Weight-gain targets

Weaning to 15kg:                  450g per day

15kg to 40kg:                         600g per day

40kg to 70kg:                         850g per day

70kg to slaughter weight:     1kg+ per day

From brewing and fruit juice to bakery goods and potato products, the UK’s food industry uses a diverse array of raw materials. In doing so, it also creates an array of co-products with intrinsic nutritional value. By using these co-products as animal feed, we’re preventing resources going to waste and contributing to a sustainable, circular food system. 

For individual pig farmers, this might seem like quite a big-picture idea. But feeding co-products has plenty of close-to-home benefits, too.

• Carbon emissions: with growing pressure for carbon-neutral meat production pushing back through the supply chain from retailers to producers, seeking ways to reduce your emissions and drive them towards zero is increasingly necessary. As 66% of the carbon needed to produce a kilo of pork is attributed to pig feed, taking a good look at your ration makes sense.

Choosing grains grown and milled locally will have a huge impact on carbon emissions. And using a feed supplier that runs its mill with green energy (such as biogas) is also beneficial, but it won’t get you to zero. The quickest way to do that is to choose products where the carbon has already been counted elsewhere. Co-product feeds have considerably less carbon attributed to them, as it has already been ‘spent’ in the production of the primary product. So the quickest win when it comes to reducing carbon in your pig operation is a ration that combines locally grown balancer meal with co-products. This can reduce your carbon footprint and prove financially cheaper, too.

•  Consistency: for the systems that demand assured weight gain, a consistent product that’s reliably available is critical. Pig nutritionists recommend feeding co-product feeds as they’re nutritionally balanced, have proven results and deliver consistency of supply.
•  Welfare: compound foods are formulated to deliver maximum nutrition in the smallest pellet size, which can lead to pigs being nourished but unsatisfied. Stress and aggression as a result of hunger is bad news in any indoor system. Which is why wet co-product feeds are beneficial. They deliver a higher-volume ration and keep your animals feeling fuller for longer. If hunger is satisfied, stress is reduced and growth-rates are assured.
• Weaning: all piglets start life on the mother’s milk that helps them thrive. With a sow’s milk yield peaking at around three weeks, the transition to supplemental feeding needs to start for piglets at around 12 days. The extreme contrast between milk and dry creep pellets is hard to stomach and can result in growth checks. On the other hand, weaner feed in the form of a sweet and palatable wet ‘porridge’ fortified with nutritious co-products is an easier transition that regulates growth and minimises the stress of weaning.
• Ongoing growth: feeding a liquid ration means your livestock receive the correct nutrition at every life stage. Inputs can be tweaked and balanced to suit your system and meet output requirements.
• Local: with transport being a significant proportion of the feed cost, choosing a co-product from a local producer makes financial sense.  
• Storage: with product-specific silos from Duynie, you can customise your feed delivery system to suit the consistency of your ration ­ – from liquid to moist.

Depending on the needs of your herd and the life-stages of the groups within it, there are liquid, moist and semi-moist co-product feeds to suit. All bind with your chosen balancer meal to create a palatable ration that’s mixed in a tank and pumped out to the pigs. Rations can be modified to suit weaning, finishing and breeding animals.

Duynie’s sales managers and nutritionist can advise on the best options to meet the requirements of your system. Our products include: 

Dry Co-product

• Biscuit meal
• Potato crisps

Semi-Moist Co-product

• Bakery Product

Moist Co-product

• Brewers Grains
• Cooked potato chips
• Malt Brewers grains
• Mash filter brewers grains
• Potato peel
• Wellpark mash filter brewers grains

Liquid Co-product

• Brewers Yeast 
• Loch Lomond gold
• Potato cream
• Prime potato puree
• Sedagold syrup
• Trafford syrup