FEED FOR PIGS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 March 1940, Page 9

FEED FOR PIGS

LABOUR SAVING CROPS PLANNING A PROGRAMME. PREPARATIONS FOR COMING SEASON. (Issued by Masterton.Primarj' Produce Council.) One of the reasons given by farmers for failing to grow crops is that there is too much labour involved in the process of growing them and feeding them out. As with any other farm practice there is, of necessity, labour required to plough and cultivate the land and inter-cultivate the crops. If success is to be achieved, such work must be thoroughly carried out, but for pigs many crops require very little labour in the feeding out. In order to prepare for the growing of these crops next season, farmers should now consider which crops are suitable for their conditions. Barley and peas are two grain crops which are ready for feeding early in the autumn. They are valuable foodstuffs for pigs, giving a firm fat with a good flavour. They call for no special equipment. They may be cut with a mower, stacked as hay. and threshed by the pigs themselves. In addition the pigs may be used for cleaning up shed grain in the stubble.

Artichokes may be sown in September and fed off in April. The pigs are turned in on the crop and harvest it themselves. It is advisable to take out sufficient large tubers for replanting before the pigs are turned in. These are replanted after the pigs come off. The crop will last several years, provided a certain fungus disease is not bad.

Guerande«carrots require less labour than other varieties. If 1 Jib of seed are sown in rows 21 to 26 inches apart, no thinning is required, though intercultivation must not be neglected. The pigs may be turned in on the crop when it is ready, or it may be fed out. Chou Moellier, the least susceptible of cruciferous crops to disease, may be fed off by the pigs in breaks, or if desired it may be carted to the pens. Mangels, sugar beet, pumpkins and swedes are other crops to be considered. The heavy yields of these crops which can normally be grown in fertile soils may counterbalance the extra labour required in feeding out and intercultivation. Oats and potatoes are other crops which may be fed to pigs in some circumstances. Consideration should also be given to green feed crops. The feeding of meals is useful with practically all the crops mentioned in this paragraph. Liberal manuring with all crops is also advisable.