You Will Be Surprised to Know

Pig Feed

This interactive display allows you to feel and taste all the components of a well balanced diet.

Barley and Wheat:

Barley is the most common cereal grain used for pig feed in western Canada. Canadian feed barley is a good source of energy and is very easy for the pigs to digest.

Wheat is plentiful and an excellent energy source, containing less fibre than barley. Pig diets often contain both wheat and barley. The amount of each is determined by the nutritionist.

Canola:

Even if you haven’t heard of it before, you’ve probably spotted Canola during the summer when its flowers paint farmers’ fields bright yellow. The name canola comes from the words Canada and oil. Since the remaining meal contains a large amount of protein (amino acids) it makes an ideal ingredient for pig feed.

Soybeans:

Soybeans require a long growing season and cannot be grown locally. Because of its high protein content, soybean meal is a major part of pig feed. It is important for soybeans to be cooked before they are fed to pigs. If the soybeans aren’t cooked, a substance inside the meal makes it hard for pigs to digest the protein.

Vitamins & Minerals:

Barley, wheat, canola and soybeans all contain vitamins and minerals. Some of these vitamins and minerals cannot be digested due to their physical or chemical structure. The amount of nutrients available can also vary from year to year due to growing, harvesting and storage conditions. To be sure the pigs get enough vitamins and minerals, they are added to the pig feed.

Pig Feed:

A swine nutritionist created this diet to provide all the nutrients needed for growth each day. It will make one tonne of pig feed specially formulated for hogs weighing 50 kgs (100 lbs).

200 kilograms Barley +
570 kilograms Wheat +
50 kilograms Canola +
150 kilograms Soybean meal +
30 kilograms Vitamins & Minerals (pre-mix)
equals 1 tonne of pig feed

The pig will eat 1.25 to 1.5 kilograms (2 3/4 to 3 1/3 lbs.) each day.

Weight Scale (pig size comparison)

Pig Growth:

Pigs Are Like Chickens, Cattle & Fish — or for that matter like any animal because their growth and development follows a predictable growth curve. In young animals growth is slow, measured in grams per day. As the animal grows it passes through a rapid growth phase followed by slower growth in the mature stage of life.

The Sigmoid Growth Chart:

Nursing piglet — 200 gm weight gained / day: e.g.: Box of Jello = 170 g
Growing / Finishing — 400 gm weight gained / day: e.g.: Pound of butter = 454 g
Mature Pig — 750 — 1000 gm weight gained / day: e.g.: Large loaf of bread = 900 g

Pig Tales:

Pigs have been selected for fast growth rates and for being lean (less fat). Improved genetics combined with better feed, health and housing have all contributed to pigs growing 2X faster today than in 1950.

Pig Poop Cycle

The Original Recycling Program

Centuries before “blue boxes” were a common site in cities, animal manures were recycling important nutrients back into the land to improve crop growth and grain yields. Lets follow the path that pig manure takes on its way through the recycling process.

Manure is not “waste” and nutrients are not wasted. On the interactive display in the Gallery turn the crank and follow the pathway taken by manure nutrients as they are recycled through crops, into our foods and eventually back to a future generation of pigs as feed.

Where’s Agriculture…?

You would be surprised to know…

Pork by-products are everywhere. Agriculture touches your life from the games you play to the house you live in. Look at this picture and see if you can find some of these 28 products from hog farming. If you want to find more, there are over 90 agricultural by-products to find.

Curling broom — horse hair or pig hair
Leather gloves — bison, cowhide or pigskin
Cosmetics — collagen and fatty acids (glycerine) from pig fat
Lipstick — beeswax and glycerine from pigs
Toothpaste — cornstarch from corn, glycerine from canola or pigs
Bath products, lotions, creams — fatty acids from pigs
Hospital —
- Heart valve from hogs used in surgery
- Anti-rejection drugs from blood of hogs
- Pig skin is used as a replacement for human skin in burn clinics
- Pig corneas are used for transplanting into human eyes
Diabetic clinic
- Test strips to measure blood sugar from enzyme in horseradish
- Insulin from hogs
Briefcase — leather from cowhide or pigskin
Shoes and boots — leather from cowhide or pigskin
Purse — leather from cowhide or pigskin
Fertilizer — manure from cattle, sheep and pigs

Can you find these items?

Chalk — glycerine from pigs
Football — pigskin in early days
Bone china — bones from pigs make dishes durable
Meat products — meat from cattle, sheep, chickens, and pigs
Baked or processed food products — grains, fruits and vegetable crops
Processed dairy and meat
Candy products — gelatin from pigs
Gum — pepsin from pig stomachs
Soap and Detergent — linseed oil from flax, fatty acids from pigs
Drywall — originally contained hog hair
Wallpaper — glue from collagen in skin, bones and hides of pigs
Camera film — gelatin is used for coloured paper, x-ray products, graphic arts and instant films from bones of pigs
Crayons — texture from glycerine of pigs
Paintbrushes — hair from hogs
Fishing line — adhesive from fatty acids in pigs helps give it the smooth texture
Baseball gloves — pigskin

Smell Pigs:

Press the button on the interactive display to take whiff of the real thing.

Pigs by themselves lack odour. Contrary to the saying “sweat like a pig”, pigs‘ sweat glands are non-functional — no body odour here!

The smell you can detect on a pig is what it picks up from the environment. Slatted floors help to keep pigs clean.

Pigs have a great sense of smell which has been developed over time to allow it to forage for food and identify other pigs.

On the interactive display the green sniffer has no odour just like pig skin. Push and hold the button and sniff the yellow sniffers to smell the barn.

Hear Pigs:

Pigs use a variety of grunts and squeals to communicate with each other.

Press the button to hear common barn sounds.

Sound 1 — Sow makes low grunting noises to call her litter at feeding time.

Sound 2 — Pigs at play. Does it sound like they are enjoying themselves?

Sound 3 — A startled pig. Enter a room and catch the wave! It’s a series of grunts and woofs as each pen of pigs realizes you are there.

Sound 4 — Sows at feeding time. Cover your ears! Sows make a high-pitched squeal when they are hungry!

Feel Pigs:

This is a real pig’s hide at market weight, taken from a processing plant. Feel the coarse hair and rough skin. On young animals the skin is soft and smooth with almost no hair.

In the wild, the hair of the mature animal provided protection from the weather, and a thick layer of fat provided insulation.

See Pigs:

Pigs come in different breeds. Just like dogs, some are bigger, some are smaller, some are white while others are black or even red. The pigs you are looking at are crossbreeds and may have a blend of skin colour.