Pigs, like people, can survive off of all sorts of things. I guess this answer really depends on why you are keeping pigs. If they are pets, you will want to feed them an appropriate commercial diet to promote health and long life. If they are intended to be eaten, long life doesn’t matter so much.
Someone I know raises pigs to eat at basically zero cost. He goes around to local stores and they give him all of the food that can’t be sold any longer. He takes it home and feeds it to his pigs. They eat pretty much anything. All it costs him is a bit of gas and time. He’s done it this way for 30 years and the pigs grow well.

In order to feed pigs cheaply, you put them on pasture so that they can eat grass and bugs and roots as well as their normal grain ration.

You also get the pig feed as cheaply as you can. The best way I have found of getting pig feed cheaply is to buy lots of it when you buy it. It is generally cheaper by the ton.

You have to be careful that you don’t sacrifice too much in quality of feed while going for cheap. If the pig isn’t getting the nutrients he needs to grow fast, you will not be helping yourself at all. The pig will grow faster with better nutrition and you are after growth, not just keeping the pig alive.

In the old days I used to be in charge of what they called the picking over department, which was for any veggies,( Manly potatoes) that were rejected at the markets by the health inspectors, mainly for greening or nematodes, all the rejects were baged and picked up by the Salvation Army for their pigs, they got them for free, just for picking them up. So if you can find a place like that you will get plenty of pig food very cheap, mainly for the cost of fuel, I don’t know what the regulations are these days but you might get food for Pigs that restaurants throw out. Other than that you need to buy mixed grain for them. There was another way , which was from a bakery and shops where they collected stale bread from the day before that wasn’t sold.

How would I? I don’t and would not. I’d ask a pig farmer. Or a 4H club. Cheaply and good quality meat, or healthy happy pigs is a trade off. You are what you eat. Would you eat cheapest fed pig? If I had just 1-2 pigs I might consider getting free local restaurant waste food.

Our community has a local farmer within community city limits. Many in the community bring scrap food, brush we cut for the cows. In return we get free milk or meat- sausage. In a perfect situation the farmer does not buy any feed, we all provide it and all share in the meat. There may be situations nearby where there is wasted feed being thrown away.

But raise cheap to sell and be in business? I think the pig factories have it down to a science already. Guessing to sell you have to pass inspections meet criteria get asked what you are feeding them. Guessing totally unconventional is not going to get approved.

The cheapest way is to get free food. Some farmers strike deals for instance picking up the vegetable scraps from processing plants, commercial kitchens or supermarkets. Culled apples (for instance with worms) and pomace, the pulp left after squeezing apples for cider are essentially a waste product at an orchard, and rather than pay to have their garbage hauled, a pig farmer might arrange to haul them away “for free” which is also free pig food.

Apple pomace and culled apples

Factories that make potato chips or frozen potato products often use steam potato peelers, which cooks the peels and makes them another nutritious food for pigs to eat.

Potato Peel - Pig feed products | Duynie

There are many other such examples. If you have just one pig, you’d likely feed it any kind of food scraps from your kitchen (including meat) and supplement it with commercial feed.

Pigs can eat all kinds of scraps, or leftover food such as mealie-pap, bread, vegetables, fruit and pig pellets. Real pig pellets are, however, the best feed. Do not only feed one vegetable (such as cabbage), because pigs need a varied diet to stay healthy.

Cereal grains are a good feed source although they are best utilised by the pig if they have been cracked, rolled or soaked. The major ingredients used by the Western Australian pig industry are wheat, barley and lupins, but other grains such as peas, canola meal and triticale are also used

They can be toilet trained like dogs. Indoor pigs will need their own space, preferably their own room with a pile of blankets to nest in. They will also need an outside run so that they can exercise and have an opportunity to use their natural instinct to forage for roots and fungi

Pigs need a dry bed, and protection from extreme temperature and sunburn. Minimum requirements apply for space, fresh air, hygiene, access to feed and water, and accommodation. These should not predispose the pigs to illness or injury.

They want and desire grain but do not need it. They can taste calories, grain tastes like candy to a pig. If you let the pig eat what it wants it will go out into a thicket full of trees and start eating the roots, bark, bugs, earth worms, mushrooms, grass, leaves and anything it can get any food value from. They catch and eat mice, rats, rabbits, snakes, frogs, salamanders, and any other creature they can catch and kill (they are very good at catching wild creatures).

