VALUE OF GREENFEED

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 1, 2 January 1937, Page 19

VALUE OF GREENFEED

The value of an abundance of greens cannot be over-estimated. While it has been proved that birds will lay well without greenfeed this is no reason why a shortage should be permitted. Bran and special substitutes will take the place of greens to some extent, but trouble will result in most cases. Fresh, succulent greens supply bulk, roughage, mineral matter, vitamins, and ash. Just as an apple a day helps towards good health in human beings, so will a regular amount of greenfeed keep the fowls in good condition. It is unwise to fluctuate the amount too much, yet this is the difficult point, since it is not always easy to secure a regular supply of greens. One of the best methods of feeding greens is to include it in the morning mash, replacing some of the bran. Yet another method is to feed a luncheon of greens mixed with a little mash and, lastly, chopped greens can be fed after the grain meal. Avoid any greens that are coarse and too fibrous and try to feed a variety. Colds, roup, and fowl pox are likely to develop in the autumn months, but care in the feeding of greens now will do more than anything else to prevent trouble in this direction. As an additional precaution try the old practice of Epsom salts and sulphur. On only one morning a week include a cupful of sulphur for every 100 adults, well mixed through the mash; the same morning next week dissolve j one half-pound of Epsom salts for every 100 adults in the liquid used for mixing the mash and carry on with this alternative "dosing" until about the end of May. This is an old treatment, often laughed at but one which gives results. Just one other point as regards the young stock. If intestinal worms are present, autumn egg production cannot be expected to be good. To discover whether any worms are present, select two or three of the weaker and more backward pullets and send them to the offlcer-in-charge, Wallaceville Laboratories, Wallaceville, Wellington, asking for a post-mortem examination for the presence of any intestinal worms and, if any are found, for the correct treatment for their eradication. Home-made post-mortems will help, but expert advice is always best. All deworming should be completed before egg production commences and care should be taken to avoid reinfestation from fowl-sick ground or dirty litter. Chopped up onions and tobacco | dust are two of the best worm preventives known, and from one to two ounces of tobacco dust should be fed j in the mash of all adults all the year around. Some types of worms are common and not very harmful; others if present in even small numbers will ■cause serious losses.