WHAT EXPERIMENTS HAVE PROVED

Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1688, 19 November 1925, Page 2

WHAT EXPERIMENTS HAVE PROVED

FEEDING SALT TO SWINE.

ITS ADVANTAGES BEYOND QUESTION.

At the lowa Experiment Station, pigs that received salt reached u weight of 2551 b. in 135 'days, while those pigs that did not receive salt required 179 days to reach the same weight. The pigs weighed 361 b. at the start of the test. The pigs receiving salt required 3871 b. of feed to make 1001 b. of gain while thcee that did not receive salt.required 4871 b. of feed to make 1001 b. gain. All of these pigs received tankage; it is the general impression with many swine breeders that swine that are 'receiving tankage do not require ea'it, but these experiments show that the addition of salt to the ration increased the gain over 27 per cent., and saved more than 25 per cent of feed. The salt was placed in a feeder where the pigs could eat it at will.

CORN AS A FEED FOR POULTRY. The Michigan Experiment Station is authority for the statement that corn and its by-products for either a maintenance or production ration in poultry is greatly under-estimated. They say further, "Corn, when fed in liberal quantities as suggested; keeps' the laying flock in excellent condition and weight, with plenty of reserve heat and energy. Contrary to the somewhat prevalent belief that corn is useful only as a fattening food we have found it almost indispensible in the laying ration." They recommend 60 per. cent, in the scratch ration and 30 per cent, in the mash ration. IMPORTANCE OF WATER FOR CALVES. The importance of watering calves was emphasised by tests carried out at Wisconsin (U.S.A.). Two lots of ca'lves were fed liberal allowances of skim milk, clover, hay, and the grain mixture of ..corn, oats, 'bran and oil meal. One lot was given all the water it would drink twice daily, while the other had no water other than that in the skim milk and other feeds. The calves given the additional water pained at the rate of 1.861 b per head daily, and those given no extra water gained but 1.321 b daily. The contrast in these gains should be sufficient to impress every dairyman with the importance of providing calves with pJen.l ••' of wate-.