OATS AS A FOOD FOR PIGS.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume I, Issue 2, 17 April 1880, Page 4

OATS AS A FOOD F OR PIGS.

The abundance of the oat crop, coupled with the low price for this cereal, has caused several farmers to institute inquiries as to the value of oats for feeding pigs, and the relative value of wheat and barley for the same purpose. In answering questions of this kind (writes the New Zealand Country Journal) there are many points which must first bo ascertained, such for instance as the price of the various cereals, weight per bushel of each, their component parts, the breed of pigs, and general management. Given wheat at 3s 63. per bushel of 601bs, barley at 3s 6d per bushel of 501bs, and oats at Is 6d per bushel of 401bs; — according to some agricultural chemists, wheat contains 481bs nutritive matter per bushel; barley 321bs per bushel of SOlbs ; and oats 221bs per bushel of 401bs — accordingly the same moneys worth of oats should produce about equal results with wheat, and considerably more than the same moneys worth of barley. The American hogfeeders find that it takes 51bs of Indian corn steeped in water to produce one pound not of pork. Experiment has shown that it takes s|lbs of crushed barley to produce one pound

net of pork, which at 3s 6d per bushel for the barley, would make the pork cost about 4yd per lb. Assuming that the analysis given above is tolerably correct, the result would be more favorable to the oats as feeding stuff, owing of course to the low price. These results, it must be observed, are simply a record of the meat producing power of the several kinds of corn experimented upon. Experience has shown that the same amount of grain, given in conjunction with turnips, mangels, or potatoes, produces more meat in proportion, and enables a larger number of animals to be fattened at a less cost. It is a good plan to crush the oats, and if moistened with milk wash, or even water, so much the better; numerous trials have proved that mixing the meal with water, and given as slops, is a wasteful plan ; many of the most experienced feeders of pigs use the meal dry, letting the animalß have access to water, the theory being that the pigs had to consume much moi*e water when the corn was given in the slop state than was necessary, thereby weakening the action of the stomach, and rendering necessary the consumption of a certain amount of food for the purpose of bringing the water up to the temperature of the body ; this is particularly the case in winter time. These may to some seem unimportant points, ibut they are far from being so ; the neglect or otherwise of such considerations must determine the amount of profit and loss attending the pig-feeder's operations. We believe that with a good stock of wellbred pigs, properly managed, and with oats at their present low price, and pork at not less than 4d per pound, a very handsome return may be realised.