Transactions of RHASS Volume 1940 - Page 021
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| Year | 1940 |
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30 STOCK-FEEDING UNDER WAR CONDITIONS. three months of age, attempted savings are likely to be unprofitable; the lack of a full ration of concentrated and nutritious food will result in the production of stunted and misthriven stores. In the case of in-pig sows and strong gilts a large saving of ordinary food can be made during summer by running the animals on good pasture, on rape, or after harvest on stubbles—especially if the grain crop has been sown out with grass and clover. It is, of course, necessary that the pigs should have nose-rings. If there is a fencing problem an excellent solution is available in the electric fence. A single strand of light-gauge plain wire, hung on insulators at about fifteen inches from the ground on light pegs, has given com- pletely satisfactory results on the farm with which the writer is concerned. The capital cost for wire, pegs, and batteries was about £8, and the running costs are almost negligible. The amount of concentrate that will be necessary to keep grazing sows in good breeding condition necessarily varies with the quality of the grass or other food on which they are running. Where pasture is short and leafy, and where the proportion of clover is high, one or two pounds of meal per head per day will sufiice. The same amount will do for pigs on rape, and less may suffice on stubble so long as there are ears of grain or shed grains to be found. On poorer keep ~three or even four pounds may be necessary. On clovery pasture whole maize alone (which should be soaked for two days before feeding) serves very well. On stubble, unless there is a good bite of young clover, a mixture of whole maize and whole beans, in the proportion of about two to one, will be better. On arable crops such as rape it is better, unless troughs are used and full trough-room is provided, to buy the necessary concentrates in cube or nut form. Except in very wet weather cubes can be picked up clean from the ground. On crops such as rape it is best to give the pigs a limited amount of ground, and to move them rather often. On pasture the pigs do best if they have a wide range among other stock. A small grass paddock grazed by pigs exclusively is of little value, because the grass soon becomes rank and patchy. Pigs alone are bad grazers. In winter this group of stock can be kept in condition with two or three pounds of meal if they have a full ration of cut swedes or mangolds. With more fibrous material such as kale or other greenstuff, or grass silage, the allowance of meal must be rather more generous. Pigs intended for slaughter may also with some advantage be run on pasture, assuming always that the herbage is kept young and leafy ’by grazing with other stock, and that the sward is composed of good grasses with a fair proportion of clover. The average results of five different trials in the STOCK-FEEDING UNDER WAR. CONDITIONS. 31 United States showed that pigs running on good clover or luccrne pasture consumed 3-94 lb. of concentrated food per pound of live-weight increase, as compared with a figure of 4-50 lb. for the control lots kept without access to pasture. The corresponding figures for trials with rape were 3-81 against 4-40. Thus in both cases about one-eighth of the concentrate was saved. In both cases, also, the daily live- Weight gains were greater for the pasture-fed groups. The simplest scheme for using substitute foods under indoor conditions is what is known as the Lehmann System or some modification of this. This system, as originally worked out in Germany, was intended to apply to the utilisation of relatively large quantities of potatoes in pork or bacon production. The pigs are kept until they are about three months old on a full allowance of an ordinary, well-balanced meal—116., one containing about 14 per cent of protein equivalent and the necessary amounts of minerals. The daily allowance of meal reaches about 2-12 lb. per head at the age indicated, and is not afterwards increased. From this point onwards the rising food require- ment is met by feeding increasing quantities of potatoes, which are fed almost up to appetite until the daily allowance reaches about 14 lb. ; this amount is equivalent to 3§ lb. of barley meal. The pig can generally be carried to bacon weight (200 lb.) on this amount. In the later stages the cooked potatoes may be largely replaced by potato silage. The system has the merit of simplicity, and the change in the protein and mineral balance of the ration, as the pro- portion of potatoes is increased, is in keeping with the pig’s changing requirements. The scheme has given very satis- factory results, whether in terms of daily live-weight increase or in the food cost of the increase—always assuming that potatoes can be charged'at something less than one-fourth of the cost per ton of barley or maize meal. Further experiments have shown that full progress can be maintained by partly replacing the potatoes with other iairly digestible foods; for instance, in one German experiment a mixture of two parts of cooked potatoes and one part of chopped swedes (raw) gave practically as good results as the potatoes alone. It seems that where substitutes other than potatoes or good swill are to be used, the scheme must be modified by making the meal allowance more generous. Where swedes, mangolds, or sugar-beet tops are used to the exclusion of potatoes, the meal allowance should be raised to about 3% lb. per day at the age of five months. With kale or silage a further increase, to perhaps 4% 1b., at the age of six months, W111 probably be necessary to maintain reasonably good progress. With foods other than potatoes and swill, the daily |
| Title | Transactions of RHASS Volume 1940 - Page 021 |
