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Feeding your pigs

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  • Feeding your pigs

What can I feed my pigs?

A commercial pig feed is the best choice for your pigs. However, some pig owners choose to recycle and reduce waste by feeding their pigs food scraps. This is a great way to reduce waste, provided you avoid swill feeding (see below).

Appropriate recycled foods for pigs include:

  • fruit
  • vegetables
  • bread
  • products containing no meat
  • products which have NOT had contact with meat
  • dairy products made in Australia, using all Australian ingredients.

Swill feeding

What is swill (prohibited pig feed)?

Swill, the traditional name for all prohibited pig feed, is food waste containing meat or any other mammalian products or by-products, excluding milk. This also includes imported dairy products and any foods that have been in contact with meat, such as leftover vegetables on a plate from a Sunday roast, or even the leftover ham and cheese roll.


Why can I not feed swill to my pig?

Swill could contain viruses such as African swine fever, foot and mouth disease and Aujeszky’s disease, all of which could have far reaching impacts on Australia’s livestock industry. Avoiding swill is a simple case of ‘prevention is much better and cheaper than the cure’.

It is believed that swill fed to pigs may have caused the outbreak of foot and mouth disease in the UK in 2001.

Swill feeding is also illegal, with significant penalties applying.


Resources on swill feeding

A number of state and territory governments, together with Australian Pork Limited, have put together their own swill feeding material. The list below provides specific swill information from each jurisdiction.

A business guide to managing the biosecurity risks of food recycling in Australia

Sample Agreement for Food Recycling Program

Australian Pork Limited

Swill feeding – it’s illegal
Safe use of fats and oils in stock feed

New South Wales

PrimeFact: Swill feeding (being updated)

African Swine Fever webpage
Responsible disposal of food waste: A4
Responsible disposal of food waste: DL

Northern Territory

Don’t feed swill to pigs

Tasmania

Pigs and the smallholder
The backyard pig – DPIPWE’s guide for hobby farmers
Swill and restricted animal materials feeding

Victoria

Feeding prohibited pig feed
Pig health and welfare programs

Western Australia

Pig feed: why it is illegal to feed food scraps (swill) to pigs

Queensland

Laws against supplying and feeding swill to pigs
Make sure your pigs eat the right thing – for people who own pigs
Make sure pigs eat the right thing – for food outlets

South Australia

Prohibited Pig Feed

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