A NEW STOCK FOOD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23517, 3 June 1938, Page 26

A NEW STOCK FOOD

DRIED SUGAR BEET TOPS Experiments carried out in England have shown that a useful cattle food, which will give “ summer colour ” to winter milk, can be produced from dried sugar beet tops. “ The meal produced from the tops,” a factory official said, “ has a higher carotene content than that of grass, and we consider that it could replace part of the cereal content of a mixed ration. The starch equivalent is about 60 per cent., which is much the same as that of oats. “At present values, the product should be worth £6 or £7 a ton. “ A disadvantage may be found in a tendency to milk taint, but feeding tests are not yet sufficiently advanced to give conclusive information on this point. But in any case there would be no risk of taint if the cows were fed after milking." Tests with cows having four ounces of the meal in the ration have shown a marked improvement in the colour of the milk. Feeding experiments are now being carried out with a ration of two ounces per cow. In all the tests the results are being compared with those obtained by feeding dried carrot meal, which has been found to give “summer colour ” to the milk when fed at the rate of two ounces per cow.