With 195,000 pigs on feed, and the majority of them being fed out in wean-to-finish barns, it's no wonder Dykhuis Farms' Brandon Hill is a stickler for details when it comes to swine nutrition.

Hill is finishing production manager for this Holland, MI-based hog operation, and with a master's degree in swine nutrition from Purdue University, he's also in charge of diet modifications and monitoring for pigs, and the 20,000 sows in the farrow-to-finish operation.

Balancing ration costs and performance starts with an older weaned pig, he asserts. By weaning a 21- to 24 day-old pig, Dykhuis Farms has been able to eliminate the first starter diet, and in the process, observe that the 15- to 17-lb. pigs flourish.

“We have seen a 0.05-lb. difference in average daily gain, or a 14-lb. increase in total live weight gain between a 11-lb. earlier-weaned pig vs. an older weaned pig,” Hill states.

“Certainly, you have more cost in your sow facilities by putting more (farrowing) crates in, but we think the payback there on pig performance and the elimination of early diet costs makes it easy to justify,” he says.

Weaned pigs still receive some milk products, fishmeal, etc. in the second diet, but of less duration and cost than if they were fed the first starter diet ($650/ton vs. $1,000/ton).

Pushing By-Products

At Dykhuis Farms, the high cost of corn-soy diets has spurred use of by-product ingredients. Depending on availability and price, rations may include up to 40% by-products.

The “big three” by-products consistently fed to wean-to-finish pigs are distiller's dried grains with solubles (DDGS), wheat middlings and bakery products, Hill relates.

DDGS inclusion rates start at 10% in the late nursery, ramp up to 15% in early grow-finish, then bump up to 25% in mid-finishing (140-220 lb.) before dropping back down to 15% in late finishing. Feed flowability can be an issue when it is hot and humid.

With Kellogg's (cereal manufacturer) just to the east in the Battle Creek/Kalamazoo, MI, area, wheat middlings from flour and bakery products provide good sources of alternative ingredients. Wheat midds can replace up to 15% of the ration if priced right, he says.

Meat and bone meal is a fourth by-product fed in nursery and early grow-finish, providing a great source of available phosphorus and protein.

To replace the energy provided by corn in the diet, there is no substitute better than liquid fat, even though price has quadrupled in the last few years, according to Hill.

“The energy density of diets must be balanced in relation to the expected return on investment in improved feed conversion and the corn-to-fat price ratio,” he says. Some producers in Michigan have substituted pet food, but Hill says he hasn't tried it yet.

Alternative Sow Feed

As Michigan is a large dairy state, with numerous creameries near Dykhuis Farms, sows are routinely fed the equivalent of 1.25 lb. dry matter as liquid whey or yogurt. It cuts feed costs while providing a good source of protein, phosphorus and calcium, Hill says.

Sows not on liquid whey - lactating sows and gilts - are fed 80 lb. of meat and bone meal that reduce costs $1.50/ton, while providing complete replacement for inorganic phosphate in the diet.

Sows are fed up to 20% DDGS in gestation and 5% DDGS in lactation diets without an apparent reduction in feed intake, he notes.

Besides flowability, the other main issue with DDGS is mycotoxin contamination, but Hill says staff monitors toxicity levels closely.

Available phosphorus inclusion has been reduced by a tenth, from 0.55 to 0.45%, lowering manure phosphorus levels and cost in sow diets.

Hill adds: “We will continue to evaluate this level and potentially reduce it again if we are comfortable, because there simply has not been enough good research completed in the industry to know exactly where we can take this.”

Along with that, adding almost 500 phytase units/lb. of feed vs. 250 units/lb. of feed in sow diets can save about $2/ton of feed, depending on ingredient pricing.