PIGS AND IRON.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18680, 9 April 1924, Page 14

PIGS AND IRON.

NECESSITY IN FOOD.

What effect has a deficiency of iron m the diet of pigs? A paper of great value on the subject was recently contributed to the Biochemical Journal by Dr. J. I. McGowan and Dr. A. Crichton, of the Rowett Kcsearch Institute, Aberdeen. It had been the custom at a large breeding establishment for pigs to keep the sows ou* in the open on pasture till within a fortnight of farrowing. They were then brought into the house and put in pens with' cement floors, walls, etc., and fed chiefly on fish meal, bruised maize and draff or brewers' offal in certain proportions, together with an abundant supply of water. The inportant point was that the ration mentioned contained very little iron The sows farrowed in due course, and'the young pigs did well for about three or four weeks, when they began to develop illness and die off, many of them very suddenly. Without going into the technicalities of the progress of the ailment or the condition of the carcases, as described in this paper by the learned scientists, it is sufficient to say that the conclusion these gentlemen arrived at was that while the sows were out at grass they obtained abundant iron from the ■oil. When taken into the pens the supply of iron ceased. Owing to a certain amount of iron stored up, they were able to carry on for a period, but after a time this supply was insufficient for themselves and the requirements of the growing litters of pigs. To test the soundness of this conclusion a group of pigs already in- the grip of the disease •were put on to large doses 0 f ferric oxide, which was administered in their food. The sudden deaths ceased at once, the ailing pigs assumed new life, recovered their appetite for food, and speedily resumed a normal condition.