COOKED FOOD FOR FOWLS.

North Otago Times, 27 October 1906, Page 2 (Supplement)

COOKED FOOD FOR FOWLS.

Tho following from the "S. D. Telegraph," contains hints and directions of importance to all poultry keepers:—Few peoplo cook their poultry feed, except those who use slaughter-house and kitchen waste, and are therefore compelled under tho Noxious Trades Act to boil such food. In such cases it is done simply for hygienic purposes, and not with the idea of improving its nutritive Value, as a matter of fact the more meal and other forms of animal food are cooked, the less digestible and nutritious they become. Those who cook their cereal foods—that is, grains and meals derived therotfrom-do so with the idea chiefly of making it more palatable, There ia howevor, an advantage in cooking, which applies principally, hut not entirely, to tho feeding of young stock, intended for the market. Experiments have proved that cooking makes grains more digestible, and renders the feeding properties which they contain more of access by the gastric juices, resulting in a greater absorption'of the nutritious elements. This tends to quick growth, which in turn may bo 6aia to represent quick returns, Another point in connection with the cooking of cereal foods has been raised in England, where, in a Press controversy, it was contended that by cooking maize, for instance, it was rendered less fattening and more nourishing in other ways. If this were true, of _ course, it would be an important point in summer feeding here. On referring tho question to Mr F, B, Guthrie, the Government Agricultural Chemist. We were. informed that maize would be just as'fattening it cooked, as noue of the fattening properties would be lost in cooking. "It ifl quite possible, however," he added, "that it would be less heating, as the heating of the blood is due very much to increased digestive action." On the subject of cooking grqin foods, Mr Gu(brio went on to remark that "cooking has a distinctly beneficial offoct. There is no doubt that cooked, that is, boiled or steamed, grain ia more digestible than raw, Cereals contain 60 to 70 per cent of carbohydrates, which consist almost entirely of.starch. Starch itself is indigestfolo, and cooking converts it into sugar, and renders it moro readily digestible. Its feed value 1b in 'this way increased. The animal would not only gel more nourishment out of the same volumo of food in a given time, but out of the same volumo a greater quantity would be assimilated. At the same time it would not be wise to feed an animal entirely on cooked foods, as they do not promote the (low of the gastric juices in tlio same way as raw foods. Tho cooking of grains, as I have shown, results in moro completed absorption, in digestion, but nil animal could not live entirely on predigestod foods. You must have something for tho stomach io do, and therein lies the importance of having bulk or_a certain proportion of waste matter in foods."