To grow quickly they need massive amounts of food. They will grow from under a pound to 350 pounds in less than 6 months if they can get the food. They will eat almost anything. After a short time the thicket will be full of sticks littering the ground with the bark removed and the twigs eaten. The field will be plowed. The pigs will clear in short order what it would take a man years to clear and there is lovely pig meat to eat after they turn all that bark and such into meat (very lean meat). It is tradition to fatten such pigs up on grain for a few weeks before butchering. A full grown pig is fed very little compared to a growing piglet.

If you feed something yummy to a pig it will remember you. Years later if it smells you it will be your friend and prompt you to be kind and feed it again. They do not call them “pigs” for nothing, with a pig it is all about their belly. They are very selfish and self centered animals; but, they can be some of the most friendly and intelligent animals on the farm. Pigs are one of my favorite animals; but, with most creatures you have to understand the nature of the beast.

The sow will pick up a piglet and throw it out of her way if the piglet gets between her and something she is especially fond of. I have seen them bite a piglet in two if they get mad at it, she then usually eats it! If I have some bread and feed it to the pig one slice at a time she will often get mad at me when I have no more and snap at me and bark letting me know she thinks I am keeping her from more (she thinks I might me holding back). I still like pigs better than many humans… pigs always act like pigs, people are moving targets and you never know when they will bury a knife in your back. Pigs are one of my most favorite farm animals.

I am a pig farmer and have been for 40 years. 95+% of what a pig eats is corn and soybean meal. The other 5% is vitamins, minerals and other nutrients. From the time a pig is weaned (at 3 weeks of age) until they reach market weight (5-6 months and 280 pounds), they eat nine different rations (same as recipe). Each ration is designed specifically for the pigs nutritional needs at each stage of growth.

If a pig becomes sick, we use antibiotics as a last resort. We follow drug withdrawal times based on the label. Extensive record keeping is required to document which pigs received antibiotics. We are extremely careful to not sell any pigs that have not reached the withdrawal periods. In addition, our meat packer also checks pigs as they are delivered for any antibiotic residue.

Now, given a choice, a pig will eat basically anything you give them. But for commercial pig sites, we only give a diet developed by an animal nutritionist.

I suppose, but pigs have a way of sneaking into your heart.

My uncle got a hog (Ned) last year, as a farm animal.

Now Ned has the run of the place, and sleeps on my uncle’s bed every night.

I have a better chance of becoming bacon than Ned does.

Whatever is fed to them.

Hogs are really, really good at being omnivores and chomping down anything you care to throw their way.

Depending on the size of the hog-rearing operation, the hog may be raised on family table scraps supplemented with potatoes, grains, or access to pasture, or they may be fed entirely on a commercial diet made predominately of corn and soy and including commercial waste products like poultry by-product meal, whey left from cheese-making, and used distiller’s grain.

Historically, hogs were fed “swill” which was a base of whatever was cheap to feed hogs (potatoes and grain were common) plus everything else that was free or cheap - offal from slaughter, milk or milk products or by-products (i.e., whey, skim milk after the cream was removed), kitchen and garden scraps, etc.

There were also plenty of hogs in places with enough roaming land that were turned loose in the spring and rounded up for slaughter in the fall having never been fed supplemental rations to what they could rustle themselves - these pigs ate “mast” (mostly fallen tree nuts like acorns, beech nuts, walnuts, etc) in wooded areas and grubbed up small critters and tubers in meadows and grasslands.

Really, pigs will take just about anything and turn it into bacon. They are bacon-making machines having large litters, reaching slaughter size at 6 months, and have a feed conversion ratio of 2–3.5 to 1 (meaning that for every 2–3.5 pounds of feed the pig makes a pound of pig) eating mostly stuff that humans can’t or won’t eat.

Pigs are clean living animals & very intelligent on the whole. They do as a rule NOT mess in their nest, & they need room outside to run around & root up the ground. They will form a wallow & they like wallowing in muddy water.
DO NOT feed your pig/s confectionary from the supermarket bins. Only feed them vegetables & fruit. You can get pig feed, but this can get expensive.
Keith.

