SUGAR BEET FOR PIGS

Southland Times, Issue 23374, 4 December 1937, Page 19

SUGAR BEET FOR PIGS

ENCOURAGING RESULTS IN TARANAKI A crop of sugar beet grown on the Waimate West demonstration farm for the purpose of investigation is creating interest as a feed for pigs, writes Mr J. E. Davies, Fields Division, in the October issue ,of The New Zealand Journal of Agriculture. It is the usual farm practice to winter store pigs in open small grass paddock runs with a ration of mangels, carrots and whey, continues Mr Davies. This year, however, root growing was confined to an area of sugar beet with the exception of a very small area of carrots. A start was made in feeding sugar beet to the pigs during May last and although at the commencement a few carrots were fed out with the beet the pigs selected ate the sugar beet before the carrots. The manager states that the pigs are particularly partial to sugar beet, and he has never had pigs to winter and thrive so well. A total of 22 store pigs and one sow with a litter of nine were regularly fed with sugar beet. The total amount fed in conjunction with whey was from 651 b to 751 b a day and the

grass run area was approximately one and a-half acres. The beet was lifted, leaves topped and allowed to ripen some ten days prior to feeding.