We ATTEMPT fermenting our pig feed, the results were SURPRISING!

How did you start the fermentation process going for the first time?

Just bought my first few 55 gallon plastic barrels for my pigs and lucked out by laying the barrel on it’s side, then putting the right side of my circular saw guide up against the bottom of the lip of the barrel. As I rotated it around sawing the top off the barrel easily, then when done stood the barrel on its\’s bottom, I flipped the top of the barrel so the bottom faced up. When doing so the top I’d cut off acted as a perfect lid! I’d planned on placing hinges on the top piece but it’s not even needed, even in high wind here on my mountain it doesn’t blow off. I’m auee many have done the same thing but I hadn’t seen it so thought I’d share. Thanks for the vid, gonna start feeding my pigs like this. Cheers!

Mine love the liquid in the feed. After all, who doesn't love alcohol? When they see me coming they think "PARTY TIME"

I would be concerned if the fermentation gives off a bad odor. Yeasty, vinegary maybe, cidery, but never foul or noticeably unpleasant. That’s a sign of bad bacteria getting a foothold. Good bacteria don’t smell bad. But fermenting feed is amazing! Good for them, tastier for us!

Do you have to soak it? Can't u just feed straight from the bag?

I ferment my feed as well and I mix 50lbs at a time with water until I’ve filled it half way with the mixture then add about 2inches of water on top then stir once the fermentation starts.

Empty about 3 packages of yeast in each of those containers before you fill it up ! Your hogs will love it and the smell won’t be so bad , they’ll do great on it !!

Do the pigs knock the feeders over? I've been feeding regular pelletized feed in bowls and troughs and they knock EVERYTHING over. So i was thinking about getting a drop feeder this year, but I just started hearing about fermenting the feed, which sounds so good for the pigs and cost control - but how do they do when they're larger and wanting to push their troughs over? Great video, thanks!

Make You a Mixer out of a Mud Motor Prop, and Shaft.

This could have been a short.

Was that you on the fiddle?

So you don't have to strain it?

how much do you feed per pig?

How old should the pigs be to eat fermented foods

Lucky pigs

Could put an aquarium heater in it to avoid smell in ur garage…

I just as this vid. If you cut the tops off just below the rim where it flares out it will actually fit back into the barrel

Vincent price used to do scary story's on the radio station / movies.

Great idea!! But for the top you could cut from the top about 3” and cut the lip off the top and flip the cut top off and it seals up pretty good I do that for my powder coating dip tanks and works awesome

Yeah I know
Call the man
Laughed my butt off 😂😂😂

راءع👍

I am no expert, but Tickle and Tim on Moonshiners heat the mash up to about 170* to get it mixed and started, I think.

If you think that was great... just wait until you try fermentation with excess milk...you can feed it each day and they gain like crazy 😧

Haha that little girl at the end was like "hey! Don't talk about my weight... I'm not fat I just like snacks okay!"🤣

Hi any updates?

I thought you were talking about fermented pig feed on shop lightning.

At an affordable and handleable scale this is excellent logic.
Very well done.

I always fed wet feed after bringing new pigs home it helps with relieving
Stress

Wheat middlings or shorts was what we fed hogs in the 60's

I've used wheat middlings and a portable concrete mixer to make wet feed for hogs when younger we used 55 gallon barrels would dump a 50lb. Bag of middlings in it and fill with water stir it by hand and use a bucket to feed our hogs but in the summer it didn't take long to get aromatic always ended up leaving about a gallon in the bottom as a starter for the next batch...

To All of you fermenting, thanks for sharing im learning so much. I want opinions on duration of ferment and quantities, how.long can a ferment last? How long should one barrel soak before its ready, how.long before it goes bad? I'm starting out with 10 pigs and purchasing 3 months supply at a time and im trying g to figure a ferment and storage cycle schedule. Thanks!!

I raised 3 mother pigs ,all pregnant and one had a delivery today ,anyway ,I'd like to share to yoll that the main food we feed around here is The leftovers or waste of fermented local rice beer Which indeed is still very strong in OH content smells.. and it does helps the pig gain weight like alot more than even a regular Essential Nutrients from supplements we buy from the shop. . .
Great video tips., I'm from The North East India

About those piglets liking the solids? Just wait till they're a little older. My fermented feed actually made beer. My hogs would suck up all of the beer first, then settle down for dinner!

