How Do Automatic Feeders for Pigs Work?
Feeder pigs - also known as butcher pigs - are pigs that are kept and grown with the intention of slaughter. Feeder pigs were bred to grow quickly with as little maintenance as possible to get them to the desired weight for butchering.
While the needed general care and maintenance for feeder pigs is relatively low, they do require a substantial amount of food.
If you're like most farmers, you are always looking for ways to make your farm more efficient. One way to do that is by using automatic pig feeders. But how do they work?
Let's take a look at how these feeders operate and some of the benefits they offer.
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How Much Feed Does a Feeder Pig Eat Per Day?
Creating a diet, schedule, and way to feed your feeder pigs each day can be a tall order. In general, the food you purchase for your pigs will be the most expensive aspect of raising feeder pigs, so it is important to do it correctly. Here's what your pigs will need:
A feeder pig will consume anywhere from five to eight pounds of food a day after being weaned.
It takes anywhere from 600 to 900 pounds of food to raise a single feeder pig to its finished While pigs are generally not picky regarding their food options, it is generally best to stick with oats, wheat, and grains—particularly corn—for their feed.
There are many feeds available for sale that are designed specifically for feeder pigs, and these feeds are balanced with the correct nutritional values that these pigs require.
Amino acids are crucial for a feeder pig’s diet, as they can be absorbed by the pig’s body to be used to help build protein content. While amino acids themselves are not proteins, they are the Providing fresh water is a must when raising feeder pigs. All of your energy and time spent on feeding the pigs can go to waste if readily available and clean water isn’t provided.
Here is a video with more details:
How Long Does it Take to Grow Out a Feeder Pig?
We’ve covered that a feeder pig requires several hundred pounds of food to reach butchering weight, so what does this look like in real time?
The ideal weight for a mature feeder pig ranges from 220 pounds to 300 or more pounds, with the average desired weight seeming to be closer to 250 pounds.
The final weight of the pig will depend on a variety of factors including birth weight, genetics, where and how they are being housed, specific breed, diet, and the preference of the livestock owner.
To reach the desired final weight of a feeder pig, it will generally take around four to six months of feeding. That is four to six months of feeding your feeder pigs on a daily basis, usually more than one time a day.
Hand-Feeding Pigs
For livestock owners who hand-feed their pigs, two or three meals should be provided each day.
Not all of a pig’s food should be provided at once, because their stomachs need time to digest between meals—just like us.
Depending on how many pigs you have, you may be moving several dozen pounds (or several hundred for large farms) of feed two or three times throughout the day—what a workout!
Not only is hand-feeding your feeder pigs time-consuming, there are other disadvantages to hand-feeding your pigs as well.
One of the downsides to hand-feeding your pigs is that this can create aggression among your group of pigs. When a predetermined amount of feed is introduced into the pig pens, all of the pigs may come to eat at once, creating tension while each pig fights to ensure it gets its fair share.
Another downside to hand-feeding your pigs is that this can lead to slower weight gain and a potentially lower final weight.
One reason this might happen is due to aggression among pigs—some of the more docile pigs may end up getting cheated out of their fair share.
Another possibility is that the livestock owner is not providing the correct amount of feed at the correct times. Feeder pigs are bred to not want to overeat—they eat just what they need—and they know when they need it. If your pig’s feedings are too close together, they may not eat as much as they require that day.
When hand-feeding, schedules can vary and you might accidentally feed your pigs on a schedule that is not ideal for their eating habits and needs.
What is an Automatic Pig Feeder?
If hand-feeding your pigs is starting to sound tedious, consider purchasing an automatic pig feeder.
Automatic pig feeders are large bins or containers that sit atop a feeding trough. The bin can be loaded with enough feed for several days (depending on the size of the bin and how many pigs you have) and will automatically fill the feeding trough as needed.
More information regarding how this piece of equipment works and its benefits can be found below.
How Do You Keep Pigs from Wasting Feed?
With feed making up a large portion of the cost associated with raising feeder pigs, it is important to make sure you are wasting as little of it as possible.
Pigs are notoriously messy eaters—if anyone has ever told you that you eat like a pig, let’s just say it probably wasn’t a compliment.
So how do you keep these unmannered animals from making a mess of their meal?
One way to help ensure that your pigs are not wasting their food is to feed them the exact amount of food that they need—or as close as you can humanly get. If the pigs don’t have excess food at their disposal, they are more likely to clean up any mess they make while eating.
Another way that feeding the correct amount of food helps reduce waste is by avoiding excess feed left over by the now-full pigs which has the potential to mold or attract flies and other pests.
When bacteria, mold, or pests are introduced, animals can become sick and will not eat all of their future meals as well.
Regardless of whether you are hand-feeding or using an automatic feeder, portioning—or adjusting the settings to portion—is a crucial first step.
Another way to help keep your pigs from wasting food is to use deep troughs. When a pig has to bend its head down into the trough, it becomes more difficult for the food to escape onto the ground. Any feed that falls back out of their mouths will just fall back into the feeder to be eaten with a future bite.
How Does a Pig Feeder Work?
Pig feeders can be great tools in helping to reduce feed waste and saving the livestock owner time, so how do they work?
