VALUE OF FODDER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23228, 23 December 1938, Page 4

VALUE OF FODDER

YOUNG GRASS SUPERIOR CHANGE IN COMPOSITION In one of his several addresses to farmers in Australia, Dr. Hammond touched interestingly on tho value of fodders at various stages of growth, 110 pointed out, for instance, that when grass or fodder plants are young lambs will put on about 51b. a week. When the crop has reached the flowering stage they put on only about 21b. a week, but when it is beginning to seed the rate of gain drops to lib. a week. The reason for this, he explained, is that plants change in composition as they grow up. A chemical analysis of grass shows that in its young stages it contains 26 per cent protein, and in other stages only 10 per cent. Young grass also contains very little fibre, while mature grass contains a lot. Tho result is that when lambs eat the old and mature grass they merely fill themselves with packing which has very little nutritive value, but which satisfies their appetites, when they lie down and eat no moro. The lamb that eats young grass, on the other hand, gets a high amount of nutriment in small bulk; it remains hungry longer and eats more, with the result that its rate of growth is much faster. •