We would wrap heat tape and insulation around the barrels in the cold weather. It worked great.

What about throwing in some live yogurt or beer now and then, to help increase the probiotic cultures? Or maybe some sauerkraut?

try this process - add the water you will need. Next start adding your grains a scoop at a time and stirring them in with a short canoe paddle or strong wooden mash paddle (from a brew shop and not plastic). Once a scoop is mixed in, continue until the grains are completely added and stirred in. This step should be familiar to homebrewers once the water reaches mash temp (around 152ºF) and the grains begin the mash process. Gets the grains in quickly and without clumping or dry pockets (especially down around the bottom).

I just need starting soaking their feed

What are the ingredients of your pig feed and we're is it manufactured as it shouldn't smell like pig shit ??
Fermenting should smell a bit like beer from grains and corn ??

Why does the feed need to ferment

1/2 full the barrel first and add 1 x bag of feed then more water then more feed that will prevent the dry feed at the bottom of the barrel and get it all mixed from the beginning

Nice job 👍

Wooden boat paddles work great for mixing!

Also, with a laneway system you should be able to have the pigs sleep in the barn overnight, feed them first thing in the morning, then they take themselves up the lane to whichever pasture is open - graze there until they're ready for bed, and bring themselves home to sleep at night. It's much easier than you having to take their buckets of feed to them every time!

I would want to have the bulk dry matter store in a silo in a separate room in the pigs' shelter shed, and shelves for as many buckets as I needed for the number of animals and how long the feed needs to ferment. Then I could just grab the daily buckets, tip them over a half wall into the pigs' troughs, and refill the buckets and keep going. No bending and scooping with the wet feed in those big barrels, and minimal carrying.
But I do put a handful of whole dry grain in my cows' feed buckets, it goes straight through and is a great motivator for galahs or free range chooks to scratch through the manure, picking out anything they can eat and leaving the rest in tiny granules that wash into the ground in the next good rain!

Great to see you are fermenting their feed Troy! As you noticed it really does improves the digestibility of the feed and I noticed the same thing with whole/cracked grains as well, which is what we use. Another benefit is you don't need to worry about them staying hydrated in summertime - they get a lot of water in that feed. To help you mix the feed in those 55 gallon barrels why not use a cement mixer that you attach to a drill - that ought to work perfectly, given the consistency. Now is also a good time to start petting them too, to not only get them used to your presence, but also your touch, in the event later on you want to tape them to figure how much they weigh. There is also very little waste with this method - they learn pretty quickly there is not an endless supply of feed and they'll eat everything you put in front of them. This is a terrific way of controlling your costs, especially since you won't need as much feed that is soaked compared to just dry feed. We've found that they still gain great with 2/3 - 3/4 of the normal dry feed ration, when it is soaked and fermented.

They look great! They are growing strong!

My father worked for Seagram's Distillery way back in the 60's,70's and early 80's. The company had a farm where they fed whiskery mash to the cattle. It was very successful operation.

When you mix 50 gallon drum maybe small powered post hole digger to aid in tbe mixing ? Just make sure not to go through the bottom lol lol

We rasised our pigs on soaked feed ground corn and barley mixed 2 to 1 this was when you could get metal 5 gallon buckets had 8 buckets soaking during summer in grainery winter in the house behind out wood burning heater stove we didn't have electricity relived off grid before there was a grid to live off lol i we didn't mind the small almost like making whisky we would add peeling and tops whatever from meal preperation left more wet especially in wintet to make sure they had good fluid intake summer not matter as the had access to soring running water in pen never a problem getting pigs to come to us pour out buckets in feed trough bag bucket call suuuiuueeeey they come running we always interaction with pigs scratch ears and backs made much easier to work with

Add water to the drum first. You can also use a drywall stir in a big cordless drill to get it mixed up in a hurry. You can also use half to two thirds of a drum and then refill. Gets the fermentation process in overdrive