How much pellets

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Rebecca01

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Hi
I feed my girls the SS grain free pellets
I have four girls- two are 5 months and the others are 5 weeks. The babies are fully weaned and doing great
Whilst mum was nursing they had access to pellets at all times as well as hay and veggies and she’s regained weight really well now
How much pellets should I be feeding them now? I know the recommended for adult pigs would be 1/2 cup for 4 but when they empty the bowl, I have been topping up with an extra small handful or two for the night especially as the babies are still growing?
They have access to lots of fresh hay- they are having a few days break from veggies as their poo was getting a bit big and soft but hopefully Wednesday this can start to be reintroduced gradually- do I treat this as when I first ever started introducing veg so as to not unsettle their tummies?
 
It’s recommended here to give a tablespoon per pig per day.
The biggest part of their diet should be hay.
I have 2 piggies and scatter a handful of pellets in the cage each morning.
They have to find them and that adds enrichment to their lives, foraging for food.
I learnt this from the forum.

My Naomi was prone to an upset tummy so whenever she had a vegetable break I just reintroduced her veggies in small quantities, slowly.

The advice may be different for babies but another member with more experience of babies can correct me if I’m wrong
 
Rebecca01 said:
Hi
I feed my girls the SS grain free pellets
I have four girls- two are 5 months and the others are 5 weeks. The babies are fully weaned and doing great
Whilst mum was nursing they had access to pellets at all times as well as hay and veggies and she’s regained weight really well now
How much pellets should I be feeding them now? I know the recommended for adult pigs would be 1/2 cup for 4 but when they empty the bowl, I have been topping up with an extra small handful or two for the night especially as the babies are still growing?
They have access to lots of fresh hay- they are having a few days break from veggies as their poo was getting a bit big and soft but hopefully Wednesday this can start to be reintroduced gradually- do I treat this as when I first ever started introducing veg so as to not unsettle their tummies?
Click to expand...

Hi

You can feed sub-teenagers under 4 months between 1-2 tablespoons per piggy per day at your discretion. At this age any extra calories are invested in growth.
There will come a point when the weight/size ratio reaches a certain percentage of their optimal genetically determined weight/size ratio and weight gain will change from a fairly steady weekly weight gain to growing in spits and spurts.
With the fastest growing babies this can happen as early as 4 months but it is mostly between 4-6 months and in some cases later where babies have to make more ground to make up. Ultimately, on a good diet they all reach their optimum, so being too generous may give you a sprint start but the individual finish line is in the same ideal weight/size ratio and the early weight gain won't say anything about the longevity.

After 6-8 months extra calories will be increasingly converted into yellow fat - overweight. Growth generally stops around 12-15 months with just a very little added although neglected piggies under 24 months can sometime sput on another growth spurt and get a little bigger. The largest weight and size (the peak of life) is around 2-3 years.

I would recommend that you reintroduce any veg and new pellets gradually, first just a bit of herb, then a bit of another veg added to the herbs at the next meal, a bigger portion of veg plus herbs plus a new taster of another veg. If that goes well you can feed normally again and see how that goes. This gives the gut microbiome time to regrow the necessary digestive specialist bacteria.
 
Wiebke said:
Hi

You can feed sub-teenagers under 4 months between 1-2 tablespoons per piggy per day at your discretion. At this age any extra calories are invested in growth.
There will come a point when the weight/size ratio reaches a certain percentage of their optimal genetically determined weight/size ratio and weight gain will change from a fairly steady weekly weight gain to growing in spits and spurts.
With the fastest growing babies this can happen as early as 4 months but it is mostly between 4-6 months and in some cases later where babies have to make more ground to make up. Ultimately, on a good diet they all reach their optimum, so being too generous may give you a sprint start but the individual finish line is in the same ideal weight/size ratio and the early weight gain won't say anything about the longevity.

After 6-8 months extra calories will be increasingly converted into yellow fat - overweight. Growth generally stops around 12-15 months with just a very little added although neglected piggies under 24 months can sometime sput on another growth spurt and get a little bigger. The largest weight and size (the peak of life) is around 2-3 years.

I would recommend that you reintroduce any veg and new pellets gradually, first just a bit of herb, then a bit of another veg added to the herbs at the next meal, a bigger portion of veg plus herbs plus a new taster of another veg. If that goes well you can feed normally again and see how that goes. This gives the gut microbiome time to regrow the necessary digestive specialist bacteria.
Click to expand...
Thankyou! How long until I should see improvement with the soft pop? Shape and size is returning to normal but still a bit soft
 
Merab said:
It’s recommended here to give a tablespoon per pig per day.
The biggest part of their diet should be hay.
I have 2 piggies and scatter a handful of pellets in the cage each morning.
They have to find them and that adds enrichment to their lives, foraging for food.
I learnt this from the forum.

My Naomi was prone to an upset tummy so whenever she had a vegetable break I just reintroduced her veggies in small quantities, slowly.

The advice may be different for babies but another member with more experience of babies can correct me if I’m wrong
Click to expand...
How long were your veg breaks usually? Thanks
 
Rebecca01 said:
Thankyou! How long until I should see improvement with the soft pop? Shape and size is returning to normal but still a bit soft
Click to expand...

It may take several more days but when you are seeing an marked improvement you know tht you are on the right path. You need to wait ideally 48 hours after the poos have normalised for the gut microbiome to settle down and stabilise before gradually introducing fresh food. It is irksome but don't rush at this stage or you do it all over again.
 
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