Whey and pigs

[Speedo1968]

Anyone here is farming / was farming pigs in the UK in the very early 1960's ?

I am trying to remember the name / nickname given to the large barrels of whey used for liquid feed to young fattener pigs
Was it something like "Milkywhey" ?

 

My reason is that I have been discussing this subject - whey - with a friend, who is interested in its modern day use with humans.
I note a particular company that sells it in dry form at a very high price.

[kickstart]

I can remember whey being feed to pigs ,a bi product of the cheese and butter making as I remember it was just known as pigs whey ,unless it had a local name  in a different part of the country from me .

As its use for humans ,that is a new one ,as for the nutritional  value can not be a lot ,as all the "good stuff"has gone for butter and cheese.

Also depending on the milk quality the TS total solids and BF butterfat ,it takes about  7500 liters of milk to make one ton of milk powder.

With whey as most the TS,and BF has already been taken out ,it would take a lot more quantity to make the same amount of milk powder ,hence the high price .

[eezergood]

lots of whey is recycled into drinks also 

[Speedo1968]

18 hours ago, kickstart said:

I can remember whey being feed to pigs ,a bi product of the cheese and butter making as I remember it was just known as pigs whey ,unless it had a local name  in a different part of the country from me .

As its use for humans ,that is a new one ,as for the nutritional  value can not be a lot ,as all the "good stuff"has gone for butter and cheese.

Also depending on the milk quality the TS total solids and BF butterfat ,it takes about  7500 liters of milk to make one ton of milk powder.

With whey as most the TS,and BF has already been taken out ,it would take a lot more quantity to make the same amount of milk powder ,hence the high price .

 

18 hours ago, kickstart said:

I can remember whey being feed to pigs ,a bi product of the cheese and butter making as I remember it was just known as pigs whey ,unless it had a local name  in a different part of the country from me .

As its use for humans ,that is a new one ,as for the nutritional  value can not be a lot ,as all the "good stuff"has gone for butter and cheese.

Also depending on the milk quality the TS total solids and BF butterfat ,it takes about  7500 liters of milk to make one ton of milk powder.

With whey as most the TS,and BF has already been taken out ,it would take a lot more quantity to make the same amount of milk powder ,hence the high price .

Thanks for that kickstart.

 

I guess we drink more cows milk now worldwide, even where it is not suitable for the peoples genetic makeup and, especially where there is heavy reliance on sugar to make the milk palatable and the risk of obesity.      Being from England we received milk at primary school.

Of course other countries may use buffalo, camel, donkey, goats, sheep milk etc. these probably with a better understanding / need for what should be a healthy product.

 

I started work at 15 on a pig farm in Sussex in 1961, the sows with followers were free range ( Winter and Summer ) on forested land, with Nissan hut style independent housing, fatteners being brought in once old / big enough.    Farrowing etc was indoors although the occasional early dropping happened.    Boars had separate fields to themselves.

 

Seems that over the past few years whey has been making a comeback as a supplementary feed for various livestock.      Every article I have read, whether for high tech or hobby farming seem to give a thumbs up to the value of whey in fattening stock.

 

Nestle has put out a product for humans that promises all kinds of things, at a price ....

 

Have attached 3 links they may be of interest showing good and downside of the whey industry.

 

https://www.farmersweekly.co.za/animals/pigs/whey-can-cut-cost-pig-feed/

 

http://ewpa.euromilk.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Public_Documents/EWPA_Publications/Whey_in_Animal_Nutrition_-_A_Valuable_Ingredient__EWPA_B.pdf

 

https://www.feednavigator.com/Article/2019/05/09/ASF-Whey-suppliers-to-feel-the-brunt-of-pig-culling-in-China

[PatOngo]

The pigs here like cash in the trough!

[kickstart]

5 hours ago, Speedo1968 said:

I started work at 15 on a pig farm in Sussex in 1961, the sows with followers were free range ( Winter and Summer ) on forested land, with Nissan hut style independent housing, fatteners being brought in once old / big enough.    Farrowing etc was indoors although the occasional early dropping happened.    Boars had separate fields to themselves.

By any chance was that  the Ashdown Forest ?,that land was sandy ,which would suit outdoor pigs I ask a I worked a few miles north of there  as a student on a farm ,and did day release and a year at the local agriculture college .

Again I have never heard of the nickname for whey ,but that was a long time ago ,a lot of water has gone under that bridge since then .

Thanks for the link,good to read a bit more  about modern ways of thinking ,although a lot is the same as when we where working ,now they is a smartphone/laptop included. 

[Speedo1968]

17 hours ago, kickstart said:

By any chance was that  the Ashdown Forest ?,that land was sandy ,which would suit outdoor pigs I ask a I worked a few miles north of there  as a student on a farm ,and did day release and a year at the local agriculture college .

Again I have never heard of the nickname for whey ,but that was a long time ago ,a lot of water has gone under that bridge since then .

Thanks for the link,good to read a bit more  about modern ways of thinking ,although a lot is the same as when we where working ,now they is a smartphone/laptop included. 

I didn't like school and had always wanted to do farming since the age of six when I went with my parents from London for a farm caravan holiday once or twice a year.     I use to sit on the lead cow to and from milking.

Left school at 15, did 3 months at YMCA Agricultural School and then to my first job.    Whilst at my second job I was offered a position at a multi story pig farm in Russia.    I also gained experience in dairy and arable.    It was the right choice and have since worked in many countries, gone back to do a 2 year course in one year, taught at Uni, had my own small farm in South America and ended up freelancing in chicken and duck.     Ended up in Thailand having worked here and in other parts of ASPAC / China.

 

The farm in Sussex.

The forested / wooded land included oak trees.

It was in West Sussex near Harting.
A bus once a week went to Chichester and back.
It was a long walk from the farm to the Harting bus stop.

The farm had a ride-on vehicle, I think it was called an ottoman, they have something similar here in Thailand but can't find any pictures.

Pigs were old breeds plus an early Landrace, Large White, Wessex Saddleback, Large Blacks, Welsh

 

I was there prior to and during The Big Freeze of 62 and 63.    All animals were brought inside and we had helicopter food drops for us humans and the livestock as it was impossible to get do the road.   The farm road down to the 'main' road was impassable for some weeks.    The 'main' road was banked by hedges on both sides, the snow lay some 5 - 7 metres deep.   It was many weeks before this was passable.

 

Saw some interesting behavioural patterns by the sows whilst they were still in the woods.   When I put water down for them it froze almost instantly, if they did manage to drink some it caused them stomach ache.   What the sows started to do was carry snow in to the back of the nissan huts and when the snow melted they drank the water.

 

 

[Speedo1968]

On 4/2/2020 at 3:22 PM, PatOngo said:

The pigs here like cash in the trough!

Seen ducks here given pig hormone treatment, no cash payment though.