CROPS FOR PIGS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18941, 12 February 1925, Page 14

CROPS FOR PIGS.

Many of the crops commonly used for pigs have a ratio that would be fairly correct if they were used by themselves, and it is only because of their bulky nature that tho pigs cannot live upon them entirely without meals at all. The crops to which this applies are, grass in the early summer, kale, rape, and cabbage. These can always bo fed along with 11 correctly-balanced meal mixture; for their composition is so nearly correct that tho ratio of the total ration is not seriously upset. Green oats or green maize are both rather deficient in albuminoids, so that if these arc used in any quantity the meal mixture should contain a trifle more albuminoid than would be necessary if it were used alono The difference is not large, however, and it would be met by replacing 5 to 10 per cent, of the barley or maize meal by beans or peas. On the other hand, tares or vetches, clover, sainfoin and lucerne, all contain rather an excess of albuminoids, so that with these fed in fairly large quantities it is necessary to reduce the albuminoids in the meal mixture, particularly in the case of lucerne.