ID'2'2.] Notes on Feedino Stuffs for JuiiY. 878 



NOTES ON FEEDING STUFFS FOR 



JULY. 



E. T. Halnan, M.A., Dip. Agric. (Cantab.,), 

 Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. 



The Feeding Value of Milk By-products. — In the manufac- 

 ture of butter, cheese and cream, a considerable amount of 

 buttermilk, whey and separated milk is produced. These milk 

 by-products are valuable feeding materials if rightly used with 

 suitable meal mixtures. It is common practice on most farms 

 where cheese, butter or cream is manufactured, to feed pigs 

 with the milk residues, although there are still some places 

 where the residues are thrown away as useless materials. A 

 correspondent has recently asked for information cn the feeding 

 value of these by-products, and the following not< j s are appended 

 in the hope that they may be of value to stock feeders accus- 

 tomed to deal with such by-products. 



Skim Milk. — On farms in favoured situations it is a common 

 summer practice to sell cream and feed the skim milk. Skim 

 milk is a highly nitrogenous feed, having a nutritive ratio of 

 1 — 1.5, and is of great value for building flesh and the bony 

 framework of young animals. Experiments have shown that 

 skim milk is more valuable than whole milk per lb. of dry 

 matter. Skim milk is therefore of value for feeding to young 

 growing livestock. For calves, it is possible to replace whole 

 milk entirely at an age of from five to six weeks. For pigs, it 

 is an excellent food at all ages. Danish experiments have 

 shown that skim milk, potatoes, and mixed meals produce baron 

 of a high quality. Skim milk is best fed in conjunction with 

 starchy foods, such as potatoes and maize meal. Compared 

 with grain, 5 lb. of skim milk will replace 1 lb. of grain in 

 feeding, and may be regarded as having equivalent feeding 

 value. Skim milk and maize meal together form a good i>iu r 

 feed, although the inclusion of a little middlings or barley meal 

 is beneficial, particularly where the production of first quality 

 bacon is aimed at. In feeding meals with skim milk, the best 

 proportion is at the rate of 1 lb. of meal to 8 lb. of skim milk. 

 One last ]x>int. skim milk produces costiveness, and the meals 

 fa] with it should possess the opposite tendency. 



Whey. — Whey consists chiefly of milk albumen, milk Bugar, 

 and mineral substances. Unlike skim milk. U has a somewhat 



