25 Days to Fair

[SierraView]

We are first time 4H swine project people. My daughter picked a smaller gilt but had great confirmation. We have hand fed twice per day, Associated Show 100 18%, and saw steady gains, but obviously not enough gain. She was on 6lbs of feed per day, but we've increased to 8lbs and have been wetting it for the last two weeks. She generally eats all of it before the next feeding. We bought Sumo today and I didn't get Paylean because I'm worried that she was already muscled quite well, just on the smaller side. How much Sumo is the right amount?

We have 25 days to weigh in and she was at 170 4 days ago. We are weighing every Sunday because we have to borrow scales. We would like her gain 50 lbs, 60 would be better but we're not looking for a miracle. What can we do to help increase our chances of getting the 50lbs? She has always had fresh, cool water to drink. She gets out of her pen at least twice per day for 20-30 mins of exercise and interaction. Do we need to do more than that?

She has shade, a wading pool, and we do our best to keep the flys down. She gets wormed once per month. Makes me sad for my daughter that her pig has all the right body type, stance, head posture, and temperament...just not enough weight - even if we can get to 220-230.

[PIGDADD]

Just adding the sumo should get you to 2lbs a day gain and there is your 50. Just feed it the recommended amount at max, I believe sumo (if I remember correctly was 1 lb a day) so 8oz per feeding.
You shouldn't need anything else. Sounds like you've done your research and are the right track. Let us know where she's at after the next weigh in on the scales.

[SierraView]

Thank you PigDadd. Today would have been weigh day but the scales are malfunctioning. Hopefully in a day or two I can borrow them. I'll let you know.

[SierraView]

19 days to Weigh In.

Weighed 188 today for a ADG of 1.78lbs, but I need a full 2+lbs. She is proving to be a light eater. Having to coax her to eat every feeding. She would be happy with 5-6lbs of feed per day, but balks at 8lbs. We are wetting her food with watered down chocolate milk and adding some fresh fruit and, then the Sumo. She likes it well enough, just not enough to eat 4lbs each sitting. Should we try the several smaller feedings throughout the day?

What do others do when 'wetting' the food? Is it really wet like soupy, or just moist and crumbling like I'm currently doing? She doesn't seem to drink as much water as I would have thought. This could be why she's prone to slight constipation. I gave some Epson salt to help with that. How do I get her to drink more?

I really value this forum. Thank you for the advice, I've learned tons just reading past posts.

[llhorseygal61]

Hi I'm not sure what Sumo is but we use last year we had some light pigs it were born March 10th and our show was August 22nd and we put we give them heavyweight which is a high-octane feed by Purina and Champion Drive and made me weight at all her shows and made top in her classes except 1 show. But they gained really well and they loved the taste of it they got to where they wouldn't even eat their food until I put it on them they would just look at me like where's the good stuff I bought some of that dyne too but they didn't like the taste of that.