PLAN NOW FOR ROOTS

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21188, 10 August 1940, Page 18 (Supplement)

PLAN NOW FOR ROOTS

VALUABLE PIG FEED MORE BACON FOR BRITAIN A peak of skim milk supplies available for pig production occurs in the early summer months with the result that very often waste of milk occurs at this date or that pigs are fed an excessive amount of skim milk. If the pig farmer is to avoid this waste he has to provide more food in the winter months. The cheapest and most reliable way to do this is to grow more crops on the farm and not to depend on imported foodstuffs. To provide for next winter the farmer must plan now.

The value of meat or other meal is of course recognised and no progressive pig farmer fails to make use of concentrates, particularly at certain periods of the pigs’ growth, as a supplement to skim milk, whey, or crops. Analysis of pig census returns has shown that the maximum return is obtained from skim milk when 1 cwt of milk is used for every cow milked. Peas and Barley Many farmers do not realise the value of crops in pig production and the comparative ease with which they can be grown and harvested. Peas and barley, in particular, are two crops infrequently grown by pig farmers, yet extremely valuable as pig feed and easily grown and harvested. There is no necessity for outlay on special machinery for these crops since they may be cut with the mower, stacked as hay, and threshed by the pigs themselves which will also clean up shed grain in the stubble. In the warmer districts maize is another grain crop which may be grown and fed in the cob, after soaking, to the pigs. Root crops of all descriptions give a large bulk of cheap feed. Analysis of pig returns has shown that maximum returns from pigs are obtained when one acre of mixed roots or greenstuffs is grown for every 10 or 20 cows milked. Artichokes require little labour, the pigs being turned in on the crop to harvest it themselves. Carrots, particularly of the Guerande variety, pumpkins, mangels, sugar beet, and swedes are other good root crops which may be grown under suitable conditions for the wintering of pigs. Chou moellier is a cruciferous crop which may be readily grown and is not very susceptible to disease. In making plans for the wintering of pigs, pasture and green-feed crops should not be forgotten, keep- | ing in mind the fact that more particularly for pigs than for any other class of stock, they should always be fed in the green leafy, not in the stemmy, stage.