SUGAR BEET

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21226, 24 September 1940, Page 10

SUGAR BEET

FEEDING TO PIGS POSSIBILITIES IN WAIKATO Many Waikato farmers are now busy preparing small areas for the growing of roots for pig feeding. Some intend to sow sugar beet for the first time and if results elsewhere can be taken as any criterion such a crop should provide excellent pig feed. Overseas, sugar beet has •been fed very successfully to pigs for it was recognised that it had a superior feeding value to othei roots. The feeding of sugar ifeet to pigs is no new thing in this Dominion, but the practice has been confined to practically only a few producers.

Experience with the feeding of the beet at the Waimate West Demonstration Farm in Taranaki have definitely demonstrated that sugar beet is a superior foodstuff for pigs than mangolds, for instance. The most interesting feature of the Taranaki experiments was that it was possible to turn off two litters a year as baconers without recourse to the same amount of concentrate feeding that this practice would entail under ordinary circumstances. The best was fed to pigs ranging from suckers and weaners to mature sows. It was fed directly from the field in April and from storage heaps as late as November. The pigs showed a liking for the bulky tops, and the farm staff found that neither the fresh tops nor the immature roots caused any sign of scour. A further interesting discovery of the Taranaki trials was that a 25-ton crop of sugar beet had the same feeding value as up to 50 tons of mangolds.