MAKING PIGS PAY

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 230, 17 December 1927, Page 25 (Supplement)

MAKING PIGS PAY

USE OF GREEN FEED RANGE OF SUMMER CROPS Pork can be much more economically produced when the largest proportion of the food required to raise and fatten pigs is grown on the farm. In New Zealand there are few, if any, districts where it is not possible to do this. It is strange that many pigraisers prefer to pay for bad foodstuffs rather than to grow good foodstuffs at a considerablf less cost. The secret of success in the production of all or any class of pigs depends very largely ppon the utilisation on the farm of as large a proportion of farmgrown crops and foods as is possible, and not in depending too much on purchased foods, be they concentrated (such as cereal meals, pollard, etc.), or protein meals (meat meal, etc.), molasses, or even milk. No one food, such as skim milk, buttermilk, whey, maize, wheat, barley, etc., can be considered a complete and balanced ration in the absence of supplementary food, hence it is a combination of readily available, nutritious, yet inexpensive foods on which we must rely, balancing them to the best advantage possible at all seasons of the year. List of Suitable Crops The following crops are suitable for feeding to jugs and can be recommended. Barley for green feed (especially skinless barley) is more of an early summer crop than for use in late

summer or autumn. It is especially valuable in that if it is not required j in the green form it can be allowed to j seed, when both grain and straw can I be used; the former for the grain portion of the ration and the latter for bedding. There are several useful varieties of beans, particularly velvet beans and Soy beans. Both are well worth a trial, for, as the old saying has it, “once tried, always used.” In some districts cattle cabbage gives excellent results, while in some pig fod- l der trials Belgian field carrots have yielded heavily. Where crops, such as kale, marrow stem kale. Chou Moellier

and the like are grown during the autumn and winter months, they will carry over right into the summer months, and are certainly worth a place in the list of suitable crops. They are good forage, but the leaves have to be gathered and fed in the pens or yards: therefore these crops are not so useful as rape or a mixture of rape and barley, which can be pastured.

Cow peas are a good summer grain crop, but they are not recommended as a forage crop, as pigs do not appear to relish the somewhat coarse cow pea plant, but they undoubtedly appreciate the grain, and as the crop is a great soil renovator, it can be confidently advocated. Lucerne comes next, though its value as the “King of Fodder Plants” warrants it being at the top of the list of crops available for use on the pig farm. Maize An Important Crop Maize, sown either broadcast for greenstuff or in drills for grain, occupies an important place, too, it being one of the principal fodder crops. Mangolds are well worth a place, too, and when planted early enough melons and pumpkins, squashes, cattle pumpkins, etc., give excellent returns in heavy yields of nutritious food, especially suitable for breeding sows and boars. They are also valuable as “carry-over” crops for autumn and winter use. French and Japanese millet, White Panicum and oats are very reliable “catch” crops for green feeding purposes, but they are not grown to anything like the extent their importance warrants. Millets are, however, specially worth a trial purely for green feed and not for grain. Another excellent spring arid summer crop for pigs is field peas. Of the sorghums there are several excellent varieties suitable for spring and summer feeding. Of these Saccaline takes the lead, though many farmers speak highly of Amber Cane and Imphee, or Planter’s Friend. Sorghums of the saccharine (sweet) varieties are ideal crops for feeding purposes, but they are not balanced rations. Of all the root crops, artichokes, English potatoes, peanuts, and sweet potatoes give the most rapid return, and both the tops and tubers are of valup. Of Swedes and turnips the writer does not say much, for pigs are not very partial to them, and there are better rots available, hence the writer passes on to vetches as green food, and wheat as both a green and a grain crop, and these, together with grass (not forgetting Sudan grass) almost complete the list of summer crops for pigs.