114 SECOND THOUSAND QUESTIONS IN AGRICULTURE 



Cocoanut Meal, Barley, Bran. 



How does cocoanut meal compare with barley and bran for dairy 

 cows and hogs? It costs $1.60 per cwt., and bran and barley cost 

 a trifle more. 



Cocoanut meal makes an excellent feed for dairy cows and is also 

 a good hog feed although it is not as often fed to the latter class of 

 farm animals as to cows. It has a somewhat higher content of 

 digestible components than barley and, pound for pound, is worth 

 more than either barley or wheat bran as a feed for cows. It is always 

 fed mixed with other grain feeds, however, the kinds and amounts of 

 these depending on the relative cost of the feeds. At the market 

 prices given, cocoanut meal is the cheapest of the three feeds and it 

 will therefore pay to include a considerable proportion of this in the 

 mixture. If desired, as much as three or four pounds per head daily 

 may be fed to dairy cows, but if a good quantity of alfalfa hay is fed, 

 it will not be desirable to feed much more total grain than that. I 

 would recommend a mixture of rolled barley, wheat bran, and cocoa- 

 nut meal in the proportion of 1:1:2 by weight, feeding one pound of the 

 mixture for every four or five pounds of milk that the cows are 

 producing. F. W. W. 



Sugar Beets for Hogs. 



Would you advise planting sugar beets for fattening hogs? Their 

 value compared with Egyptian corn, and comparative yield? I have 

 pure water, good alfalfa, and intend raising melons and pumpkins 

 to feed while hogs are growing and wish to know the best and most 

 productive crop to fatten them on. 



We do not consider sugar beets as a fattening food for hogs, and 

 in no way a substitute for grain. They are a good succulent feed for 

 growing but you have already so much in that line listed that you do 

 not need the beets. If you need fattening grain, grow barley or 

 Egyptian corn or Indian corn whichever your conditions best favor. 



Whey as a Swine Food, 



Is cheese whey good for hogs? What should be fed with it to grow- 

 ing pigs and also what is best for fattening purposes? 



Whey is generally used for feeding hogs in cheese districts and 

 makes a good swine feed when fed in sweet, or not very sour, con- 

 dition. It has about one-half the feeding value of skim milk or butter- 

 milk for feeding swine. It is safe to assume that twelve pounds of 

 whey will save you a pound of grain when fed to swine under sani- 

 tary conditions. At ordinary prices for grain this would make it 

 worth about \2 l / 2 cents per hundred weight, which may be considered 

 a fair average price. Whey is relatively higher in starchy substances 

 and lower in flesh-forming substances (protein) than either of the 

 other dairy products mentioned, and niay, therefore, be supplemented 

 by more high-protein feeds, like middlings, or shorts, and linseed 

 meal, along with grain feeds like barley, Indian corn, ground Kaffir, 



