PIG-FEEDING EXPERIMENTS.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 14338, 25 April 1912, Page 5

PIG-FEEDING EXPERIMENTS.

During the years 190-j-IO a t-erics of seven experiments was carried out at the Dairy School, Kilmarnock. Tho object was to discover how best to utilise separated milk and whey in pig fr.-diug, and what meals or mixtures 01 meals might be proiitably used to rep ace or stippleinent the liquid food. r'ivo experiments were conducted betwiKii UXj-j and BJUii with lots of .voting .pigs. Tho number in each lot was 'eight in 1900 and four or five in succeeding yeans. All the lots were kept under the same general conditions. The pigs received practically an ad lib. quantity of food, though careful record was kept of the quantities actually consumed. The meals wero not cooked or scalded, but were soaked for about twelve hours in cold water. Except in one case, where the effect of co.d food,-; was tested, tho food was given warm. In 1905 the foods used were:—(l) Separated milk and barley mea!; (2) whey and barley meal; (3) water, barley meal, and a little bran: (4) whey and maize mea! ; (5 V whey and Paisley i meal (the latter a local by-product of i maize, rich in abuiniuoids and oil): (6) i whey alone. Theso were repeated in two experiments in 190(5. with tho addition of whey and Paisley meal fed cold. In 1907-&, in addition, one lot was fed on whey and barley meal during the first twenty-eight days of tho feeding period, on whey and'a mixture of barley meal ar.d 'maize meal during the second twenty-eight days, and on whey and maize meal during the remainder |of the experiment. In another lot this ! order was reversed.

It was found that whey was profitably utilised when fed alono to pigs, though the return was not nearly so great as when it was partly replaced by some of tho meals. Taking an average of tho wholo experiments, it was found that pigs fed on whey alono increasod in live weight at tho rate of lib per day, and gavo a return of ,d per gallon' for the whey and a further sum of 8s 7d per pig towards other expenses. • On tho whole, when meal wasifed in addition to the whey there was'--a greater and more ' rapid m-, crease, in live weight, Of the meals given with whey, maize meal produced over the whole experiments tli.: greatest average increase, and pigs ted on it gave tho best returns for the meal and whey consumed. It likewise gave a better return than the changing oi meals during the feeding period. Tho proportion of maize meal to whey which gave the best return was 2lb meal to •_i gallons whey on an average, with a smaller quantity of meal earlier, and a larger quantity later, in the feuding period. Whey and Paisley meal proved more profitable than whey and barley meal; in fact, the latter food failed to show a better return than whey alono.

The results obtained from a comparison of separated milk and barley meal with whey and barley meal showed that the relative values of separated milk and whey for bacon production wero as 3 to 2. Tho single rest on the question showed that to. produce the same increase 12J per cent, less dry matter was required with warm food than with coldThe amount of dry matter in the food required to produce lib increase in live weight varied with the kind of food, the live weight of the pi*r, and other conditions. In general, most was required when whey was fed alone, and i least when maize meal and whey were I fed in the oroportion of 21l> to 1\ gallons. The bacon-producing values of separated milk, whey, and meals respectively were found to be increased when the liquid and solid foods wero combined. The quantity of food required to produce an increase of lib live weight grew I in nronortion to tho weight of the pig. j At "2141b it required oO per cent, more I food for ttic same increase than at j 1181b, and 19 per cent, more than the j average amount required hy animals of 118 to 2141b live weight. The live ' weight of the pigs increased from 100 to 1 2101b in nine or ten weeks. Lin average j rate of 1.721b per head per day) when ! ltd on separated milk and barley meal. j When the. ration was maize meal and I whey, it required eleven weeks to proI duco the same increase (an average rate !of 1.401b per day). i 1-it-s fed on whey and maize meal gave | the highest percentage of carcase weight tn live-we'ght. and of bacon to carcase weight. Barley meal without skim milk or whey produced a bacon inferior in quality to that from meals given with milk or whey. Barley meal and separated milk _nve in every case the best quality of bacon. When whey was : used in such quantity as to provide a I considerable proportion of the dry j matter of the food a **oed quality of ' bacon was obtained, with all the meals. j In inOfl and 1910 tests were made j with: fl'i Whey .and a mixture of equal } parts barley meal and ma is*.© meal: (2) I same as (]), with addition of cooked Ipotatoc'--: (''» same (1), with addI t-on of uncooked potatoes: (4) whey a r.d \ a mixture of two parts of barley mea! {to one part rice meal: to) whey and a I mixture of equal parts barley meal I and Pablev meal.

j On tho average of theso last two oxI periment"- whey; with a mixture of equal parts barley and maize meal gave j the best results, both as re_nrd". live I weight increase ano the balance remaini ing after paying for food cnn=umed: i while the barley meal ;iiid PnHey w-vd

'[ mixture proved better than the barley ' meal and rice meal. Neither lot 2 nor : lot 3 "rave any return for the potatoes supplied.