How to feed pigs for free

Pigs are well known for being glutinous animals and will eat pretty much anything you give them. They can pack away much more food than goats and sheep of the same size but require a more varied diet to be healthy. Although they can graze on grass and find some of their own food you won’t be able to fatten them up on this alone, and the lack of nutrients in such a restricted diet would lead to health problems.

This means you have to provide them with all the food they need, which makes grazing a supplement as opposed to a staple. Buying all their food can be expensive, especially when you have several of them with the cost quickly mounting up as they grow bigger, and if you do not have a cheap way of feeding them, the cost of their food will end up being more than the amount of money you will save on meat.

How much food do I need to feed a pig?
There are hundreds of breeds around the world, but only a few of these are worth raising for meat. The most common types vary in the amount of food they eat, but a generalized amount is shown below:

50 lbs pig eats 3.2 lbs per day, 100 lbs pig eats 5.3 lbs per day, 150 lbs pig eats 6.8 lbs of feed, and 200 lbs pig eats approximately 7.5 lbs of feed per day

So how do you feed your pigs without them eating too much of your money?

Here are a few ideas on how to feed pigs for free:

Markets and chain stores
Supermarkets have to throw out goods that are past their sell-by date, no matter their condition. The larger chains normally have a policy for getting rid of their waste giving the individual store managers no choice of how it gets removed. The smaller supermarkets or the ones that are franchised have much more say in how it’s disposed of, and often have to pay for their waste to be removed which is normally determined by weight. Turning up at a few small supermarkets and saying you’ll take all that leftover food out their way so they don’t have to pay for it to be removed will normally get you a yes, as long as you ask nicely of course.

Bulk produce stores
Wholesale shops are the best bet for getting hold of some bulk produce, such as those that offer bulk amounts of fruit and vegetables, with the same principle as the supermarket idea just in much larger amounts. They often can’t give you the OK to just hand it over as they also have policies, but normally they are more than willing to look the other way if you were to go searching through their bin and just so happened to find a box of potato’s. These unofficial agreements are a win for everyone as you get free food for your pigs and the store doesn’t have to pay the extra weight on getting their rubbish disposed of.

Your local park or sports
Grass and hay can be used to make silage or to bulk up boiled meals for your pigs, the only problem is getting hold of a load of grass when you don’t have the space to grow enough on your own land. The answer is anywhere that has a large field that’s mown regularly, like parks and sports fields. If you ask someone at the establishment in question when they cut their grass and then follow up with the question of if you can take it away when they do, you’ll most likely get a yes followed by a strange glance and a raised eyebrow.

Discount or free trimmings from mass-produced goods

This one is most often something you have to pay for but certain places will do it for free, and even the ones that change will do it for a reduced amount. Bakeries or factories that deal in baked goods are a good example, as they produce huge amounts of cooked trimmings they can’t do anything with. These normally just get put into huge bags and then sent off, given away, or sold, the trick is finding a place that wants to give them away.

Leftover farm crops
Farmers’ fields that have been harvested will always have a few crops here and there that the tractor missed, and on the larger fields, this can amount to over a ton of produce. You will have to find out who owns the farmland in your area and keep an eye out for what’s being planted. When you find something you can use then approach the farmer and ask if you can scavenge any leftover bits and pieces. Since the farmer was only going to leave them there anyway you have a pretty good chance of them saying yes, but even offering to chuck them a tenner would still be worth it for the amount of food you’ll get.

Foraging
Forage for wild foods in areas where the right things grow in bulk. Stinging nettles are similar to spinach in terms of their nutritional value and can provide a healthy addition to a pig’s diet. With a thick pair of gloves grab the stem at the base and run your hand upwards pulling off all the leaves as you go, with this method you can fill a bin bag in a few minutes. The nettles will have to be boiled to kill any bacteria and wilt the stinging needles before you can use them as feed, but this method can produce a massive amount of feed in a short space of time. Nettles are the best bet as they are out for most of the year, but blackberries and other edible wild foods will all be welcomed by the pigs and provide some natural sugar into their diet.

Acorns are another one that can be collected in huge amounts and pigs have no problem eating them as they are. The world-famous Jamon Iberico legs come from the Iberico breed of pig which is fed mostly on acorns, just make sure you have permission to gather them before you turn up with a bin bag and shovel.

Leftovers

Communal leftovers can work if you’re friendly with enough of your neighbors. Simply asking people you live near if they would be willing to give you the contents of their leftover bins would give you more food than you’d think, just be careful to check it first for anything harmful like bones or a load of tea bags.

Fruit trees
It takes around 4 years for a new fruit tree to reach its first proper harvest, and with the amount of room they take up, it isn’t worth planting them yourself just to feed a few pigs. The one thing that’s very common with backyard fruit trees is that people often don’t use them, or at least not all the fruit they get at once. Asking around with people who have fruit trees will often see you get a whole bucket per household, but if you don’t want to go knocking on people’s doors, then try foraging for them.

The only type of common fruit tree you will find in large amounts are apples, and the single best place to look for these is along canal paths. People have been throwing apple cores into the hedgerows of canals for decades, and this has resulted in thousands of apple trees growing around the country. These trees come under the wild planting rule and it’s legal to go and forage them in any amount you like, but they are often not very sweet and don’t make good eating apples, something a pig won’t care about.

Whichever method you choose to get hold of free pig food it’s very important to check everything properly to make sure it’s safe to feed them. There’s also the risk of people feeding their pigs too much of one thing because they get it for free, so make sure your pig’s well-being is more important than your wallet.