FEEDING THE PIGS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 19, 15 October 1937, Page 43 (Supplement)

FEEDING THE PIGS

What Quantities of Food Should be Used? . Much has been written about the amounts to be fed.to pigs per feed or per day (writes Mr. M. J. Scott, supervisor of New Zealand's pig industry). On most places pigs are users of all theskim milk, and provided they clean it up each day no one cares whether it is 20 per cent. too much or 10 per cent. too little. Pigs can grow at rates varying f rom nothing up to three pounds per day, and from this it f ollows that the amount of feed given can vary over a very wide range. All animals are most accommodating in this respeet; they can over-eat for a few days and keep quite healthy, they can under-eat for many days and still appear satisfactory. Eating six' pounds of feed per day they may be bloated, eating two pounds they may be hungry. It is possible to state how much Jieed is required daily only when the weight cf the animal, the growth rate per day and the kind of feed are also, stated. A young growing animal can eat a maximum of 6 per cent. of his weight each day; a 50lb. yig can eat 31b>., an aged sow can live on a minimum of 1 per cent. of her live weight, i.o., a sow of 4001b. weight can live quite satisfactorily on 4ib. of feed per day. There is, however, a satisfactory growth rate at which average pigs grow . and keep healthy, and the f#ed consumed under these conditions amounts., to about 4 per cent. of the pig's weight, slightly higher when young, slightly lower when old. ' ■ • : . In general, it is most profitable to feed pigs in such a way that' they grow as fast as they can," Ithas b.eert found, however, that where pigs fatten and grow at the same time their ' carcase fends to be short and to carry too much bacb fat. Consequently one has to strike a happy medium between efficient feed conversion and :»sui table carcase quality. -Pigs that grow at the rate of ibo'-'- one and a third $ound per day over the last stages of bacon weights are usually not too fat on the back, and their efficlency as converters of feed is satisfactory.