Some people have convinced themselves that carbs are bad bad bad, and no amount of actual data will convince them that a pig shouldn't be on the Atkins diet. Heck they might even think that corn is bad for a pig because of its high fructose content!
So who has “actually raised a crop” here? Or sold a pig at auction? Ever butchered a pig? Ever studied metabolism and the Krebs cycle?
Show of hands?
I have.
Anyone else?
I’m talking to guys that raise several thousand confinement hogs at any one time and up to 30,000 head cattle. This is what they tell me: corn is fine...to a point. Too much and you have meat that’s way too fat. There has to be a proper carb-fat-protein-fiber-nutrient ratio. It’s not an Atkins diet, but it’s not a high-carb diet either.
Be that as it may, (and I don't raise swine commercially, by the way, I raise cattle) feeding a diet too high in carbohydrates vis-a-vis protein and minerals causes excessive, and lower quality fat. When I was a kid, and maybe when you were, lard was considered a frairly valuable product of a swine carcass. Not so much anymore.
When the energy requirement of a hog is met primarily by corn, soybean meal is added to the ration as a supplemental protein source. The distillers spent grain can replace a part of the corn ration as well as the meal ration.