Traditionally in the area where I live, a large hog was fed mostly scraps from the tale, but no meat products, and then the rest of its feed was a commercial hog feed. Hog feed can be gotten at most any feed and seed like Tractor Supply or Southern States.

This may be rather delicate, but if you are keeping it for a pet, a family companion or such like, you will want to keep its food intake somewhat limited, as pigs, especially domestic pigs, are designed to be eating machines, and most domestic breeds are bred to get lots of fat.

If, however, you are keeping it to eat it, at some point, you will need to start feeding it fattening foods. If you are keeping a pet, I hope this doesn’t offend you.

An old friend of mine, Bubba, and I were fishing in the back country of Yancey County (North Carolina) once years ago, and with the snaking roads, and the mountains, we got thoroughly lost. We finally came across a house out in the middle of nowhere, a grand Mountain house, looked like an old farmhouse, but it was obviously new, had a fine Mercedes parked in the drive, and out in front, in a pen was a giant hog with three legs. I began asking directions back to town (ANY town!!), but Bubba was more interested in the pig. I finally got directions to a town where I could get gas, and Bubba blurted out “Why’s that pig got three legs?”

The old farmer rocked back in his chair, rocked forward and spit a stream of tobacco at a fly and says “son, that’s a real special pig there, he saved my daughter’s life”. Bubba says “really?” The old man says, “oh yeah, little Pearl has epilepsy, and she was out with the pig one day, and had an attack and fell in the frog pond, and the pig grabbed her arm and pulled her out and puffed air in her mouth til she started breathing on her own again.” Bubba says “wow, that’s great, but how come he’s only got three legs?” The old farmer leaned back and says “Lord son, that’s a special pig! Why he saved the whole family a year back.” Bubba says, “how’d he do that?” The old farmer says “well, the old fireplace popped a spark out onto the hearth rug, and before we knew it the whole cabin was on fire, and we were knocked out by the smoke. That pig come bustin’ through the door, grabs ever one of us by the arm and pulls us out of the house.” Bubba says “that’s wonderful, but how come he’s only got three legs?” The farmer got really excited, says “why son, that’s a real unique pig, he made us rich!” Bubba says “oh? How?” The farmer waves his arms around and says “son, after the cabin burned up, I was out with the pig lookin for some lumber to make another cabin, and that old pig started a’rootin and gruntin’ and squealin’, and directly had dug up an old trunk, and it was full to the brim with old Confederate gold! It made us able to get this fine house and everything!” Bubba was getting desperate by now and said “look, I will admit that is a very special pig, and he’s done a lot of good in this world, but WHY DOES HE HAVE THREE LEGS?” The old farmer looked at Bubba sorrowfully and said “son, now you wouldn’t want to eat up a pig like that all at once now, would you?”

Speaking very generally, yes it is cheaper to raise your own pigs. This is true if you can get the feed at the same price as other pig feeders in the area.

If you look at it another way, it is NOT cheaper to raise your own pigs. If you have a lot of pigs, the whole thing has economies of scale.

Why do you think most pigs are raised in big pig growing barns, thousands at a time?

The main reason is that you are providing the labor and farmers who are working for themselves are usually willing to do it for less than farmers who are working for someone else.

When you start in, if you decide that you are going to pay yourself even $10.00 per hour, it will almost certainly be cheaper to get someone else to raise them for you.

If you are raising a LOT (say 200 - 2000 head) of pigs and have access to good sources of feed, you will probably be able to get the feed cheaper than the guy who is raising only a few head. You will get economies of scale.

When you get into the smaller amounts of pigs (2 - 100 head), you will almost certainly not have those economies of scale on feed costs.

The labor costs on raising a lot of pigs also goes down because of economies of scale. One guy can take care of 2000 head of pigs in slightly more time than one guy can take care of 50 pigs. Mostly because he will need more equipment to feed the 2000 head of pigs so he does it with machines instead of by hand.

BUT, the guy who is raising a few pigs on PASTURE has a big advantage. His pigs will forage for food in the pasture, eating worms, roots, seeds, grass and a lot of other things. He will not have to buy this feed for his pigs.

It depends on how you raise them. Like with most things, the devil is in the details and the knowledge applied.

