Grower-finisher pigs need to be fed well to ensure success, but with feed costs increasing different options for ingredients are needed. Pulse crops are an option since they are grown in abundance in Western Canada. This includes field peas, faba beans and lentils. The starch in these ingredients differs from cereal starch since it takes longer to digest, so energy content may be overestimated. Field peas have a better starch digestion than faba beans, and pigs seem happy to eat any of the pulse crops too. Camelina cake, hemp hulls, canola and flax seed are also being looked at as feed options since considerable energy can be obtained from them along with amino acids and phosphorus. Distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) is a co-product of ethanol production through cereal grains. It can be a source of energy and amino acids for pigs but is hard to digest due to the high amount of fibre. A new DDGS is available with higher protein content with more lysine and a lower amount of fibre, allowing better energy digestibility. All of these could be options to feed to grower-finisher pigs at a lower cost.
Finisher Nutrition a Growth Industry (full article)
