Fattening pigs

In finishing pigs, 5–10% olive cake replacing barley kept performance and tended to increase daily gain, with a leaner carcass at the best rate of 10%.

What the research shows

• Higher feed intake; daily gain tends to rise, peaking at 10%60 gilts, 0 / 5 / 10 / 15% replacing barley, 35 days (Joven et al. 2014)
• Lower carcass fat thicknessJoven et al. 2014
• Performance maintained at 5% and 10%72 Pietrain barrows, 105 days (Liotta et al. 2019)
• More oleic acid and MUFA in muscle fat (ensiled cake at 20% and 40%)30 Apulo-Calabrese pigs, 120 days (Caparra et al. 2023)
• Partially defatted cake at 12% can play a role in finishing pig nutrition80 pigs, 55 days (Ferrer et al. 2020)

Recommended inclusion

Solid bar: tested in a published trial. Hatched bar: practical programme.

In practice

• Ask for the certificate of analysis for each lot and formulate with its values.
• Introduce gradually over 7–14 days.
• Store dry, covered and cool; use the oldest stock first.
• Compare with a group on your usual diet to document your own results.

References

1. Joven M. et al. (2014). Effect of replacing barley by increasing levels of olive cake in the diet of finishing pigs. Animal Feed Science and Technology 197:185–193. doi.org/10.1016/j.anifeedsci.2014.08.007
2. Liotta L. et al. (2019). In vivo performances, carcass traits and meat quality of finishing pigs fed olive cake. Animals 9(12):1155. doi.org/10.3390/ani9121155
3. Ferrer P. et al. (2020). Partially defatted olive cake in finishing pig diets. Animal 14(2):426–434. doi.org/10.1017/S1751731119002040
4. Caparra P. et al. (2023). Effect of dietary ensiled olive cake supplementation on performance and meat quality of Apulo-Calabrese pigs. Animals 13(12):2022. doi.org/10.3390/ani13122022