THE PIG INDUSTRY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 133, 7 June 1937, Page 11

THE PIG INDUSTRY

■ j DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE j Hi-Gii QUALITY FEEDS FOR WINTER ; (Notes by M. J. Scott, 8.A., B.Sc., No. 12). » With the disappearance of the milk supply during the month of May, pig-raisers who still have some pigs on hand are laced with the ditfik . culty of getting through the winter I. months, or rather the months in s which milk is in short supply. There , are many different ways of meeting the winter feed shortage, and most farmers have tried some of them in ;. different years. Some avoid pigs in . winter, selling their weaners or stores - in the yards before the end of May for the proverbial song, or selling them through the freezing works at . sucking pig weights for a fair price, those who get rid of the winter rei sponsibility make difficulties for themselves in October, November and December when their young pigs are unable to cope with abundant milk, and they have to waste some of it as a consequence. Ail things considered it might be a wise solution of the difficulty, but when on sees the profits that can be made by the wintering of stores on home-grown roots, plus bought grain, it is difficult to believe that having no pigs in winter time adds materially to profit.

Pigs Living on Their Body Reserves. The next way of wintering pigs is to get them fairly well grown towards the end of the milk season, and then turn them out to grass, or provide just enough feed to keep them alive. They supply much of their feed requirements from their own body and may lose up to 301 b. weight in 60 days of June and July. This practice has arisen doubtless because farmers have seen that sheep and cows that are starved for 'these months ultimately recover, and at the end of three months’ grass feeding are just as fat as if they had been well fed all the time. The cows and sheep so treated are not being fed to produce a carcase as a rule, their milk or wool are the production that is looked for from them. Further, they are often full grown animals and finally their grass feed supply is abundant and cheap. Pigs differ from them in all these respects and cannot ever be starved profitably for any length of time. Usual immaturity is the strongest reason why pigs cannot be starved in .winter. Starving usually results in some disease getting entry into the pig’s system and either killing him or making him a most profitless pig to feed.

Feetl to Keep Pigs Healthy It has been demonstrated times without number that pigs can be wintered profitably on a foundation of about one pound of good meal in addition to paddock-feed, grass, roots, green crops, artichokes, or even ensilage in unlimited quantities. One hundred days’ feeding may cost 12s 6d to 15s per pig, but if the feed is of the right kind it converts a pig that was worth 10s into one that is worth 30s, and provides a pig in September that is really worth feeding. Use High Quality Feeds Where the grain or meal used is designed to provide a foundation for a bulk home-grown supply its quality wants to be the best procurable. Two things only determine quality in a pig feed for winter use. There must be little fibre in it, and it should be rich in protein. Meat-meal is the prefect winter supplement. It is followed closely by linseed-meals, pea-meal, and then the cereal meals all together, viz., barley, maize, wheat, oats, pollard and bran. Low-priced mixtures are unsuitable for wintering pigs on. Many have been very pleased with the results from these latter meals, but as a result of having seen these compared frequently with meat-meal one has little hesitation in saying that those who are satisfied with the cereals will be delighted with the meals that are rich in protein. High Quality Feeds are Costly? Some farmers have acquired the viewpoint that they must buy cheap feeds, and set their faces against highpriced feeds. While the department has always preached the necessity of a cheap feed supply it has also stated that the ideal feed supply is made up half of homc-grow roots and half of milk and grain of barley quality. It is folly to buy low quality feeds of any kind even though they are lowpriced. It is hard to believe that farmers imagine that they get something for nothing when they buy lowpriced feeds. The boot is usually on the other foot; they buy nothing for something. Low-priced feeds are always compounded of low-priced ingredients high in fibre that renders the better ingredients in the mixture valueless.