PIG-FREEZING EXPERIMENTS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1379, 4 March 1912, Page 8

PIG-FREEZING EXPERIMENTS.

COOKED AND UNCOOKED FOOD. _ Numerous experiments have been made in America as to the value of cooking food for pigs, and at least 13 separate series have led to conclusions mostly unfavourable to cooking or steaming. In ten trials, cooking showed a direct loss, m'oro food being, required than where the same fcod was used raw to produce the same result. In some cases this feature was marked, while in the three other trials there was no gain reported- from cooking, or the gain was Ido trifling to reckon with. These results, says a writer in the "Live Stock Journal,"" aro somewhat striking, as the foods comprised barley and niaizo meals, cffals, whole corn of various kinds, oatmeal, and potatoes, some of which, at any rate, we are accustomed to think of as probably best when steamed ur cooked. However, if meal is bettor digested when fed dry than it-is when wet, as some feeders tell us, and as was the case, indeed,\in the above instances, as a rule, it must surely lose this property when cooked. There is still, however, some proof that it pays to cook potatoes. Excellent, however, as these latter aro known to be for pigs, they should probably not be given in unlimited quantities even to these animals, nor should other kinds of roots, good though they are for pigs. Some experiments in Denmark, have, shown indeed that no kinds of roots should form moro than 40 per cent, of the ration given to pigs, and the opinion has been expressed that no kind of livo stock should be fed with larger amounts, though all kinds have, of course, received more without illeffects. ■

One reason, no doubt, lies in the largo amount of water and fibrous matter which roots contain, and the coiifcquently large bulk required before much nourishment can bo extracted. The great amount of animal heat, too, which must necessarily be consumed to convert 901b. or more of water oiit of every 1001b. of roots to blood heat is a heavy drain on the small margin of dry matter and the interior resources lot tho animal, and even with cows in milk all this water cannot bo required in addition to what they drink. With sheep it is somewhat different, as they drink nothing, but the exhausting effect of a heavy meal of ronts without dry food on a cold winter s nifrht, especially to an in-lanib ewe, must bo evident to all who understand anything of physiology. Yet progress in such knowledge is slow. ... ... Experiment has shown that much, hotter returns are got when roots are Fed in a well-balanced ration obtained by the judicious uso of nitrogenous food, such as cako and corn. In fact, it is being increasingly shown that better value for money can bo obtained from a mixed diet "and more experiments in tho practical physiology of feeding on practical lines aro much wanted, and would bo a welcome change from manurial trials.