PRINCIPAL SWINE FEEDS AND THEIR USE 

 BUTTERMILK VERSUS NO BUTTERMILK 



155 



The buttermilk pigs made the most rapid gains, and 100 pounds 

 of it saved 14.09 pounds of corn, 1.17 pounds of meatmeal tankage, 

 .81 pounds of wheat middlings and .01 of a pound of salt, a total 

 of 16.07 pounds of concentrates, saved by approximately 9 to 10 

 pounds of dry matter in 100 pounds of buttermilk. This re-empha- 

 sizes the high value of milk dry matter. Tie to the milks, remem- 

 bering always that they are splendid feeds, and that in case of doubt 

 as to which supplement to use, if you can possibly secure milk then 

 you should do so providing of course that it can be obtained 

 economically. Physiologically it is 0. K. 



There are some milk products now on the market for swine feed- 

 ing. One is semi-solid buttermilk. It can be compared to ordinary 

 skimmilk on the basis of its dry matter content. If it runs 50 

 pounds of dry matter to the 100 then it is about five times as valu- 

 able as ordinary skimmilk or even a little better than that, because 

 ordinary skimmilk runs around 9% pounds of dry matter to the 

 100, the same with buttermilk. Buttermilk powder will run 90 per- 

 cent dry matter, hence it is nine or ten times as valuable on that 

 basis. We must, however, remember that it has a value because it 

 is dry, and it can be stored and used when needed which, in many 

 situations, makes it more acceptable. The use of buttermilk pow- 

 ders or semi-solid buttermilk for "going round the show circuit" is 

 to be commended as a natural milk substitute. 



We should beware, however, of certain milk products that are 

 foisted on the public by the wonderfully extravagant claims made 

 for them. There is one milk product, for instance, advertised to be 

 mechanically reinforced to the extent that if one gallon of it is 

 mixed with 50 gallons of water you have a product that is equal in 

 feeding value*to ordinary skimmilk. Wonder of wonders! Here 

 is a new panacea for the skimmilk scarcity. It sounds like the 

 promising story of the Garden of Eden, and I take it that those who 

 believe it will gain as much sorrow from their belief as did Adam 

 and Eve from their " forbidden fruit." On the face of this claim, 

 assuming that the chemically reinforced and highly-advertised milk 

 product is entirely dry matter, which is impossible, when you mix 



