Fermentation Experiment

Though fermentation has been a growing area of interest for a great number of people, I for one, never thought I'd be jumping on that band wagon. Sure, I'd fermented a few things here and there purely by accident -cough sun tea cough- thanks to my lack of object permanence... and those were always super interesting. But the idea of putting the extra time and energy into intentionally turning food and drink into a super slurry of biotic beings never really pulled at my imagination until now. And that is entirely because I read a paper on fermenting pig food.

The article Fermented liquid feed for pigs: an ancient technique for the future by J.A.Missotten et al (available here - https://doi.org/10.1186/2049-1891-6-4) and originally published in Animal Science Biotechnology found a great number of benefits to utilizing fermented feed all of which I found highly intriguing.

Having just begun our piggie journey I have to admit excitement at the prospect of a process that has the potential for such positive implications.

To save you the trouble of deciphering the code that is science jargon, here are a handful of benefits listed by the authors:

• improves performance and can replace the use of antibiotics

• establishes beneficial gut flora in suckling pigs and promotes this same gut flora in weaner pigs

• at the end of gestation and during nursing, feeding it to sows led to lifelong benefits to their offspring

• for weaners it increases feed efficiency by almost 11% improving weight gain by over 22% compared to dry food

• liquid fermented feed provides both feed and water simultaneously avoiding dehydration risks

• meat quality is improved, especially in the back fat of boars, reducing the potential for boar taint

• reduces and controls pathogens while increasing the digestibility of nutrients specifically calcium, phosphorus, and nitrogen

• increases the availability of usable fibre and protein

• reduces the amount of dust present in barn-raised environments

Thus, this past weekend, I began fermenting my first small batch of oats and barley. I have no idea if I'll be successful with it - especially with it being my first ever go at this. Either way though, I'm excited to explore the science and grateful I have the ability to try.

Wish me luck!