How to Make a Balanced Pig Feed Formulation for Pigs

Animal feed formulation including pig feeds requires in-depth knowledge of animal nutrition, particularly the nutrient requirements and the nutrient composition of the ingredients.

It also requires nutritionists to know whether using certain proportions of some ingredients will impact on issues such as feed flow through the mill, pellet quality of the diet, response of the diet to feed additives, or gut health of the animal.

In some parts of the world, considerations such as the colour, smell and particle size of the feed are viewed as important by the feed buyer, despite that these factors may have little influence on the nutritional quality of the feed.

Ultimately, feed formulation is about economics; for some operations, it probably means the best feed conversion efficiency of the animal, whereas for others it perhaps means least cost per unit of product output.

The above methods mentioned on the formulation of feeds can be effectively applied provided that the pre-requisite is being provided and to that effect, this work provides some requirements to enable efficient formulation and thus livestock keepers can apply the methods on the data provided in the quest to provide good food with adequate nutritional values for a say class of livestock.

Expansion of pig industry depends to a large extent on the availability of good quality pig feeds in sufficient quantity and at affordable price. Feed accounts for 60% to 70% of the total cost of production. Pigs is a mongastric animal.

Quality of a Good Pig Food (Pig Feed)

• Pig food (pig feed) must be fresh and not stale.
• It must be well process and packaged.
• The digestibility of the feed must be high.
• The feed must support optimum growth and development of pig.
• The feed must be palatable.
• The ingredients for the feed must be available at all time.
• The feed must be affordable.
• The feed must be balanced in Nutrients.
• It must be attractive and palatable to the pig
• It must not be mouldy.

What makes up the pig’s feed?

• Carbohydrates.
• Protein.
• Fat and Oil.
• Minerals.
• Vitamins.
• Water.

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Some Feed Ingredients for Formulation of Ration for Pig

1. Maize: The grain forms major constituents of the feed. It is a good source of energy. The metabolizable energy is about 3400 Kcal/kg. It is widely cultivated in all parts of Africa in particular. The protein content is about 10%. Yellow maize contains carotene. Maize must be properly dried before it can be used for formulation.

2. Sorghum: It is commonly grown in the Northern part of Nigeria. The energy level is about 2500 Kcal/kgh. If maize is scarce and expensive, sorghum could be used as substitute.

3. Maize offal: It contains about 2500 Kcal ME/kg. It is complimentary source of energy. The fibre level is higher than that of maize.

4. Wheat offal: It is another complimentary source of energy. It is a by-product of wheat after milling. The energy value is low compared to maize. The metabolizable energy is about 1800 Kcal ME/kg.

5. Cassava: Cassava is a good source of energy but with low protein. The by-product include: cassava peel, cassava flour, cassava chaff and sievate. One of the major limitation in using cassava is the presence of anti-nutritional factor, hydrocyanic acid (HCN). Cassava must be properly dried before incorporation with other feed ingredient.

6. Sweet potato: It is a good source of energy. Boiled sweet potato could be given to pig directly. When formulating diet for pig, dry sweet potato could be used to replace maize to a large extent.

7. Yams: There are various types of yam in Africa. They are grown primarily for human consumption but could also be used to feed pig. Again yam tuber or peel could be sun-dried and incorporated with other feed ingredients during feed formulation.

8. Brewer dry grains: It is a by-product of brewery industries. The energy level is low, of about 18% crude protein. It contains high fibre content of about 20%. Brewer dry grain must be properly dried before incorporating with other feed ingredient. It could be used as complimentary source of energy in pig diet.

9. Palm kernel cake: It forms of the major ingredients in formulating pig‘s ration due to low cost compared to other feed ingredients. It contains protein content of about 18% crude protein but the fibre is high, of about 12%. The energy value is about 2000 Kcal ME/kg. It is a by-product during extraction of palm kernel oil from palm kernel.

10. Fish Meal: It is very good source of animal protein. It is rich in both essential and non-essential amino-acid. Fish meal used in pig nutrition could be imported or local. The protein content is between 60 and 72% crude protein.

11. Groundnut cake: It is a good source of plant protein. The protein content is about 45% crude protein. The energy content is about 2600 Kcal ME/kg. Ground cake must be well dried and stored to avoid moldiness.

12. Soybean Meal: It is another good source of plant protein. The protein content is around 45% crude protein. Soybean meal could be used to replace groundnut cake but the methionine and lysine content of the former are higher than that of the latter.

13. Bone Meal: It is a good source of calcium and phosphorus which is responsible for bone and skeleton. The calcium content of bone is around 37% and phosphorus content is about 17%.

14. Oyster Shell: It is a good source of calcium. The price of oyster hell is lower than that of bone meal. The calcium content is about 35% and contains no phosporus.

Requirements for Different Growth Stages of Pig

1. Protein Requirements

2. Energy Requirement

3. Fat Requirement

4. Fibre Requirement

5. Calcium and Phosphorus Requirement

Note that the above pig feed formulation should not been seen as a standard. A lot of factors need to be considered during pig feeds formulation, i.e. availability and cost of feed ingredients, health status and environmental factors.

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