Q. What cereal grains other than corn, wheat, oats, milo, or barley may be available?
There are small acreages of buckwheat, millet, and spelt grown in the tri-state area. All of these grains can be used in pig diets, but care should be taken to balance the diet for amino acids. Their compositions and their individual specific nutritional limitations (e.g., lysine, fiber, etc.) will determine their dietary incorporation level.
Q. How much wheat can I use in pig diets?
Normally, only about 50% of the grain mixture should be comprised of wheat, largely because the product is generally too fine and becomes unacceptable. If the particle size is between 600 to 800 microns (each kernel broken into four to six pieces), wheat can be used to replace all of the corn.
Q. What guidelines should be measured in soybean meal to ensure receiving a good quality product?
Soybean meal must be heated to reduce the various antinutritional factors indigenous in soybeans, but the meal product should not appear burnt. Color, crude protein, and fiber levels are good indicators of quality meal and can be evaluated at most feed-testing laboratories. Frequently, ground limestone is added to processed soybean meal to improve its flowability. You should request guaranteed compositional information when purchasing soybean meal in bulk quantities, and retain a sample of the product upon delivery.
Q. How can I effectively add fat in my on-farm mixer?
Fat must be in a liquid form and be the last item added to the feed mixture in the mixing process. Unless a tank is available for the storage and heating of fat, most producers are not in a position to add fat to their swine diets. The use of dry fats can be added to feed mixers, but these fats are generally too expensive unless used for specialized use. When commercial feed is normally pelleted, fat is generally sprayed onto the pellet as it exits the die. As the pellet cools, the fat is absorbed within the pellet. Regardless of the method of adding fat, be sure to consider that the cost of energy from fat should not exceed 2.25 times the price of corn.