ON THE LAND

Taranaki Daily News, 15 August 1931, Page 28 (Supplement)

ON THE LAND

FEEDING OF PIGS.

FRESH MILK AND WHEY

Are pig-keepers always careful to feed separated milk, butter-milk, whey, and swill as fresh as possible, and not to allow it to become stale, sour, fermented, or otherwise unwholesome? Not only do these foods deteriorate nutriently when they become stale, but they may become so unwholesome as t. impair the digestion and health of the pigs, says an exchange. Sour milk, lit the ordinary sense, is not unwholesome, but a degree of sourness, fermentation, or staleness, may be reached, which seriously reduces the value of the food, if it docs not in effect render it unfit for consumption, even by pigs. Stale foods and swill are likely to become surcharged with bacteria o, a dangerous order. Hence diarrhoea of a virulent character may easily result. Anything that in any way upsets the pig' digestivcly is injurious and a cheek to its growth. The food might just as well be thrown away for all the good

it does, when it is unwholesome. If scraps of food from kitchen, dairy, and so forth, are utilised in good condition, the pigs will turn such waste to good account, but it must not be supposed that pigs can be successfully and profitably fed on garbage and fermented swill. It is . possible sometimes to use stale foods when boiled afresh and mixed with wholesome materials. In this way the noxious germs may be destroyed, but the nutritious deterioration that has taken place in the stale food cannot be overcome without the addition of fresh materials. . Pigs are not naturally dirty in habits or feeding, though they are sometimes compelled to wallow in unsavoury styes.

WEST AUSTRALIAN SHEEP.

SATURATION POINT..

The importance of breeding lambs of the highest quality for the export trade wan emphasised by the West Australian Director of Agriculture, Mr. G. L. Sutton, who indicated last month that the position with regard td the sheep industry in the western State was becoming acute. At present there’ were 10,000,000 sheep in West Australia, and this represented almo-'t saturation point, as there was not sufficient money for development of more land. This meant that there would be about 2,000,000 or 2,500,000 sheep beyond the State’s requirements. The Controller of Abattoirs, Mr. Golding, supported Mr. Sutton’s remarks, saying: ‘’Unless the surplus consists of lambs suitable for the British mai'ketit is not much use doing ’anything. huge .areas suitable for breeding This type of lamb, and if this is done there' is no reasc i why we should not compete with other countries. .He said the lamb which brought the highest price was 14 weeks old, and weighed about 361 b. “Unless we can put this type on the market,he concluded, I can see nothing in front of us but tragedy, unless we breed for wool again.”

DAIRY COW'S NEEDS.

MINERALS IN NUTRITION.

A fine, critical review of the position of research in regard to the mineral requirements of dairy cattle has been prepared by Mr. J. A. Crichton, M.A., 0. the Rowett Research Institute, and has been reprinted from the Journal of Dairy Research. The paper deals with the role of minerals in nutrition, with their special importance for dairy cattle with the secretion of the mineral constituents of milk, with the balance of minerals, with requirements for growth, and, finally, with the effect of deficiencies on yield, reproduction and health. Mr. Crichton points out how the feeder of dairy cattle to-day is striving to obtain more rapid growth in young cattle and more milk from cows in a shorter space of time. Strains of aniinals have been bred for rapi l production necessitating the use of food’ richer in constructive materials, such as calcium and phosphorus. He reminds us that with thia speeding-up of production .has come an incre sed use of concentrates or commercial by-produets, which, “because of their nature and previous ’treatment, are usually badly balanced foodstuffs.” ■ ' ‘ The discussion of data with to the balance of minerals in the laet ting animal is very interesting, and would tend to support the view that, with heavy-milking cows, at any rate, the comparatively high amount of phosphorus present in artificial diets cannot be relied upon to supply all the phosphorus needs of the animal. The work of Meigs, for example, demonstrates that the continuous loss of calcium will cause a loss of phosphorus, even though the ration may contain plenty of assimilable phosphorus, Bone tissue is mobilised to supply calcium, and the phosphorus of the bone is liberated at the same. time. This may be stored temporarily in the soft tissues, bi?t must ultimately be lost. Mr. Crichton expresses the opinion that, from the available data aflecting the balance of calcium and phosphorus, one would be warranted in concluding that, with any given milk yield, factors tending to reduce the loss of these elements are (1) a high intake of calcium and phosphorus in the food; (2) a suitable ratio of calcium to phosphorus in the gut; (3) a vitamin found in codliver oil, in green food, and to a varying extent, in forages when freshly cut or cured with the minimum exposure to weather; and (4) sunlight.

PERMANENT PASTURE,

TRIAL WITH PHOSPHATES,

With the object of testing the relative effects of basic slag and ground mineral phosphate on permanent pasture, experiments were laid down by the County Extension Department of the North of Scotland College of. Agriculture in the Home Farm, Crimongate, Lonmav, in 1928, and at Mains of Artrochie, Ellon, in 1930. At both centres the soil was a medium to heavy loam, and the grass had not previously received phosphate. At Crimonmogate manures were applied as follows per acre: —Plot 1, no manure; plot 2, sewt. Bessemer slag; plot 3, British slag, equivalent to plot 2; plot 4, ground mineral phosphate of equal money value to plot’ 2. ■ ...

