THE FARM

Bruce Herald, Volume LV, Issue 63, 18 August 1919, Page 3

THE FARM

molasses por stock. Some experiments upon feeding molasses ai;e of interest. In order to ascertain /what is actually the value of sugar in: stock feeding, the Yorkshire Agricultural High School Farm has issued a, report on its bullock-feeding experiments conducted during three winters. In the first year's experiments three, pens of cattle were put up. In one of these tho cattle were fed on a ration consisting of 701b roots (pulped), 71b hay, 71b oat straw chaffed, 21b. decorticated cotton seed meal, 21b dried gain, lib linseed cake, ami 41b crushed maize. In pen .No. 2 the animals had. the same rations as in pen No. 1, except that 21b molasses was given in place of 701b roots. In pen No. 3 tho animals had the rations as in pen No. 2, except that 31b crushed wheatwas given in place of the 41b maize. The animals in pen No. I,.which, got the ration of 701b roots, gave decisively the best results, and left a balance of £1 16s 2sd per head for labour and other expenses, tho balance left by the animals in pens. Nos. 2 and 3 were £1 5s 33d and £1 ls-OJd per head respective-

ly. ' In the second year's experiments the gluten feed was tested against an equal weight of a mixture of barley meal and undecorticated cotton cake in equal parts. In this case the animals getting the mixture of barley meal and cotton cake, gave the best . results. In the third year's experiments roots were tested against molasses as before, and sliced roots were also tested against pulped roots. The pen of animals getting roots again came out bette- than those getting the molasses, and the pen of animals with got the sliced rootscame out decisively better than those getting the roots pulped. The results are thus summarised : "These experiments teach that molasses, although much relished by stock, cannot satisfactorily take the place of roots in a nutritive ration. Further experiments, however, are desirable to determine whether equally good results' might not be obtained from molasses as from roots if the bulk given in each case were the same. Molasses, however, may serve a purpose in the feeding of young stock when other foodstuffs are scarce, and in the way of making other foodstuffs palatable. It does not seem that gluten feed possesses feeding properties equal to a mixture of undecorti•cated cotton cake and barley meal. Then again, as better results wero obtained from sliced than from pulped roots, it would seem that tho extra trouble involved in.tho case of the latter is not warranted."

SKIM MILK POE PIGS. Protein, and particularly digestible protein, is the ingredient in which nearly all the common home-grown foodstuffs of the farm are Inore or less deficient, and it is really the chronic want of a sufficiency of it which generally ambarasses dairy fawners in all their animal-feeding operations—if they only knew it. It is just here where skimmilk, with its more than enough protein, can be put to its utmost practical use. Skim-milk contains practically all the natural protein of the milk, as well as the milk sugar and mineral matter. Just as protein is indispensable for flesh formation, mineral matter is equally so for bone formation. These two- formations—flesh and bone —constitute real growths in the animal, as distinct from the mere accumulation of fatty tissue. It should be every bacon-producer's care to so feed his animals that fat formation waits on flesh formation, and good bacon.on both. This cannot be accomplished without adequate protein and mineral matter —the peculiar virtue of skim milk. In no other food in nature does either protein or mineral matter occur as assimilable and as palatable as in the curd and ash respectively of milk—either whole or skimmed. In having a feeding material of such nature daily in his hand, the dairy-farmer is certainly in a favoured position as a producer of prime bacon. It calls, however, for proper lisc, viz., thjat of balancing other fodders not so plentifully endowed with precious protein. .The mere absence of protein, fat, starch, and mineral matter in a! food is not enough—a further necessity is that they be present in proper proportion. Skim-milk's one sidedncss is due to its excessive protein-content and the comparative deficiency or carbohydrate; but another imperfection which must also be allowed for is the water content —superabundant, yet dissociable—which unduly adds to the bulk. If skim-milk-alone be the pig's portion, his stomach becomes fully distended long before he has acquired a sufficiency of starchy ingredient. Overgorging is the only alterative to going deficient —neither of which is ever associated with niaximuni returns. Some farmers foolishly think that, hy souring the milk and discarding the whey, they are getting rid of the surplus water .only. This is a serious mistake, because the water removed in this way takes along with it tho milk-sugar—the starchy ingredient in which the skimmilk is already deficient. Extraction of the surplus water is not , commercially practicable ,and would be fo-.l" : to attempt, seeing-that the same j desired effect can be arrived at by supplementing the milk with other foodstuffs over-rich in starch (to balance the surplus protein of the milk solids) and as free from water as possible (to balance the surplus water-content of the ! milk). The ideal "thickening," thore- | fore, for skim-milk, should bo the more starchy and drier grain concentrates, " ■viz., maize, wheat, barley, _etc., and pollard, "which, though fattening in themselves, have a. higher proportion of starch to protein than,is required, and "only need a little more of tho latter to about all that a pig re-

quirics in the way of food' —that."is, inadequate water is also' provided. Skimmilk is admirably adapted to supply; tho. little which grain lacks; and, because the deficiency is little, at can be fully met by an amount of .-skim-milk-not beyond the pig's capacity to absorb. If any more than 31b of skim-milk is fed to each pound of grain, the farmer may depend that the pig's progress is being hampered for:want of sufficient starch. This ration should never bo exceeded even in a young, growing.pig, in-which the demand for protein and mineral'is much greater than in an older' one. As the pig develops to full size, tho protein skim-milk should bo still further reduced, .even eventually down to the .pound to pound ration. 'Provided normal times prevail, the pig will repay with interest every pound of pollard so used. . • A farmer content to use bare milk gets, from sSslb of -skim-milk, a return of about 1441b of carcase 'bacon, which at 4d a lb, is worth 4s lOd ; while another farmer believing in copious pollard can get back all the pollard cost and a further 9s from the same quantity of skim-milk. By spending lCs for 16 bushels of pollard, to supplement tb,o 5851b of skim-milk, 751b, or £1 5s worth, of carcase bacon is produced, instead of the 1441b which might be expected from bare milk. Deducting the 16s for pollard leaves 9s clear to compare with his sceptical neighbour's 4s lOd. To get the increased turnover, with its gross money return £.l "ss, instead of 4s lOd, the farmer certainly had first to lay out 16s. The man who is not willing to spend this is practically accepting 4s- lOd in preference to 9s.