Farmed pigs eat whatever is fed to them. I lived on a farm when I was a kid, and on our back porch we had the “pig bucket” where we put all of our food scraps. I used to be so excited when the pig bucket was full because I got to take it to the pig pen and feed it to whichever pigs we had at that particular time. Now that I moved away, We have a compost pile in our yard for all of the food scraps to go. That’s certainly not as fun.

Be warned. Pigs will eat anything, including your fingers, so when you’re feeding them, keep your fingers away from the food or they might accidentally take a bite out of them. They aren’t trying to hurt you, but they’re not exactly careful when they’re eating, and finger bones aren’t hard to break.

As others have said farmed pigs also eat feed, and the ones where I lived did too, but that’s honestly not the part I remember most.

Pigs are omnivores. They will eat about ANYTHING. They have strong sense of smell, and snouts to burrow and “rut" for grubs 6 inches beneath the soil that they love. Best to put them in holistic pastures, and they will eat grasses for Omega 3.

Horribly, most commercial pork is fed only corn and soybeans, all Omega 6, on concrete, so they are HORRIBLY IMBALANCED with huge Omega 6 excesses.

Farmers do this out of GREED, since Omega 6 in corn and soy makes them eat more, gain profitable fatty meat quicker…all the better to make HUMANS get the 42% OBESITY we now see in America, rising yearly.

It's all about profit, people…fat profit, and caring LESS about human health. Farmers don't care about you.

The best type of food for raising hogs outdoors (piglets) is a high-quality, balanced feed that is specifically formulated for pigs. This type of feed will provide your pigs with all the nutrients they need to grow and stay healthy.

Here are some of the benefits of feeding your pigs a high-quality, balanced feed:

• It will help your pigs to grow and develop properly. Pigs need a diet that is high in protein and energy to support their growth and development. A high-quality, balanced feed will provide your pigs with the nutrients they need to grow and stay healthy.
• It will help to prevent health problems. A diet that is deficient in essential nutrients can lead to a number of health problems in pigs, such as stunted growth, poor skin and coat condition, and reproductive problems. Feeding your pigs a high-quality, balanced feed will help to prevent these health problems.
• It will make your pigs more productive. Pigs that are fed a high-quality, balanced feed are more likely to be productive, meaning they will produce more meat and/or pork products.

There are a number of different high-quality, balanced feeds available on the market. When choosing a feed, it is important to select one that is specifically formulated for pigs. You should also consider the age of your pigs when choosing a feed. Piglets have different nutritional needs than adult pigs.

It is also important to feed your pigs the correct amount of food. Overfeeding your pigs can lead to weight gain and obesity, while underfeeding your pigs can lead to malnutrition and stunted growth. The amount of food you feed your pigs will vary depending on their age, weight, and activity level.

In addition to feeding your pigs a high-quality, balanced feed, you may also want to supplement their diet with fresh fruits and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables are a good source of vitamins and minerals, and they can help to keep your pigs' digestive system healthy.

You should also provide your pigs with access to clean, fresh water at all times. Water is essential for pigs' health and well-being.

By following these feeding guidelines, you can help to ensure that your pigs are healthy and productive.

Pigs are omnivores so just about anything. If you are feeding them grains use grains that have been softened by rolling or soaking as pigs only have one stomach and like us need help digesting the fibres in grains. Fresh fruit and vegetables are good as are bone meal or fish meal. If it is just as a pet feeding kitchen scraps is fine as well. They'll eat just about anything. There are a range of premade complete foods available just go online for your nearest agricultural feed merchant. If you are stuck a good dog food will work but needs to be supplemented with the fresh vegetables and fruits. Of course if you have a good bit of room let them forage but make your fences are pig proof.

Let me see. First you need the real estate. This can be tricky because pigs stink so definitely not suitable for a backyard. Yes some people have pet pot belly pigs but I think they may also need the name of a good nose doctor. Either that or they bath their pigs daily. It is the poop that smells, more than the pig but that is a waste disposal problem, even on a farm. Second you need to feed the pigs good stuff if you want them to taste good. Pigs are quite intelligent and so you have to remain detached if you want the smell of bacon.

