Pigs - Raising Small Animals - page 207

on 258 farms in the United States. In order to be certified organic, pigs must be raised organ-
ically from the last third of the gestation period until butchering. Antibiotics may not be used,
which includes antibiotics in feed. Growth hormone stimulants may not be used, and artificial
ingredients and preservatives are kept to a minimum.
You can begin an organic program with grower pigs that have not been raised organically and
change over to organic, but you will not be able to sell their pork as organic. In this situation,
the piglets will need to be weaned onto an organic starter feed. Continue to feed them an or-
ganic diet by feeding them organic grain and supplements raised on your own farm or pur-
chased from a local organic farm. Sources for organic grain can be harder to find than com-
mercial feeds, but they are available. Some feed mills offer organic grains, and you can have
custom mixes made to your specifications. You can contact individual organic farmers in your
area to see if they sell organic grain. Talk to your county extension services agent to find out
about organic farmers near you. He or she may also be able to suggest other sources for or-
ganic grain. You can find national sources of organic grain through ATTRA, the National Sus-
tainable Agriculture Information Service site at http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/live-
stock_feed . They have listings for organic livestock feed suppliers throughout the country.
There are also commercial organic feeds available that do not contain antibiotics or other pre-
servatives. You will need to check to see if these feeds contain genetically modified corn or
other grains. Modesto Milling ( www.modestomilling.com ), the Buckwheat Growers Associ-
ation of Minnesota ( www.buckwheatgrowers.com ), and Ranch-Way Feeds ( www.ranch-
way.com ) are a few companies that create organic feeds for pig farmers.
Custom mixes
If you raise your own grain or if there are farmers in your area who raise grain, you have the
option of going to your local feed mill and requesting a custom feed mix for your pigs. This
can be a good choice if you are not happy with the commercial choices available to you. This
approach is usually most cost effective if you have a large number of pigs and you can pur-
chase several tons of custom mixed grain, but your local feed mill also can custom mix grain
for you and sell it to you by the 50-pound bag.
If you have your grain custom mixed, you can have your protein supplements and your vitam-
ins and minerals added at the same time the grain is milled, which means less work for you
because you will not have to mix up each ration for your pigs. Custom mixes can be great
labor savers if you have more than a few pigs eating the same diet. You may be able to buy