THE WAY TO FEED PIGS.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 129, 7 January 1916, Page 4

THE WAY TO FEED PIGS.

The last lew years have Eeen quite a revolution in many of our ideas on the subject of pig-feeding. Not bo very long ago it wgs thought that "swill" whif.h meant a thin gruel or soup made up with all sorts of things—was the proper thing to feed to this class of stock, ft was also thought that everything ought to bs coolsed as well, and accordingly no end of trouble and expense was incurred in preparing the food n these ways It has been chittly from experiments and test* carried out at many experimental statiota in America that completely different sets of ideas arc now accepted on the matter. It was found, first of all, that the giving ot so much liquid to an animal retarded its fattening progress very much, and that just as much liquid to solids as other animals required wa3 the best lor pigs also. Fig feeding in this country had been largely carried on by cheesemakers as a means of utilising the whey, and this no doubt led to the use ol too much liquid food, The next point Bettled was that cooking really did harm. This, el course, is a truism lor ill animals, the coagu lating of the albuminoids rendering them much more ir.t'igwtr. le—aa in boiling an egg though more palatable tj the last*, It was indeed, found that pig 3 gava ;i better return lrom iaw yr.nn ci meal soaked 111 tcld vtaUr than from the Banc in a or Bloppv state. The fat I that llies:. things were unst tuliy worked out in the United litjtes i 3 probably due to the importance of the fig as a main v;in ty ol live block, and to the plf.ntilulncsa ot maize, bran, and othtr turn tffal there. It is ur!y in the case el potatoes that cooking hud been luuml to do good; possibly it may tiesttoy tha poisonous principle n them, or otherwise make them more palatable.