First Year FFA Pig - Son's Pig Needs a Little Help

rcorkren · Post by **rcorkren** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 12:51 am

Hey all... I have been reading and reading, and I still have a question.

[b:62410f01f1]Current Situation:[/b:62410f01f1]
Weighed the pig today and she sits @ 221lbs (sounds big but we don't have a limit at show, and we have some big pigs showing), Show is Feb 21

Feeding a mixture of Sunglo products twice a day (AM - PM)
1. S801 - 3 lbs per feeding
2. Explode - 1/4 lbs per feeding
3. Full Tank - 1/2 lbs per feeding
4. 480FAT - 8oz per feeding

Pig still isn't finishing all her feed per feeding and seems to just eat a little, walk around, lay down, get some water...etc. Really just no excitement for eating all her food. Her Stool is soft and no real form to it but not watery. She is gaining just barely 2 lbs a day. Doing the math... she will weigh out at about 273 lbs. at show. There are pigs that weigh less, but just look a lot bigger.

[b:62410f01f1]Question:[/b:62410f01f1]
Is there any home products i can add to give her energy and put on mass before the show? I am tired of going to the feed store. Hehehehe

Any tricks to give her a bigger look? We are using a step in front of her water (clean water source) to help exercise her front quarters. She is walked during the week in the evening for about 20 mins a day and on the weekends 10 mins in the AM and 20 mins in the PM.

I would post pictures, but I haven't figured out how to do this yet. I do have them to send from the back, front, side, and above looking down. If anyone is interested and can help by looking at them... let me know.

Robert

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sweetp17 · Post by **sweetp17** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 1:48 am

I'm not familiar with Sunglo products but just wondering why you are feeding Explode now? Paylean should only be fed at the end. That's an awful lot of feed so I'm not surprised the pig is not finishing it. We use Honor feeds and get great weight gain with 2 lbs of feed per feeding + fat.

rcorkren · Post by **rcorkren** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 1:57 am

The explode was on the advice of the Ag teacher... I went to the Sunglo site and read this is to be used 14 days out from show. I wonder if we can take her off the explode and then back on 2 weeks out from show.

She has been on explode for 5 days.

Ericka · Post by **Ericka** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 1:53 pm

My friend had the same problem with her pig and it was from the fat. I guess it was like eating a rich meal.

hampy622 · Post by **hampy622** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 2:01 pm

Cut out the full tank and cut the paylean and fat in half. Replace the full tank with regular feed and only feed 4grams of paylean per day so you dont risk your pig falling apart by not feeding the paylean. Only feed 2oz of fat per feeding you are feeding way to much fat in my opinion. You should also mix some gatorade or kool aid mix in the feed to sweeten it up and maybe the pig will want to eat more.

RingMaster · Post by **RingMaster** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 9:33 am

If you consider how much you are feeding that pig, that could be why she's not finishing all her feed. From what I read you are trying to put 8 1/2 lbs. of feed into that pig each day, even with multiple feeding times that sounds like a lot. From my experience 6 - 7lbs. of feed per day is usually the most a pig will voluntarily put down, at a feed:gain ratio of 3:1, your pig is doing exactly that (2 lbs/day).

hampy622 · Post by **hampy622** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 11:00 am

actually about 7 and 1/2 a pig should be able to eat that easily.

alterna · Post by **alterna** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 2:25 pm

cut out the full tank, it's just a filler.

cut out the fat at this time, too much energy.

rcorkren · Post by **rcorkren** » Sat Feb 09, 2008 1:55 am

Thanks for all the advice.. we did just that and she seems to be doing better... I figured we were feeding too much.

She is good... i have been out of town and my son hasn't weighed her in a week. I will let you all know how is getting along.

Another question... we go to show on the 21st of Feb. What do you all suggest on getting her to pop. I mean she looks a little too soft. I want to give her a little more toned looked.

We are trying a few other things to help.
1. raised the feed up
2. raised the water up and put a step in front
3. put a 2" pvc pipe cross her pen so she has to really straighten out to get under (this is help reduce the little too much hump in her back).

hampy622 · Post by **hampy622** » Sat Feb 09, 2008 11:19 am

increase the paylean back to 9grams that will get it to pop.

jdt44402003 · Post by **jdt44402003** » Sat Feb 09, 2008 7:00 pm

Im by no means an expert, but I feed 3 lbs in the morning and 3 at evening and put 1 of those scoops in at each feeding of the explode. In two weeks time we saw a HUGE difference in our barrow. You can look on the Sunglo website for directions.