @misfitmorgan @Mini Horses @mysunwolf And I'm sure there are others, but can't remember their names.
 

mysunwolf

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Welcome to BYH!

We've never put out minerals for pigs, but we do feed a complete feed to our sows--usually a local hog mix that has lysine and vitamins--with soybean meal added once they farrow.

The important thing with minerals is to make sure they have absolutely zero salt, since pigs are very sensitive to excess salt. I personally don't think it's necessary to feed pigs extra minerals other than what's in their feed.
 

misfitmorgan

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@mysunwolf is correct in part......

Pigs as with most living things do require salt...just not as much as say a goat. A very young pig will require roughly 0.5% of salt in their daily intake of feed....metering down to just 0.1% as they age. Also note during gestation salt requirements will go up to 0.15% and in lactation salt requirements go up to 0.20%.

For comparison sake a goats daily salt intake is allowed to be 12-14% (<--notice no decimals)
Sheep daily salt intake is a requirement and is at 0.2-0.5%...so pretty close to a pig depending on age/stage. FYI 0.2-0.5% doesnt seem like a lot but that is 1/2 to 3/4 of a pound of salt per sheep per month.

As with all things salt intake/needs do vary by location, number of livestock, and per animal even if the same species.

If your raising on just shell corn on cement floors or confinement loose minerals would not be a bad idea. If your pasture raising i would just thru some out in their rooting area on the ground if they have one. If your feeding commercial feeds they should have an adequate amount of minerals already mixed in them.

All that being said....i have offered our pigs loose minerals that the sheep and goats love and the pigs did nothing more then sniff them and walk away.

Do not mix loose minerals into commercial feed unless you have had a feed anaylsis done on that batch of feed and the minerals and know how to do the math to figure out daily intake after the minerals are mixed into the feed.
 
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