Substitute Feeding Proves Satisfactory For Most Stock

Taranaki Daily News, 30 September 1940, Page 22 (Supplement)

Substitute Feeding Proves Satisfactory For Most Stock

Iri . bygone days oats, barley and, to some extent, wheat filled the bill to Eupply carbohydrates to stock. Yesterday these foods wero largely rep'.aced by maize and to-morrow, with the cam•paign for increased acreages sown in the Bay of Plenty district, maize might again become popular. Meanwhile, one of the best substitutes in carbohydrate, or starch, value was dried sugar beet pulp. It could be regarded as a con. centrate to > be used in place of . oats, barl6^.«--qp./.'h)fti2ev;'':-. In • England, where pulp - Was 'avaiiable from the extcnsive eugar • beet industry, maximum daily rations were Calculated at eight pounds for dairy cows and fattening steers, one pound for ewes and calves up to three months of age, and 20 per cent. of whatever feeding system was avaiiable for pigs. Taranaki farmers can grow sugar beet in immensely profitable quantities, but they have .no. easy access to beet pulp - for incbrporating in a feed mixture. This difficulty can, however, be got over by the use of yet other alternatives. Rice tneal and tapioca fiour are suitable, while ebout lOlbs of kale, swedes or mangolds, or perhaps four pounds of potatoes (boiled) will replace one pound of barley meal. Many Taranaki farmers this season Will be faced with the problem how to find a suitable substitute for skim milk in - feeding pigs. With such extensive changing over from hom'e separation to

cheese supply the easy 'method of running the skim into a trough has gone by the board. Certainly, whey in greater quantities will be avaiiable, but where the farm is some miles from the cheese factory the question of transport presents a new difficulty to this class of dairy farmer. Good substitutes to skim milk may be found in fish meal, a substance to which a good deal of attention is being devoted in the Dominion at p esent. However, preparations may not be sufficiently advanced for the supply to be sufficient for the demand and farmers may have to fall back upon a vegetable protein such as bean meal or decorticated ground nut fed with bone meal. Pi'gs of nine or ten weeks old, which are to be fed to bacon-weight indoors, should get 21bs protein-rich meal daily, and what kale or kohi rabi they will eat. The meal is slowly ncreased to a limit of 3 or 41bs instead of the usual limit of 61bs, and continuously supplemented with as much green food as the pigs will clear up. Some years ago, said a practical farmer, we fed in-pig sows out of doors in winter on 21bs meal, consisting of ilb fish meal and lSlbs sharps, and all the raw potatoes which they cared to eat. It was found that, on the average, they ate about 161bs potatoes per head daily. They farrowed all right, and reared their litters quite satisfactorily. It is the usual practice with fattening sheep in winter to feed roots and hay plus i to 11b concentrates. Whatever the concentrated mixture— it should be fairly high in protein. For the Weaned lambs, out of doors, feeding say Jlb concentrates per day, a mixture of equal parts beans, cotton cake, dried grains and rolled wheat will do.