PIG FATTENING.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 591, 6 August 1913, Page 2

PIG FATTENING.

Several experiments in the fattening of pig 3 have been carried out on the Seale-Hayne Agricultural College farm during the laafc three years, aays the Live Stock Journal. The experiments were devised to compare the following foods for pork and bacon production:— 1. The relative fattenng value of English and foreign grown barleys. 2. Tha value of a small quantity of soya cake when fed in addition to barlev meal.

The 3. The value oi' fish meal in pig feeding. Where pigs were chosen from several litters, the various lots were so constituted as to contain the same individual litter: the influence of sex was obviated by each lot containing the same number of barrows and sow Pigs-

Individual pigs in ths different experiments, when put up to fatten, varied from 72 to 1101b each, live weight. Tb=re were from three to six pigs in each lot, according to the experiment, but the total 'live weight of each lot of pigs in the same experiment did not vary more than from lib to 21b: thus each lot was practically of the same live weight.

The cost of attendance and labour and litter used is assumed to be balanced by the value of (he manure obtained in all cases.

The price taken per score at start is based on the actual prices paid for the pig in Newton Market. These will be found to vary considerably at different times.

Anyone acquainted with the thinbrained and husk like appearance of foreign barley will not readily be led to believe that this material is better l'or pigs than the plumper and heavier English grown sample; yet these experiments prove this to be the case. In fact, summarising all the results, it would appear that the foreign barley is worth about 15s per ton more than the English for pig feedng purposes. It is difficult to account for this fact, but English barleys contain a higher percentage of water than foreign ones —viz., about 2 per cent, and when the former are harvested in damp seasons, they may contain 3 or even 4per cent, more water than foreign; this naturally means they contain 3or 4 per cent, less food material or. say, } to v cwt. per ton less nutriment matter, which in pig feeding would produce fom 10lb to ,151b less pork bacon for every ton fed. The difference in gain, however, was greater than this, hence it is probable that the differences in chemical composition of the two barleys also exercised an influence.

Relative to the soya cake experiment, it was found that the profit was nearly double where no soya cake Was fed to the pigs, and that soya cake in small quantities did not form a profitable food for bacon production even at the low price of £6 os per ton. The English barley consisted of a fair, though somewhat stained, sample, and was purchased at 22s (3d per quarter of 44Slb, which is equal to £'s 7s (3d per ton. The foreign barley, which was of Russian origin, cost 17s Gd per quarter of 4001b, or £5 Ss Sd per ton. The two barleys, therefore, were of approximately the same price. The barleys were passed through a bruiser, and fed to each lot of pigs in definite weighed quantities, after being soaked in water for twenty-four hours. Besides the barley each lot received the same weight of boiled potatoes; the liquid portion of the food consisted of water only. From this experiment it appears that foreign barley possesses a superior feeding value for pigs to that of English barey. Results of a similar nature were obtained at the SouthEastern Agricultural College, Wye, Kent, and n ported on in the College Journals of 1907 and 1909. Altogether, therefore, one seems justified in coneluding that foreign barley is superior to English barley for pork and bacon production. In the fish meal experiment the meal used was guaranteed to contain 55.0 per cent, albuminoids o.f> per cent, oil and was fed in the proportion of one part fish meal on every 3 1-3 parts of bruised gram and maize in j the case of one lot, while in each lot, one part of gram was fed to two parts of maize. Gram or "Indian peas," as it is sometimes called, is of similar feeding value to ordinary Englishgrown field peas, and is a useful food, but not yet very widely known; the price paid was £7 es per ton: maize, £7 10s; and fhh meal, £ll. The liquid portion of the food was entirely water. The fish meal left, an increased profit of £4 7s lid on eight pigs, or nearly lis per pig. Whether there is ground for supposing bacon produced by feeding fish meal in such small quantities as in the above experiments to be percepibly deteriorated in flavour is open to doubt, especially as in the local butchers who purchased the fish meal fed pigs made no complaint. Further, fish meal was fed to milch cows in some°American experiments carried out by Sir John Spiers, near Glasgow, without imparting any fishy flavour either to the milk or butter; it seems, therefore, unlikely a fishy flavour would be imparted to bacon. Thi3 is a point which will bear future investigation. It is, however, a fact that the highly nitrogenous die of fish meal is most admirably adapted for increasing the rate of production of pork, and can be most profitably fed, • especially where the butcher offers no objection to it having been U3ed; but Were such objection raised, a greai advantage would result to the farmer to feed it in the early days of the fattening period and to omit it altogether, say, during the last month.