For large, more industrial pig farms, automatic pig feeders may be a little more advanced than one you would find on a family farm or smaller operation.
Industrial-grade pig feeders often release the appropriate and predetermined amount of feed for each individual pig. They do this by reading a chip—often placed in the tag on the pig’s ear—and allowing that portion of feed into the trough that the specific pig has stuck its head into.
These automatic pig feeders release a predetermined amounts of feed two to three times a day (depending on what settings you have adjusted). The large bin that sits above the trough holds the feed, and when it is feeding time, the equipment releases the correct weight of feed into the trough—these are usually gravity fed.
Once the feed has been released, the doors that cover the trough entrances unlock for the pigs to eat. In many cases, the feeder will have multiple troughs just large enough for one pig head. This way the pigs don’t have to fight for their fair share of the food. This also ensures that each pig is getting the correct amount of feed—assuming each pig requires the same amount of feed at each feeding.
After the feeding has completed and the pig removes its head from the trough, the doors will lock shut and will only open again once the next scheduled feeding time has begun.
There are other types of automatic pig feeders you can use that dispense until all the food is gone - allowing the pigs to eat until they are satisfied. These can be hard to find, especially at a reasonable price, but it is possible to build your own. More on this below!
Benefits of Using an Automatic Pig Feeder
There are many benefits associated with using an automatic pig feeder as opposed to hand-feeding your pigs.
The first—and most obvious—reason is that you won’t have to go out to the pig pens and feed your pigs by hand multiple times a day, every day, on a strict schedule.
Having an automatic pig feeder gives the livestock owner some freedom in his or her schedule while keeping the pigs on the feeding schedule they require to grow and stay healthy. The manual labor associated with moving that much feed repetitively can also take a toll on your body.
While you will need to fill the main holding tank on the automatic pig feeder, this only needs to be done once every few days (depending on the size of the bin and number of pigs eating from it).
Another important benefit to using an automatic pig feeder is that you are ensuring each pig is getting the same amount of food at each feeding. When pigs are fed together out of one trough, aggression can occur during feedings, and the more aggressive pigs may eat more than their fair share, leaving the docile pigs without enough food.
Using an automatic pig feeder can also help draw attention to any pigs that are not finishing their food, which may be a sign of illness or physical pain.
In addition, when pigs are given their own feeding area and don’t have to compete with other pigs to eat, their overall stress is likely to reduce. A happy pig leads to a healthy pig, which is just as important—if not more—than simply providing the correct amounts of food each day.
Automatic Pig Feeders to Buy
There are many options to choose from when it comes to automatic pig feeders. Below are a few options to consider.
Brower SF74 Hog Feeder
This automatic pig feeder has four trough openings, each large enough for one pig’s head to fit down inside to eat. It holds up to seven bushels (or approximately 420 pounds) and claims to feed as many as 20 pigs. It is weather resistant for use inside or outside.
Brower 2 Door Hog Feeder 22H
This feeder may be better for those with a smaller group of pigs as it only has two trough openings. It holds 3.7 bushels (approximately 222 pounds) of feed and claims to feed up to eight pigs. This feeder is weathertight and should keep out any moisture and pests.
Little Giant HGFS SNG Door Hog Feeder
This feeder is designed for those who only have one or two pigs per pen—perfect for a small hobby farm—as it only has one opening. It holds up to 50 pounds of feed and is small enough to be mounted up on a wall if desired. This product does not claim that is it weatherproof, although it is moisture resistant.
Consider Building Your Own DIY Automatic Pig Feeder Instead
The initial purchase of an automatic pig feeder may be what holds some livestock owners from taking the plunge—they can be pricey.
However, if you are handy and have the right tools sitting around, you may be able to save some money by building your own DIY automatic pig feeder.
There are several tutorials that can be found online with a quick Google search - and you can find the design we use and SWEAR by here - but the general idea is to build or alter a large weatherproof bin to hold the feed—galvanized steel is a popular choice here for durability. This bin should have a large opening at the top for the feed to be added into, and this opening should have a door to keep pests and animals out.
The bin should attach to a trough that sits below it. This trough can have one opening, or many, depending on how many pigs you have to feed.
The feeder bin will fill the trough with gravity’s help, and a certain amount can be set to release with the timer system. Building a mechanism to release specific amounts of feed at each feeding can be tricky, and some livestock owners choose to simply allow the pigs to eat for a certain amount of time instead or portioning out a certain amount of feed.
Once the pig is finished eating and removes its head from the trough, the door will relock until the next feeding—thankfully feeder pigs are unlikely to overeat.
Final Thoughts
If you are raising feeder pigs, an automatic pig feeder can become your very best friend. Pigs eat a lot, they eat frequently, and they require a feeding schedule. An automatic pig feeder can save you time, energy, and can keep your pigs happier and healthier than they may be with hand-feeding.
Using an automatic feeder doesn’t have to mean you don’t go out to see your pigs daily- it just takes out a lot of the grunt work associated with feeding them.
Happy pigs are generally more healthy pigs, making an automatic pig feeder a win-win for the livestock owner and the animals.
Do you use an automatic pig feeder? What tips do you have? Let me know in the comments!
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