PIGS AND BACON.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19141, 6 October 1925, Page 16

PIGS AND BACON.

IMPORTANCE OF FOOD. PROPORTIONS TO USE. PROTEINS AND MINERALS. Our ] .on don correspondent writes If New Zealand intends going in extensively to develop the pig industry, some of the advice as to the feeding of the bacon-pig, offered officially by the British Ministry of Agriculture, may be useful to farmers. It is pointed out that success in the economical production of good bacon pigs turns upon the three cardinal factors of breeding, management and feeding, j For the purposes of the feeder, a good pig j will be one that possesses such a conformation that in the final product the more valuable parts of the carcases are well-de-veloped and the inferior parts kept down to a small proportion. More than this, the good pig will possess an inherited tendency to quick growth from a minimum quantity of food. | The farmer must start with a good pig, so bred as to be capable of rapid growth j and of the right type required by the bacon curer. Management comes next in order of importance. Feeding is an important part of management, but by no means the whole. It is essential that the pig shall be kept in good health and always with a keen edge to his appetite when meal-times come round. The various arts whereby these ends are secured represent the technical equipment of the good pig-man, and can only be acquired by practical experience. It is almost certainly bad economy, and often, indeed, risky, to give a pig as much food as he will eat. The better practice is to have definite meal-times, at each of which he receives all he will eat, and at just long enough intervals to ensure a keen appetite for each meal. With the sty-fed pig this will usually mean three, or, at most, four meals daily when the animal is small, two, or, at mos f three, meals when he is half-grown, and two full meals daily in the'later stages. The pig running out on grass or green food will naturally take less trough food and need not be fed so often in the earlier stages. The Quantity of Food. Taking the case of the ordinary sty-fed pig receiving only a slop of meals and water, he will, if fed as suggested, consume l£lb. to 21b. of meal per day at eight weeks old, when he will usually weigh round about 301b., and, as he grows, his appetite will steadily rise until, at 30 weeks old, weighing, say, about 2201b., he will consume to 81b. of meal per day. If separated milk, whey or potatoes are available, the consumption of meals will be reduced by using these, the saving usually amounting to lib. of meal for about 61b. of separated milk, or 121b. of whey, or 416. of potatoes. Even more important than the quantity of food is the kind of food. The first point to keep in mind is that the pig possesses only a comparatively small digestive apparatus and is poorly equipped for dealing with tough, fibrous material. From this, it follows that bulky, fibrous foods like grass, silage, brewers' grains, etc., ejn only play a modest part in the ration of the "pig, and except, perhaps, for a small allowance of greenstuff, such foods are probably best left iout of the ration. Even oats, as a rule, do not give very satisfactory results owing to their fibrous tusk. The present-day demand is mostly for a pig that kills between about 1601b. and 2101b., which means a pig that is by no means full-grown. Hence, for a part, if not for the whole, of the feeding period w-i have to grow and fatten the pig at the same time. Now, to secure satisfactory growth, as distinct from fattening, it is essential that the food shall contain .adequate quantities of two particular Ikinds of ingredients, namely, proteins and mineral matters—proteins for the development of the muscular tissues, arid minerals for the growing of bone. Meat-meal, fishmeal, pea-meal, or milk in the ration will j give the richer protein mixtures for the | younger pigs, to be replaced steadily as [ time goes on by starchy foods like barley or maize meals. The Mineral Element. The minerals must also be adequate in j quantity and suitable in kind. Probably the mineral element most commonly de- j ficient in pig rations is lime. In this con- j nection the feeder should remember that j all cereal foods, such as barley, maize, J wheat, oats, milling offals and maize pro- j ducts are poor in lime, so that if the ration j consists entirely of this kind of food it is j certainly desirable to give an addition ofj lime in"some form. Foods which tend to j improve the ration in this respect are beans and peas, but even better are milk, fish-meal, and meat and bone-meal. It is also practicable to give the extra lime in the form of fine-ground carbonate of lime or chalk, or as steamed bone flour of good quality. If these substances are used, a suitable quantity will usually be about £oz. to {oz. per day, according to the size of the pig. Safest Food to Use. A further point that should receive the attention of the feeder is the possible influence of the food on the quality of the bacon. It is commonly agreed that the ingredient of the food which most requires attention in this respect is the oil, and it is probably desirable to keep the oil-content of the mixed meals down to two or three per cent. Foods which most frequently gives rise to trouble :n this respect are maize-meal, rice-meal and fishmeal. the last-named having the added disadvantage that, if used excessively, it is liable to impart, a fishy taint to the bacon besides lowering its general quality. The safest food to use in liberal proportions is undoubtedly pollard of good quality, and the average feeder will be well advised always to include a good proportion of it in the rations on which he starts his young pigs. He will also be well advised always to include one of the J animal foods, such as milk, fish-meal, or < meat and bone-meal, in moderate proportions in the rations of young pigs, reducing the proportions of these foods steadily j as the pig grows. As an example of the ( kinds of ration which the Ministry considers suitable for the 8-12 week old pig, is a mixture of 10-15 per cent, of good, white fish-meal (or meat and bone-meal), 40 per cent, of good pollard, and 50 to 55 per cent, of barley-meal. 5 As the pig grows, the fish-meal and pollard should be steadily reduced and the barley-meal fraction of the diet correspondingly increased until, by the time the pig weighs 2201b., or thereabouts, the, fish-meal is entirely eliminated and the j pollard reduced to about 20 per cent. It < is essential throughout that the digestive! process shall work normally, as indicated | by the nature of the droppings and, if, at any stage there be signs of constipa- ' tion, this roust be dealt with at once, and | can usually be remedied by the inclusion of about ip per cent, of bran in the ration. |