PIGS IN WINTER

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19337, 29 May 1937, Page 13

PIGS IN WINTER

HIGH QUALITY FEEDS THE PERFECT SUPPLEMENT CHEAP FOOD AVOIDED NOTHING FOR SOMETHING By M. J. Scott, 8.A., 8.5 c.., Dept. of Agriculture. "With Hie disappearance of the milk supply during the month of May, pigraisers who still have some pigs on hand are faced with the difficulty of getting through the winter months, or rather the months in which milk is in short, supply. There arc many different: ways of meeting the winter feed shortage, and most, farmers have tried some of them in different: years; Some avoid pigs in winter, selling their wenriors or stores in the yards before the end of .May for the proverbial song, or selling them through the freezing wonts at sucking pig weights for a fair price. Those who get rid of the winter responsibility make difficulties for them-selves-in October, November and December when their young pigs are unable to cope with abundant milk, and they have to waste some of'it as a. consequence. All thiugs considered, it might be a wise solution of the difficulty, but when one sees the profits that can be made by the wintering of stores on home-grown roots, plus bought grain, it is difficult to believe that having no pigs in winter time adds materially to profit. Living on Body Reserves. The next way of wintering pigs is to got them fairly well grown towards the end. of the milk season, and then turn them out to grass, or provide just enough food to keep them alive. They supply much of their feed requirements from their own body and may lose up to 301 b. weight in the (50 days of: June and July. This practice lias arisen doubtless because farmers have seen that sheep and cows that are starved for these months ultimately recover, and at the end of three months' grass feeding are just as fat as if they had been well fed all the time. The cows and sheep so treated arc not being fed to produce a carcase as a rule; their milk or wool ape the production that is looked for from them. Further, they are often full grown animals and finally their grass feed supply is abundant and cheap. Pigs differ from them in all these respects, and cannot, ever be starved profitably for any length of time. Usual immaturity is the strongest reason why pigs cannot be starved in winter. Starving usually results in some disease getting entry into the pig's system, and either killing him or making him a most profitless pig to feed. It lias been demonstrated times without number that pigs can be wintered profitably on a foundation of about ,11b. of good meal in addition to paddock-feed, grass, roots, green crops, artichokes, or even ensilage in unlimited quantities. One hundred days' feeding may cost 12s (id to 15s per pig, but if the feed is of the right kind it converts a pig that was worth 10s into one that is worth 30s, and provides a pig in September that is really worth feeding. High Quality Feeds. "Where the grain or meal used is designed to provide a foundation for a, bulk home-grown supply its quality wants to be the best procurable. Two things only determine quality in a pig feed for winter use. , There must be little fibre in it, and it should be rich in protein. Meat-meal is the perfect, winter supplement. It is followed closely by linseed-meals, pea-meal, and then the cereal meals all together, viz., barley, maize, wheat, oats, pollard and bran. Low-priced mixtures are unsuitable for wintering, pigs on. Many have been very pleased with (lie results from these latter meals, but as a result of having seen these compared frequently with meat-meal one has little hesitation in saying that those who arc satisfied with the cereals will be delighted with the meals that are rich in protein. The Cost of Quality. Sonic farmers have acquired the viewpoint that they must buy cheap feeds, and set 1 heir faces against highpriced feeds. While the department has always preached the necessity ol a cheap feed supply, it has staled also that the ideal feed supply is made up half of home-grown roots and half of milk and grain of barley quality. It is folly to buy low quality feeds of any kind even though the.v are lowpriced. It is hard to believe that farmers imagine they get something for nothing- when they buy low-priced feeds. The boot is usually on the other foot; they buy nothing for something. Low-priced feeds are always compounded of lower-priced ingredients high in fibre that renders the better ingredients in the mixture valueless.