FEEDING MEAT MEAL

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIV, Issue 10, 22 December 1933, Page 11

FEEDING MEAT MEAL

SUBJECT OF INVESTIGATIONS COMPARISON WITH YOUNG GRASS The value of meat meal Is most apparent in the period before the calf can feed fairly extensively on grass, and also when grazing conditions during hand feeding are poor. When the calf has available to it, and is old enough to take advantage of, young vigorously growing grasses, there is less need for feeding protein-rich supplements, because such grass generally is high in protein content. For comparison an average sample of young grass from a vigorously growing top-dressed pasture would contain approximately 5 per cent, of protein—that is, 5 lb of protein to each 100 lb of grass, Where meat meal is being fed calves are less likely to scour, but when this does occur it is an indication that too much whey or skim milk is being fed, and in sueh cases the amount should always be reduced. Skim milk should bo feil either always fresh or always sour—keeping consistently to which ever method is customary. To feed fresh milk one day and sour the next is to invite scours. Feeding fresh skim milk is to be preferred to feeding it sour. It is important, of course, that the calves should have access to a good supply of clean water. The feeding of meat meal to dairy calves has been the subject of a fairly extensive investigation by the New Zealand Department of Agriculture, officers of which contend that equally satisfactory results have been achieved where this concentrated food stuff has been used with either whey or skim milk. In a few cases, the investigation showed, farmers had had unsatisfactory results with meat meal, but, in the main, these were found to be due to avoidable causes, such as poor quality meal, due to too high a percentage of hair or other fibre, too much bone, or the presence of very coarse particles of bone. Other causes'of failure included the feeding of too much skim milk or whey, tho use of insanitary utensils and the feeding of too great a percentage of meat meal—particularly in the first stages —causing digestive disturbances and scouring. To secure uniformly good results it is necessary that the calves be given only meat meals containing between 50 and 60 per cent, of protein, free of hair or other fibre, and above suspicion in regard to their digestibility and assimilation. Average, good quality meat meals have given results which compare very favourably with other foodstuffs, and where records of costs have been kept these have shown meat meal to be one of the most economical conentrates available to the calf raiser. In official New Zealand tests, calves fed on meat meal in the quantities recommended above showed an average gain in weight, over a period of four months, of 1.4 lb per day—a very satisfactory result. In another test 32 calves increased their weight in 112 days from 112 lb to 276 lbs—or at the rate of 1.46 lbs. per head per day. In this case tho total cost of rearing the calves (exclusive of the new milk given during the first fortnight) was estimated at less than 6/- per calf. An interesting test was made by one farmer. who fed 1" calves on linseed meal

and 15 on meat meal with whey, the result being that the meat meal-fed calves were far superior in condition to the others. Other practical experiences in New Zealand, as well as in Victoria, definitely indicate that where meat meal is fed to calves correctly the results amply justify its use.