DRIED BUTTERMILK
Milk in some form is helpful in rearing all young things, and for the poultryman who has no skim of milk dried buttermilk powder offers an excellent substitute. It contains most of the valuable foods contained in whole milk, excepting the fat, which is not appreciated by chickens or fowls. The powder comes in two forms, since there are two types of manufacture. The "spray process" yields a very fine powder, whilst the steam-roller type yields a granular form. The latter keeps better when exposed to air, and the fine powder, form should be kept in airtight tins unless used quickly. Very high in protein content, the buttermilk powder is most useful for feeding to chicks, and quite apart from its nutritional value its use will help to prevent infection from coccidiosis. When shicks are off colour, especially when from four to seven weeks old, try moving them to fresh range after a mild dose of Epsom salts, then feeding them for a week on 15 to 20 per cent, buttermilk in their mash. The result will surprise the owner, since the chicks seem to take a new lease of life and grow quickly immediately.
If skim milk is available it can bo fed fresh or in the form of curds, but not both. The alternate feeding of sour and fresh milk will cause bowel trouble, especially in young chicks. When plenty of skim milk is available the best' way of using it is to produce as dry a curd, as possible by keeping the skim in an old barrel, drawing off the surplus whey from the bottom and adding fresh, skim daily. On the top will float a good dry curd, and after removing as much as is required, the balance should be thoroughly mixed with a spade. The curd can be placed on some sacking to drain, and then be fed out in troughs either plain or mixed with pollard. With buttermilk powder at 2Jd per Ib, skim milk is worth about_ Id to ljd per gallon. Strictly speaking sour milk should not be fed in metal containers, since poisoning may result, and in any case the containers should bo kept thoroughly clean. r 6 *
DRIED BUTTERMILK
Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 78, 29 September 1934, Page 21
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Evening Post. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Log in