The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1924-08-07
From Montana State College

Wv YHILE it would seem that
M milk which has been run
w through a cream separator
and had practically all of its cream
removed, would contain little of
food value, experiments carried on
at the Montana Experiment Station
by DR.. w. e. Joseph prove conclu-
sively that skim milk is a valuable
addition to the ordinary hog ration
of grain and hay. Particularly do
sows and their filters respond to
the addition of a little skim milk
to their diet, and since the size and
condition of the pigs at weaving
time have much to do with the
size and quality of the pig when it
goes to market, this point is es-
pecially important to the hog man.
The results of the experiments as
carried on by DR.. Joseph, show
conclusively that the way a pig is
started off has an important bearing
upon the economy of growth and
f~attening and that skim milk can
be used to advantage in giving the
pigs the right start.
For the experiment two two-year
old Duroc-Jersey sows which far
rowed on the same date were Sc
lected. For the first Is days these
sows were fed alike on hulless bar
ley, oats, skim milk and alfalfa hay.
At the end of this time the SOW
whose litter had a small advantage
in weight and gains per pig was
fed on blue hulless barley, a little
oats for about a month longer and
separately on blue hulless barley, be-
ginning when the pigs we're about
a month old. The other SOW was fed
the same feed and in addition was
fed skim milk, and the pigs were fed
separately on blue hullesB barley
and skim milk, also beginning
when the pigs were about a month
old. No pasture was available to
the COWS at any time during the test,
however, the pigs we're able to get
through the fences to grasses until
they were about three weeks old,
after which they were confined to
the dry lots.
The filters were weaned when
the pigs of each reached an average
weight of about so pounds. The
two filters were then fed separately
on blue hulless barley and bright
leafy alfalfa hay.
When the experiment started each
SOW had nine pigs and at the end
of 20 days no pigs had been lost.
however, the SOW fed on
barley and alfalfa hay lost two of
her pigs because she was not giving
enough milk to keep them all alive.
This condition was apparently due
TO the nature of the ration fed.
The SOW that received skim milk
in addition to the barley and al
fa1fa hay, raised all of her pigs
without trouble.
The striking fact of the expert
ment was not that the two pigs
were lost in the litter which start
ed out with the advantage, but
that the litter receiving the skim
milk, and which was slightly below
the other in weight at the start,
of daily gains and held the lead
throughout the experiment. In
of the fact that the SOW in
The first mentioned lot had two less
pigs to care for during the greater
part of the test, it took practically
two weeks longer to bring the av-
erage weight of her pigs to so
pounds than the other lot. That
he results were not simply a mat
.er of the amount of feed was at
tested to by the fact that the SOW
ed barley and alfalfa hay lost rs
less weight than the one fed
skim milk.
While the difference in total feed