816 Dry-Meal Hoppers for Pigs. [Dec, 



DRY-MEAX. HOPPERS FOR PIGS. 



Captain Callcott Eeilly, M.B.E., B.Sc. 



What may be termed the self-feerling of dry meal to pigs is a 

 question that is receiving considerable attention at present, and 

 hence certain results obtained, and reasons for adopting this 

 method on a commercial scale, mav be of some interest. This 

 article has reference to a commercial herd of some sixty sows, 

 all the progeny of which are kept on the farm, and fattened for 

 a co-operative bacon factory. 



The herd was started in 1920 by a Danish bailiff, to be run on 

 Danish lines. Good farrowing and fattening sties were built, 

 but the pigs did not do as well as might have been expected. 

 The experiment was tried of running pigs in the store stage out 

 m orchards, which was an improvement. Then the sows with 

 their litters were run in orchards, which was another improve- 

 ment — scour in the piglings, which had been a source of trouble, 

 becoming very much less prevalent. The pigs in the fattening 

 sties, although well fed three times a d.ay and kept scrupulously 

 clean, did not thrive as they might have done, and the net 

 result was that the pigs, weighing about" 16 stone alive, averaged 

 nearly 9 months old when ready for the factory. 



Experiment with Store Pigs. — It was while seeking for 

 improvements that papers by Professor Evvard, of Iowa, U.S.A., 

 were obtained, at the end of 1921, describing the remarkable 

 results achieved by self -feeding pigs, and allowing them their 

 choice of carbohydrates and albuminoids. It was therefore 

 decided to try the method on a bunch of young stores running 

 out. A self-feeder was improvised out of an old sheep hay rack, 

 by fixing flat galvanised iron sheets inside the V rods, and cutting 

 boles at the bottom for the meal to run through into the trough. 

 The hopper thus contrived was divided transversely into half a 

 dozen different compartments, and a different feed placed in 

 each, in order to see which the pigs preferred. The results were 

 as follows : — 



31 store pigs, weighing from 6 to 8 stone each, live weight, 

 ate in 7 days : — 



Mixed meal (maize, wheat, and barley, ground 

 together in equal proportions) 





49 stone. 



Rice meal 



22 „ 



Fish meal 



8 „ 



Palm kernel cake 



5 „ 



Whole peas (soaked) 



10 „ 



Whole maize 



4 „. 



Average, 6 lb. per pig per day. 

 Nutritive ratio, albuminoids to carbohydrates, 4'*7. 



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