PRINCIPAL SWINE FEEDS AND THEIR USE 



153 



SUPPLEMENTARY FEEDS 



Skimmilk. Of all the supplementary feeds the milks rank 

 supreme. Whole milk is better than others, but in common practice 

 we can hardly afford to feed whole milk worth $3 per cwt. with but- 

 terfat in it worth 50 cents a pound. Better separate the butterfat 

 and sell it as such, and purchase feeds that will take the place of it. 

 Hence the reason why we depend on skimmilk and buttermilk when 

 we talk about milk products. Milk is primarily produced for 

 young growing animals. It is splendH for them. It carries all 

 of the essentials of nutrition and is particularly valuable in supple- 

 menting corn. We have done considerable experimental work with 

 milk, and often find that a little milk works wonders in the ration. 

 To illustrate : In one test we self -fed for 100 days two bunches of 

 pigs of an initial weight of about 42 pounds. One bunch received 

 buttermilk (which is the equivalent in feeding value of skimmilk) 

 at the rate of 1 quart per head daily, while the other group was fed 

 identically except that no buttermilk was allowed. The following 

 table shows the results secured : 



BUTTERMILK HAS HIGH VALUE WHEN FED IN LIMITED QUANTITIES. FIVE 

 WEANLING PIGS IN A LOT FED 100 DAYS IN DRY LOT.** 



*With the collaboration of Dunn, Scott and others. 



*Pigs had access to bone ash, charcoal and rock salt, but ate very little; hence are not charged 

 in this computation. 



The addition of a quart of buttermilk per head daily increased 

 the gains, and decreased the grains, and decreased the meatmeal 

 tankage and dry feed consumption because it supplied the elements 

 which are added to the ration by these two feeds. The buttermilk 

 also resulted in producing 100 pounds of grain with less dry mat- 

 ter. Briefly stated, 155.8 pounds of buttermilk required for 100 

 pounds of grain as compared to the buttermilk group saved 18.6 

 pounds of meatmeal tankage, plus 16.5 pounds of wheat middlings 

 plus .2 of a pound of corn or 100 pounds of buttermilk saved 11.9 

 pounds of meatmeal tankage plus 10.6 pounds of wheat middlings 

 plus .1 of a pound of corn. Valuing meatmeal tankage at 5 cents a 

 pound or $100 a ton, which is reasonable under present conditions, 



