PROTEINS IN FEED

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 18832, 21 March 1931, Page 10 (Supplement)

PROTEINS IN FEED

LIVE WEIGHT INCREASE. Reports of carefully conducted experiments show that, provided other factors are satisfactory, many foods rich in proteins such as fish meal, meat meal, soya meal, and decorticated ground nut meal, are replaceable in rations without appreciable effect upon the rate of liveweight increase. The important factor, recently remarked Live Sock Journal, appears to be the actual mineral content of the ration. Thus, to get the full value in pig feeding for example, from soya meal or ground nut meal, a supplementary mineral mixture must be given. This is clearly shown by the results of tests with pigs, in which fish meal was compared with decorticated ground nut meal plus two per cent, of steamed bone flour. Tests were also made of the effect of adding cod liver oil (ioz. per pig daily) to the two rations. Each lot consisted of eight pigs, and the basal ration fed to all lots was made up of middlings, barley meal and maize meal, whey being also fed as a drink to all lots at the rate of two quarts per pound of meal. The average grains per pig during the whole period of the test were, respectively, for the fish meal lot 171.11 b.. ground nut lot 1741 b., fish meal plus cod liver oil 172.91 b., and ground nut meal plus cod liver oil 176.41 b.; the corresponding figures for the amounts of meal consumed per lb. of live weight gain being 2.741 b., 2.701 b., and 2.661 b. The carcase percentages showed little difference. The financial returns were slightly better from the pigs receiving ground nut meal, but were reduced in both cases when cod liver oil was given. A report recently issuted by the lowa College of -Agriculture, U.S.A., shows that for the State of lowa there has been a steady increase in the overage butterfat production of the herds on test. In 1928 only 34 herds averaged over 4001 b. fat per cow, while for the past season there were 84 herds over 4001 b. fat. Of these 84 high herds, practically two-thirds are HplsteinFriesians, and the remainder are scattered among three other freeds, or are of mixed breeding. The 15 top herds, ranging from 4541 b. to 5401 b. fat, are * all Holstein-Friesians.