Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1925-03-19
Most Valuable
Feed for Swine
Skim Milk. Buttermilk and
Whey Are Most Highly
Priced for Hogs.

(By e. w. CHAMPION, Lecturer in Animal
Husbandry. Macdonald College. Que.)
Among all Of the feeds used for pig
feeding, none are more highly priced
as growth stimulators than the dairy
by-products-skim milk, buttermilk and
whey. OF these, skim milk is in most
sections the most commonly used and
incidentally the most valuable as a
feed. The pigman who has an abund-
anee of fresh skim milk available Is
usually the one who has the best doing
pigs.
skim Milk Properly Used.
But skim milk, like any other feed,
should be properly used If the most is
to be made Of it's excellent qualities.
Experiments without number have
been carried out to determine the value
of skim milk in terms Of meal and 1t Is
now pretty generally conceded that six
pounds Of this product has an approx
mate feeding value equal to one pound
of suitable pig meal.
But this is only part of the ques-
tion. The optimum proportion Of meal
to milk is too often forgotten, though
from nutIitional point Of view 1t Is
as important as Is its meal equivalent
value. This feed being high in pro-
TEN has very narrow nutritive ratio
containing but one and half parts
of carbohydrate 70 each part Of pro-
TEN. whereas an ideal pig ration car
ries from 4 to parts of carbohydrate
or fat-forming products to each other
of protein. In other words the unlim-
Tied use of skim milk, excellent feed
though it is, does not provide prop
erly balanced ration for any class Of
pigs. 1t does not follow that since a
little Is good, more is necessarily bet
ter. A. certain amount of carbohy-
dates feeds, as shorts, barley, or corn
meals, are necessary for the best re-
suits.
In order to state definitely what
amounts Of meal and milk should be
used to obtain given nutritiye ratio
1t would be necessary to know the kind
of meal used In spite Of the fact,
however, that a wide variety of feeds
are used for hog feeding, the basis of
the majority of pig meals in eastern
Canada is shorts and barley II al. Fur
rthermore most Of the other meals used
carry a very similar composition to the
:shorts-barley mixture.
For all practical purposes, then, 1t is
possible to consider any ordinary meal
eOT combination of meals used for pig
feeding, exclusive Of supplementary
rnrotein feeds as tankage, oilmeal, or
pea meal, et,., as Of the same gen
teral nature and composition. With
rthis assumption calculation shows that
L pound of meal to pounds of milk
gives a nutritive ratio Of about 1 to
441a-a proportion Of protein to carbo-
hydrate ideal for growing pigs just af-
ter weaving and for in-pig sows during
the last month of pregnancy. AS the
growing pigs get heavier relatively
less milk to meal will be required,
since the nearer to finishing the mar
ket pig gets the less protein in proper
tion to fattening feeds are needed In
his feed.
For practical use the amount OF
meal mixture needed to each gallon
of skim milk Cor buttermilk) to supply
the proper balance in the ration fol
market pigs is given as follows:
Amount of meal pei
gallon skim milk
Up to 10 weeks. .............. a lbs
10 to 16 weeks. lbs
16 to "a weeks. ....S lDs
Note-This table does not refer to
the amount of feed required daily by
the pig, but simply to the proportions
of milk and meal to use to make the
best use of skim milk as feed for mar
ket pigs.