OK I have been up since 5.15am looking on the internet to find out the difference between the two different types of ram.

I know white ram should only be fed to the younger pigs and then brown ram once they reach a certain weight, my question is why. I am currently sourcing white ram a 6 baht a kilo and if this has a higher protein content then I don't mind feeding until slaughter as for a little extra money a much better product.

The ram is fresh and collected every two days as used, this way we know protein content is not dropping. Does brown ram have the same protein content as white? or is it just younger pigs are unable to digest the brown.

I have had my daily ration of coffee and my pigs are squeling for their breakfast so again I have to ask the "experts" on here.

Thanks in advance as I some of you have many more years of experience and knowledge than myself, save money or have a better product any tips appreciated.

Scully

white ram supposedly has a protein content of 10-12%,

Scully,

White ram is VERY fattening, yes around 12% protein but a large fat percentage. If you feed to finisher pigs they will be very 'fatty' That said, seems to make no difference with locals, but dealers won't want them.

The brown ram is much less nutritous; we add it to our pregnant sows and gilts diets basically to stop them getting over fat, yet keeping them full & content. Don't know the protein percentage for brown ram? At a guess, I'd say it is quite low. Having seen the droppings from pigs fed on brown ram only, all I can say is it comes out pretty much the same as it went in! In conclusion I'd say they get very little from it.

Fruity

Am I reading this correctly,

that Brown Ram is Rice Bran mixed with Rice Hull?

In which case, take the percentage of rice bran contained,

and and multiply by 12% it would have if it were pure.

If it's 60% Rice Bran 40% Rice Hull,

then it's 12 x 0.60 => 7.2%

Feeding Rice Hull to pigs is a bad idea

because it has no food value.

If Rice Bran will not cake in your fist,

then simply don't buy it.

Let someone else feed it to their pigs.

As mentioned by Fruity, The rice hull just passes through the animal as filler,

while the point of raising pigs is to get them to eat as much as they will.

If a fiber filler is needed, bean hay works wonderfully, and it has around 15% Protein with high fiber

My pigs also like banana stalk and leaf.

Throw the entire banana plant whole in the corral,

and they will tear it a part and eat every shred

It's a good filler with fiber and water, if filler is needed.

Thankyou for your replies if it were not for people like yourselves we would have made a great loss.

Do not get me wrong we have made no money but to make no loss at this learning stage gives me more confidence everyday, I appreciate the wisdom as this could make money in the long haul however this learning curve is huge.

Thanks ozzydom, fruity you are right our pigs are becoming a little fat and if they are fat the buyers certainly tell us about it. Waters edge we have now purchased brown ram, also as a favour we sold two pigs to a buyer (customer relationes) three weeks before slaughter date and they reached 87kilo average.

This farming lark gets easier day by day but without actual experienced members I would be lost, those that say try a year and see if you like it are right as everyday is a farming school

day.

We dry the pig <deleted> and cant get rid of enough of it (people ask everyday) although we have 60+ pigs this feeds the 1000 fish (maggots) our guava are growing nicely and the chicken coup is being built tomorrow with the netting arround the concrete <deleted> dryer so any escaping maggots can get fed.

It beats reading Thai visa all day and if I have to wait a couple of days for an answer I know why, every day is not the same for the farmer as everyday is different.

Cheers Scully

Hey Scully,

Good to hear that you have achieved the first success point in farming, you are having fun!

On your OP I would like a little clarification of my limited understanding of rice bran. Perhaps someone who has a rice mill could explain it to me.

Paddy rice has an outer husk, remove that and you have brown rice. Then remove the bran layer, then the germ and finally you have the polished white rice grain. So assuming that most of the bran will be in the Brown Ram and most of the germ in the White Ram, could someone tell me how the content of each is determined?

Isaan Aussie

Hi IsaanAussie,

I was going to add my two setang,

but in the process of looking for a rice grain drawing

found someone really smart

who has agreed to teach us more than we want to know.

http://www.niir.org/books/book/wheat-rice-corn-oat-barley-sorghum-processing-handbook-cereal-food-technology-niir-board-consultants-engineers/isbn-8178330024/zb,,ff,a,0,0,a/index.html

This appears to be a treasure trove of specific knowledge on Rice.