Then of course there is the need for space for processing them. This can be tricky as removing pig hair requires scalding in boiling water. A bath tub works but you may find some people will object to this. Once you have your dead pig you then have to butcher it into the appropriate bits and hams must be cured requiring salt pumps. Bacon and hams must then be smoked for days so they don't spoil. Then it all has to be packaged and stored. About this time a $5 pack of bacon at the store starts to look like a scream deal. If you can fulfill all the above criteria go for it. Just remember I told you so.

Most producers feed 95% corn & soybean based feeds. Soybeans provide the lysine, corn the methionine (both limiting amino acids).

The high Omega 6 increases appetite, weight-gain & fat-marbling. Add in mineral & vitamin supplements & you're there. Sure, there are blood-mesl (amino acid) supplements.

Sometimes they buy & feed “soy protein", left over after soybean oil is crushed out, first.

There could be bone-meal, fish-meal, gut-meal, feather-meal, etc., and most of this is based on close proximity to production of same, all a “financial" criteria.

Suffice it to say that commercial pork usually has an Omega 6 to 3 ratio of about 30 to 1, extremely high, whereas 3 to 1 or less is ideal, so highly inflammatory. Iowa State recently bred OUT Omega 3, from soybeans, especially so soybean oil could be used as a “frying" oil, which is why soybeans are crushed now, for the soybean “protein" meal as a second product, making for even LESS Omega 3.

PS:. I am a researcher, and working to change this, with flax seed (52% Omega 3) and oats (40% Omega 9), both to “displace" excess Omega 6, for balance.

Some. But much depends on feed cost & pig value to you. We raise a few this way. We have a 200-meter double garden strip. Family garden. All her family helps at harvest of coconuts, mango’s, other also. As the outside strip or row is harvested. A pig is tied there to root up & fertilize the soil. Then the chickens follow the pig. Removing insects & larva. Then the back row is planted & worked down. Done the same. So some garden is always setting idle. Tropical soil so delicate soil. & crop rotation in planting is used also. At harvest. 4 a year. 2 coconut harvest & 2 mango harvest a year. 1 pig is sacrificed to the harvest party. After selling the crop. & family who helped work the plantation are paid a percentage of the harvest money. For their labor. This is a 3rd world Country, so wages are very low. This means they work for sub min. wage. So the family garden strip is important to them in fresh vegetables. That they earn. Only looks like they take for free. But they do many of the manual jobs. Also, goats are raised. They get a percentage of the goat milk & goats. They keep the grass & weeds down between the trees. So some free goat labor as well. From them. & fertilizer. So extra effective in cost to raise.

That would be the bottom of the latter, so to speak , chicken feed is just not quite as good as a good grain diet and produce, That's what we feed and they did good and didn’t get big and over weight. That's a big thing with mini pigs, you want them to remain small, they can get big, if feed wrong. I someone feeding her pot belly dog food and had to weigh 200lbs, ours always were 35 to 50 pound range and they looked good. We got produce free at produce stands, they throw it away, so we got them to save it for us and picked it up three days a week, it was great to feed them all natural fruits and veggies and they loved it. We also fed corn oats and a little pellet food and sometimes horse feed, with a little molasses. It was sweet feed, they loved it and may be less than chicken feed, you get a fifty pound bag. Pigs will eat anything but a lemon, They can peal an orange better than I can with no hands. Hope this helped!!

Pigs are omnivores and can survive on a large variety of foods they can forage successfully living in the wild.

But as a practical matter, the only practical way to raise pork commercially is to feed a ration based mostly on grain with some supplements such as bone meal, fish meal, or soybeans.

If you have space enough, and can build nice hog tight fences, you can produce a small amount of pork allowing hogs to forage for acorns, roots, berries, etc. Such fences are expensive, and while people that don’t know any better will tell you you can raise pork this way, they generally don’t have the foggiest idea HOW MUCH LAND you need for just ONE hog raising it this way. Figure an acre or more, absolute minimum, and this amount of land is adequate only during certain seasons of the year. In freezing weather, you WILL be feeding a hog confined to an acre lot, guaranteed.

You have to get a very high price for such pork in order to sell it at a profit, but it truly is a superior meat, and there are some people who do raise it and sell it. You can get it at specialty grocery stores.