<t>First of all she is a gilt. There is no fool proof way to ensure everything goes right with a gilt. It is not unusual for them to retain a pig if they have a difficult labor. As far as the penicillin, it depends on what pen you are using but generally that would not be an excessive amount. Check ...

<t>As several have said you may be starting with too young of a pig. But I do think there are several other factors that need to be considered. First of all is pig health, does the breeder you are buying these pigs from utilize a good vaccination program? Secondly, what is your parasite control sche...

<t>Again, as I stated in my second post I would be cautious about turning 130 lb pigs that have been on 16% for nearly 30 days back up in protein, especially to 20%. Way too big of a change and the likelyhood of burning up their guts is a risk I would not be willing to take. If these pigs are relati...

<t>The grind and mix at market values($7 bu corn, $385/ton meal) our feed is costing about $24.00/cwt. One of the cheapest options I know of. This is our 16% ration, the 18% is probably a little more.<br/> <br/> At this point I would not risk switching them(the bigger pigs) to a higher protein feed....

<t>Good Luck and welcome to the world of feeding show pigs on a budget. The most economical way we have found to feed show pigs on a quality feed is a grind and mix formulated feed. A supplement or base mix that you mix with corn and soybean meal. All most all of the feed companies have something in...

<t>If you are worried about the paylean burning off what fat you have then obviously they are not too fat now and will likely not get too fat in a short 33 days being fed an 18% + protein diet. At these protein levels even with additional energy(added fat) its is extremely difficult to make one fat....

<t>I have a couple of questions. If these gilts are gaining at the exact rate you need them to be to reach your target weight (by my calculations should gain 74 lbs and weigh 279 by weigh in) and have the muscling you want why would you bother putting them on paylean. It doesn't appear necessary to ...

<t>To expand on yontz710's comments if you dont have a weigh back you don't have much to worry about. With no weigh back you can suck him back the day and night before weigh in and then fill him back up before the show. My suggestion would be to slow him down for 2 to 2 1/2 weeks and only let him ga...

<t>Even Vegtable oil continues to increase in price like everything else. As part of the soybean complex and a source of possible bio fuels the demand for soy oil continues to increase right along side all of the other commodities.I went and got soyoil yesterday from one of the local mills that buys...

Ok I have now faced another feed problem. I looked on the internet everywhere for a good premix for our local mill to mix up for us. We found on the honor website a premix so when we had the local co-op to see what the price was the rep. told them it was no longer available. So i guess any help wou...

<t>I would agree with drw. However, it sounds by the technique you describe you should be getting an acurate reading. The only time I get a false positive off of the bladder is when I try too hard and go "fishing". This generally happens when I get the preg tone pointed upward or even more backward ...

<r>That's funny because there is a lot lost in translation right here at home <E>:lol:</E> LOL<br/> <br/> I agree pigs are meant to eat ground feed and not pellets its entire life. Some say the pellets are more uniform delivery of the nutrients but I have known a lot pigs fed pellets that have had p...

<t>Thats intreresting. Our system is similar we can buy bagged complete feeds which most of are pelleted. Our we can use premixes or supplements mixed with grains, mostly ground corn and soybean meal.<br/> <br/> What is toasted soya? is it like our soybean meal where they remove the oil and grind th...

<r>WOW if my math is right thats a 700+ lb sow <E>:o</E> That is quite large. Our show pig sows probably get bigger than commercial industry sows do but even show pig sows are quite large at 700.<br/> <br/> Its interesting to hear you discuss diets. What do you mean by soya? I assume barley meal is ...

<t>Thats interesting. What do your sows that you take to these shows weigh?<br/> <br/> We only show barrows and gilts here. Some places show both as market hogs and then the gilts as breeding stock, Our gilts are generally 7 to 8 months at the oldest unless the show has a bred gilt class, then they ...