He Feeds Sows Beneath Finishing Floor

He Feeds Sows Beneath Finishing Floor HOG EQUIPMENT & IDEAS Hog Equipment & Ideas (351) 19-1-32 John Poirot figures he's reduced the cost of feeding sows by more than half in the last six years. The Nashville, Ill., farmer did it by letting his brood sows roam beneath his hog house's slatted floor, an area that was once the facility's 4-ft. deep liquid manure pit. All it took to turn the pit into a feeding area was to knock out a 32-ft. long concrete wall on the building's south side. With the wall removed, sows are able to exit and enter the feeding area as they please. "I heard of a farmer doing this 20 or more years ago, but I haven't heard of anyone doing it since," Poirot says. "The pit was divided into four compartments to begin with and I feed 20 to 22 sows in each one. "Wasted feed from hogs feeding above the sows falls through the slats and the sows eat it for supplemental feed," he explains. Along with slashing feeding costs for his sows, Poirot is realizing other benefits as well. For one thing, he no longer has the fly and odor problems associated with stored liquid manure. (Excess now seeps out a drain and gutter system in the end of the building to his lagoon, which keeps levels on the lower feeding floor at a constant 2-in. level, he says). For another, Poirot feels his herd has built up some scours immunity because sows also get some of the animal wastes that fall through the slotted floor with the feed. Poirot normally removes sows from the feeding area one month before farrowing. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, John Poirot, 9846 County Highway 11, Nashville, Ill. 62263 (ph 618-493-6139).

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