Liquid feed for pigs: A sustainable approach with local ingredients
Dutch pig farmer Arjan Berghuis chooses to feed his animals liquid feed; the rations are composed of his own grains combined with local products.
At the Berghuis family pig farm in Westdorp in the Netherlands, the feeding machine starts making and dosing out the first portion of liquid feed early in the morning. The fattening pigs are the first to be served breakfast: a mix of local grains, CCM and supplementary feed. After that, the feeding machine is busy making rations for all animal categories on the pig farm throughout the day.
No weaning dip due to the same feeding system
The feeding machine, which was purchased in 1988 to feed 160 sows and 1,200 fattening pigs, now runs for approximately 15 hours per day. There are 250 sows with piglets and 2,300 fattening pigs on the farm and all animals are given a mash ration containing grains, by-products and supplementary feed.
It starts with the piglets in the farrowing pen, which are offered weaning feed in a piglet bowl from the first week after birth. “I want the piglets to get used to the liquid feed as quickly as possible so that they continue to eat smoothly after weaning and they do not experience a weaning dip,” says Berghuis.
The transition to the fattening pig pen has also been carefully considered: the weaned piglets are given starter feed in the last 2 weeks in the piglet pen. After weaning, the 150 piglets are placed in 2 large groups each with 75 animals at a long trough in the weaning pens. The gilts and the barrows are placed separately but are given the same ration. At around 26 kilos, the animals go to the fattening pig section in groups of 45 to 60 animals per pen, depending on the size of the section. In the fattening pig pen, the animals are also given liquid feed in a long trough, as they were used to in the weaned piglet pens. What differs from the piglet pen is that each pen in the fattening pig pen has a double trough, located on both sides of the pen, so that the fattening pigs have sufficient space to eat.
Saving labour
The pregnant sows live in a dynamic group and are fed liquid feed via a feeding station. Above the 4 feeding stations, the liquid feed is stored in a buffer tank that is filled 4 times a day. Adding potato steam peels to the ration makes sure that there is little segregation of the grains. To save labour, the sows are automatically weighed after feeding in the feeding stations and, if needed, selected for vaccinations or (the sows) for the farrowing pen.
Independence and cooperation
Being able to compose the ration yourself and adjust it where necessary is something that Berghuis likes about feeding liquid feed. Berghuis also finds it an advantage to cooperate with arable farmers in the area use local products (grains, corn and cheese whey), which benefits both parties. The feed costs of the entire company are good, according to this entrepreneur. Berghuis estimates that the fattening pigs grow by approximately 850 grams per day.
About 20 years ago, Berghuis’ father stopped selling breeding sows. The company’s own NL genetics, now crossed with pure Norwegian Landrace sows, are still present on the farm. This pure line is crossed with York Z and this is used to produce the company’s own breeding sows.
Berghuis uses Tempo as a boar for the fattening pigs. Together with the liquid feed ration, this results in a pig which is suitable for many sales markets. “We currently supply the pigs to the market via a regular trader. The pigs go to Compaxo, Westfort or to Sögel in Germany.”
7 different rations
The rations consist of 15% to 20% grains and CCM, and Berghuis also adds cheese whey, a wheat yeast concentrate and potato steam peels. The supplementary feed makes up approximately 25% to 30% of the ration. In order to be able to feed all the animals 3 long circuits run through all the stables. Because the feeding circuits are relatively long, the dry matter percentage of the ration is 22% in the summer on very hot days and up to 24% in the winter period.
In total, Berghuis makes 7 rations for all the animals. A lacto feed and a gestational sow feed are made for the sows. The rearing sows are given lacto feed and gestational sow feed after mating. The number of rearing sows is too small for their own ration. The weaned piglets are given a piglet ration for 5 weeks and starter feed for the last 2 weeks. The fattening pigs are given starter feed and 3 different fattening rations. Berghuis can therefore use soya to slowly reduce the protein requirement in the pigs’ ration and thus aim for a good result.
Join 26,000+ subscribers
Subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated about all the need-to-know content in the feed sector, three times a week.
