NEW CATTLE FODDER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 June 1942, Page 4

NEW CATTLE FODDER

GOOD LIVEWEIGHT INCREASE ’ ON STRAW PULP. Britain’s farmers are obtaining excellent results with the fodder now being produced by the new caustic soda straw-pulping process on over 250 farms in the United Kingdom. Experiments at the Midland Agricultural College with eight pairs of dairy Shorthorn steers weighing between 5 and 71 cwt. showed that those fed with processed straw achieved over the 71 days of the trial an average liveweight increase of 1.79 lbs. a day, an average of .7 lbs. per day, or of 64 per cent ,over those receiving untreated straw. Even more striking were the results from a test with 20 young dairy cattle, 7-20 months old, at the National Institute for Research in Dairying. Each of the animals given soda processed straw with the ration increased 1.17 lbs. a day, against .47 lbs. for each one fed with straw soaked in cold water only, a gain of no less than 148 per cent. Similar results have been obtained in other experimental centres, and trials confirm that pulping so improves the feeding value of cereal straw, chaff and cavings that the products can be used to replace part of the hay, corn or roots in rations for meat and milk production. The processing plant of concrete or brick can be erected by local builders at a cost of about £3O. Running two batches a day, it will produce 1400 lbs. of straw pulp from 400 lbs. of straw, enough to supply 28 animals with 501bs. per head daily, and it only takes an hour’s light work to put through each lot.