OT-Finishing hogs

Why Worry · Oct 15, 2014

Hello all,

I am finishing some hogs for friends and family and someone suggested that for the last month, feed ground corn instead of cracked corn as I have been doing. The claim is that the ground corn can be better digested and will result in larger hogs.

Sounds logical but I'd like to hear from others to see if they've ever tried it.

Mike M · Oct 15, 2014

My uncle used to finish them sometimes with ground feed of some mixture and then mix with water, called slop the hogs !

Eric in IL · Oct 15, 2014

Grinding is probably not going to be worth the extra effort, especially if only for a month.

If they are on dirt and have free access to their crap, they'll run most of that cracked corn through their digestive tract three times anyway. The corn should be ground up plenty fine enough on the third pass.

randallinMo · Oct 15, 2014

You're not going to see any difference what-so-ever. If you had started them out on ground corn as opposed to "cracked" corn, you probably would have seen "a little" better feed conversion. But at this stage of the game you won't see any improvement.

ss55 · Oct 15, 2014

We use a 5/16 or 1/4 inch screen to grind corn for feeder hogs. Look at the manure to see if the cracked corn and whole kernels are being digested or just passed through. Three pounds of feed per pound of gain used to be a goal.

Your state's extension service or any other land grant university website (Iowa State, Michigan State, Purdue, etc.) will have a lot of information on feeding livestock.

JMS/.MN · Oct 15, 2014

Logic would indicate finely ground corn from start to finish...it"s been the industry standard for decades. More surface area, easier and quicker digestion, less passing thru the tract undigested. Faster rate of gain gives you market size hog sooner. Dad fed ear corn and little/no supplement in the 50s. First hogs ready for market at 8 months, fat, lard. When I raised hogs the first were ready in just over 5 months. That"s pretty much the industry standard.

da.bees · Oct 15, 2014

Saliva is the first digestive process and chewing stemilates saliva secreation. If you decide to grind,adding a little whole grain will incurage chewing. Finishing on corn yields good textured meat,wherther corn is whole or processed.

Nate V. IA · Oct 15, 2014

The finer its ground the more efficiently the hog will use it. If you feed super fine ground corn to long you will burn the stomach of the hog and then you'll have other problems. Smithfield Foods (largest hog producer in the US-now Chinese owned) varied the amount of grind to their hogs to prevent burning up the guts. I worked for Smithfield for a short time in 2008, I took over my wife's job when she was on maternity leave, as we had a similar background in feed formulation.

Nate

notjustair · Oct 15, 2014

I grind it fairly fine. As was mentioned - you will give them ulcers if you get it too fine. I think I use the 1/2 inch screen. I plan on putting in about 700 pounds to get them to market. I grind 2500 pounds of corn, a half bale of alfalfa, and 600 pounds of Purina concentrate 40. That makes my protein around 15.5-16%. With this I get them to butcher in about five months. I have to look at the exact date, but I have a litter due on Friday and her last litter goes to butcher the mid part of November.

All of my hogs are on dirt and born without crates. I like to keep a bucket of the old nasty whole kernel corn around from cleaning out the auger. I put a little in their ration to give them something to chew on. I have a friend that raises pumpkins. I go get a grain truck full after Halloween to give to them. They love pumpkins and melons.

If you have a round bale that has been sitting in a waterway or the mud put the whole thing in their pen. They love that rank hay.

JD Seller · Oct 15, 2014

You should have ben feeding them fine ground corn from the get go. Hogs do not have a multiple stomach like cattle. So you need to get the nutrients on the first pass. That means fine ground as that has more surface area for digestion.

I had hogs on feed all of the time until the late 1980s. I always used a 1/4 screen with shelled corn with the tractor at 540 PTO speed. I wanted to see few if any crack kernels in the finished feed. I wanted it to look like corn meal not flour.

IF your buying your feed you have been paying more for cracked corn over ground corn.

redforlife · Oct 15, 2014

I witnessed 2 pens of hogs raised at the same time. One pen on cracked corn, the other on ground. The hogs on ground feed did do better. Feed was more expensive but that might of been from where it was coming from. I really don't think it is going to make to much difference on how the meat turns out. Do what you want, but in my opinion 1 month not going to matter much this late in the game. If you want bigger hogs you are going to have to feed them longer no matter what you are feeding them. Ground feed from the get go might of trimmed a little time off getting them up to average butcher size.

LAA · Oct 15, 2014

It does not make much difference nutrition wise, less corn is wasted feeding whole shelled or cracked corn than feeding ground fine. Hogs masticate the corn kernels completely, that is why hogs were always run with steers back when ear corn was fed to fattening cattle, the hogs cleaned up all of the undigested corn that ran through the steers.

teddy52food · Oct 15, 2014

If you can get barley, finish them on it. Better tasting meat with less fat.

Traditional Farmer · Oct 16, 2014

If you have a woods with Oak trees turn them loose to eat and fatten up on Acorns in the Fall it'll be the best pork you every ate.

OT-Finishing hogs

Why Worry

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Mike M

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Eric in IL

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randallinMo

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ss55

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JMS/.MN

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da.bees

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Nate V. IA

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notjustair

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JD Seller

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redforlife

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LAA

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teddy52food

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Traditional Farmer

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