Plote 2 and 3 were very mmiiar a,s regards the improvement effected in’the but both were much si perior to plot 4,- which received ground mineral phosphate. In this trial the apphcation of phosphate to old grass effected a very great improvement. ■ , . At Mains .of Artroelne, . slag and «round mineral phosphate were applied hi the following amount* per acre:— Plot 1, no manure;-plot 2, Sewt. J-ngltsh ala-r- plot 3, ground mineral phoapaate —equivalent amount. In this trial the sla<* plot was much bettor grazed than plot 3, and was decidedly superior, while the flush of grass on the manured plots w’a.s a good deal heavier than on p.ot 1.

MINERALS AND ANIMAL HEALTH

WHERE RESEARCH IS NEEDED.

£, Hi»h per- acre, production is the solution of our economic ills in New Zealand,”-declared Dr. H. E. Annett, when addressing grassland research workers in Palmerston North this week, “There can be no question that because of our high production it is of prime importance that we pay particular attention to th? mineral requirements of our cattle in New Zealand,” he added. ■ „ , , r “We have cases in New Zealand of diseases duo to phosphate deficiency (e.g. Waihi disease). Fortunately the value of phospliatic manures’ is pretty Generally realised. However,, much of our land is on the border line as regards its lime content. There is a body .of opinion which.holds that because application of lime gives no visible effect in a certain area that it is not necessary. This is a dangerous assumption and it is more than likely that an increase of stock troubles is occurring on land which, are on the border line for lime requirements and yet give no visible response to lime. New Zealand offers a splendid field for the worker in mineral deficiences diseases and fortunately Mr. Aston and his co-workers as well as Messrs. Rigg "and Askew have been doing excellent work in this connection for many years past.. . • • \ ' .Regarding the question of the importance°of minerals in animal feeding this, has been well summarised by Orr in his book “Minerals in Pastures.” Much work on the mineral composition of pastures has recently been published both in England and in New Zealand. T. B, Wood in reviewing Orr’s book in Nature raises the questions as to whether the failure of animals to thrive on mineral deficient pastoral areas might not sometimes be. due as in Tita'to g;-he - ’character of the herbage as to its deficiency in minerals. The starch value of such herbage maybe so low that animals, even when consuming it to the limit of their appetite may not be able to secure sufficient net energy to allow of normal development.

The further question also arises as to the method whereby mineral deficiencies cause the symptoms of .malnutrition, These may arise conceivably from four causes:— (1) The digestibility of the organic constituents of the herbage may be depressed in the,, absence of an adequate supply of minerals, , • ■ ' (2) The lack of suffieent mineral matter of proper quality may confer an unpalatable character on the herbage, a circumstance which might react adversely on the appetites of animals subsisting on such herbage. (3) The physiological utilisation of the digested nutrients may not proceed normafiy, if the amount of minerals in the herbage is deficient. (4) The mineral deficiency may prevent the normal development of the skeleton structure. Of this there can of. course be no doubt, the question at issue being solely the extent to which the-first three factors may also operate in the ‘production of physiological disturbances in animals on mineral-deficient herbage. Woodman carried out a series of investigation in order to obtain informa-tion-on these points. His nuxin conclusion was as .foliows: — The results led to the, belief that .the failure of stock to thrive in mineraldeficient pastoral areas cannot be explained by assuming that the low. mineral content is responsible for a lack of palatibility in the herbage and a consequently depression of appetite in the grazing animals. Neither is there any evidence that the shortage of minerals causes the herbage to be digested any less efficiently than “normal" cultivated herbage of similar maturity and organic composition. The amount of neo energy which ruminant animals are able to derive from any form of herbage seems to be independent of the mineral content and to depend solely on the amount and cnaracter of the organic constituents. Malnutrition on pasturage of subnormal mineral content is due directly to the failure of the diet to supply the necessary inorganic materials for constructional purposes and for maintaining the -normal balance of minerals In the blood and tissues, and is not, even in part, to be ascribed to any indirect effect such as is embodied in the suggestion that the mineral defiicency leads to ' under-nutrition of the animals by causlim a depression of its appetite and. its capacity to digest th| organic constituents of the herbage. ...

TESTING IN TASMANIA,

notable results achieved.

Tasmania has benefited materially from herd-testing, and the number of associations shows an increase. The results of the South Leven association in the Ulverstone district are suggestive of what is being done. It was reported that the increase in single cow production since the unit was formed four seasons ago amounted to 1151 b. of but-ter-fat, while the herd average went up by 931 b. The best single cow test was 4151 b. of butter-fat, the owner being Mr. J. Griffin, who has some notable Jerseys. • For the highest herd average Mr. J. Johnson claimed the palm, with an average of 3131 b. for not less than six cows. ’ Messrs. Coombe and Bedlington secured an average of 2471 b. with a herd containing .eleven two-year-old heifers. At its annual meeting the association decided to press for a continuation- of the subsidy- to the herd-testing associa-tions,-as it;, felt that-really serviceable work is being done*.