Live Stock. 



38 



[July, 1910. 



horns — there has never been an infusion 

 of this particular English type, and it 

 may be definitely stated that the blood- 

 iness referred to is not so to be accoun- 

 ted for. Neither is it due to impurity 

 of blood. The scientific world has, since 

 the study of Mendel's theories, under- 

 gone much modification of opinion. I 

 am not prepared to dispute that these 

 sudden appearances of bloodiness are 

 not to be accounted for by De Vries' 

 theory of mutations. My opinion is that 

 the reappearance of broodiness, which 

 may have been in White Leghorns a 

 latent factor for generations, is to be 

 clearly accounted for by the application 

 of Mendel's law of segregation. 1 believe 

 the instinct can be eradicated or devel- 

 oped by systematic scientific breeding. 

 Animal and Vegetable Foods. 

 Reference is made in the report of the 

 Superintendent of Roseworthy Poultry 

 Station to two food items. The first is 

 lucerne hay chaff. For many yeais I 

 have been a strong advocate of the use 

 of this magnificent fodder as the best 

 and most economical for poultry. I have 

 used it practically all my life for fowls. 

 As a green food, chaffed, and either 

 mixed with the mash or fed at midday, 

 or hung in bunches for the birds to pick 

 at, it has a food value superior to clover. 

 I prefer to chaff it, as there is practically 

 no loss. Lucerne hay properly cured so 

 as to conserve the leaf, which contains 

 the actual food and well chaffed, is a 

 splendid poultry food. It contains about 

 7 per cent, of flesh formers, which are 

 also egg makers. Before use it should 

 be soaked in hot water for some hours, 

 Soak over night for the morning mash. 

 This softens the fibres, and renders the 

 chaff more palatable and digestible. At 

 both Roseworthy and Kybybolite Poul- 

 try Stations the lucerne chaff I am using 

 was grown and cured at the Government 

 irrigation blocks on the River Murray at 

 Murray Bridge. There are many other 

 foods agreeable to poultry, such as kail, 

 rape and others of the brassica tribe; but 

 they contain only half the food value of 

 green lucerne. 



Poultry Meat Meal. 



This is similar to the article known 

 in America as beef scraps, and in England 

 as crissel, &c. The sample used during 

 recent years at the poultry stations is 

 manufactured at the Government Freez- 

 ing Works, Port Adelaide, and is in 

 my opinion superior in every way to 

 any other that I have used. This method 

 of providing animal food is exceedingly 

 appropriate in a climate such as prevails 

 here during the warm months. In hot 

 weather the use of uncooked meat is 

 inadvisable, and it is exceedingly diffi- 



cult to keep it fresh. Green boue, so 

 much admired by some people, is even 

 more unreliable. During my long ex- 

 perience I have traced many poultry 

 yard disasters to the use of tainted 

 meat or green bone. Preparations 

 similar to the above poultry meat meal 

 are reliable, and can be made into soup 

 by adding sufficient boiling water, and 

 allowing the mixture to stand. According 

 to analysis we can feed in the form of 

 grain and vegetables all the albuminoids 

 necessary for poultry, but the fact re- 

 mains that these do not perform the 

 precise functions of the animal albumin- 

 oids. Those who say animal food is 

 not necessary must lack experience, 

 observation, and education. The major- 

 ity of South Australian breeders find 

 that without a due proportion of animal 

 food their egg yield cannot be main- 

 tained. 



Weather Records. 

 As there is a properly equipped 

 meteorological station at the Rosewor- 

 thy College, I instructed the Superin- 

 tendent of the Poultry Station to obtain 

 the information necessary to enable him 

 to give the main weather features in 

 his report. Although Roseworthy is 

 only 30 miles north of Adelaide, the 

 weather conditions often differ to a 

 considerable degree. The position of 

 the pens is exposed and wind swept, 

 and although the yards are somewhat 

 protected by the use of matting, still 

 the conditions are more severe than in 

 most breeders' yards. The weather 

 reports will indicate to breeders that 

 at times the conditions were such that 

 only good layers of strong constitution 

 could do as well as those in the com- 

 petition. The particulars also serve to 

 show others with similar unprotected 

 land what can be done in the way of 

 artificial shelter. 



Summary of Results, 



Number of pens ... -,, 113 



„ birds 678 



Total number of eggs laid 126,133 



„ value of eggs laid ... £470 12s. 5 - 75d. 



,, cost of feeding £187 0s. 8Jd. 



Profit over feeding £283 lis. 9'25d. 



Average market price of eggs 1 1 -54(3. 



„ number of eggs laid per pen . . 1116*18 



„ ,, „ hen.. 186'03 



,, cost per pen in competition ..£1 13s. l - 14d. 

 ,, „ hen „ ..£0 5s. 6-19d. 



Profit per pen over cost of feeding ...£2 10s. 2-3d. 



,, hen ,, ,, ...£0 8s. 4-2d. 



Eggs laid by winning pen, Sectionl... 1,531 



,, II... 1,190 

 Highest monthly score, Section I... 160 



II.. 153 



„ weekly „ „ I ... 41 

 a, „ », II ... 39 



Number of broodies, Section 1 ..' 206 

 II ... 636 



