FOOD FOR PIGS

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 2312, 3 December 1925, Page 10

FOOD FOR PIGS

VALUE OF GREEN FEED. MILL AND DAIRY PRODUCTS. Lucerne, either for grazing- or for cutting and feeding in the sty, is the best green feed for the boar, sows and young- pigs. Wheat, cats, rye and broadcast maize are also very suitable as green feeds for g-razing: climbing varieties of maize can also be sown among- the maize. Sorghum should be fed only when matured. Rape is a fine winter crop, rankingnext. to lucerne for grazing- purposes. Jerusalem artichokes are very drought resistant, and grow well in light soils. The pigs should be turned in to harvest these after the plants have flowered. Sweet potatoes, suitable for warm districts, (7 ro good for pigs when fed with a small percentage of maize or other grains, and skim milk; they sire utilised in the same manner as artichokes for grazing. Sugurbeet and mangels are excellent feed when raw. and can readily Vie stored in a pit. Potatoes should lie boiled and fed with skim milk or maize: the water in which the potatoes hnvp been boiled should not be given to the pigs. Pumpkins can be largely grown and should Ire fed raw. Wheat and barley should bo crushed and steamed for a few hours and fed with skim milk or whey. With regard to mill refuse—pollard, bran and sweepings—the market value of these determines whether it pays to feed on them or not, but a very little pollard nvxed in milk, keeps pi ’-s growing and fattening- well. Bran, which is properly rather a laxative than a pig' food, is very useful for; brood sows. Sweepings from mills, \ etc,, should bo used carefully, as they | often contain a lot of rubbish. It is] wise to soak the sweepings, so that! any nails, nuts off bolts, or similar | dangerous foreign objects may sink and bo separated. Skim milk, butter-milk and whey are widely used as food for pigs. Skim milk, which should be fed with crushed grains or pollard, is a g-ood fleshproducing food. It should not bo used straight from the 'separator, but allowed to stand an hour or so, so that, the gas may work out of it. When feeding- butter-milk always add pollard or crushed wheat, barley, or maize, otherwise the pigs will bo soft and blubbery when dressed. Whey I also should only be fed when mixed] with crushed grains. To avoid any chance of tuberculosis, all milk produels should bo boiled before being fed to pigs.