10-Lancaster Fnrmlng. Saturday. January 31.1970
Balanced Ratsons-Modern Concept
By I»r. (iiwtnv Bnlwtedt
Emeritus Professor of
\nimal Husbandry
I nlverslty of Wisconsin
A gie.it (Kml of fowl m Imi
vested and stoicd undoi diHU-uli
conditions consequently, it is
moldy and othenvi.se spoiled,
perhaps fiom insects, oi is oaten
and fouled by lodents.
Still the comment of a wise
obscivci is impressive, that mote
(eed is wasted inside an animal
than outside
It seems like an oveistatement
but mav be line A tew illustra
tions diiectl> tend to suppoit it
An enormous amount of feed
is fed to livestock in poorly bal
anced utions They may be un
balanced not meiely in piotein,
or the light kind of piotein, but
also m mineials and vitamins
Yes, even as to eneigy. theie
may be enough to eat, wheie the
animal is fed lot economic per
foimance but not the amount
that most neatly meets its pio
ductive potential
Such potentials in the modern
sense aie fuithei lealized throu
gh the use of vinous feed addi
tives, antibiotics, hoimones, an
thelmintics, and othei health
piotectives.
Aloaein animal peifoimance
would astound old timeis of
yeais ago. as was biought out at
the 50th Anmveisary of the Am
erican Feed Manufactuieis Asso
ciation.
Wheie Dean W A Hemy in
his eaily editions of Feeds and
Feeding cites pig feeding results
of “Many American Stations”,
requiring 440 pounds feed for
100 pounds gam, this has now
with modem rations been i educ
ed to 300 pounds. Broilers have
a feed efficiency of little more
than 200 pounds per 100 pounds
gain, and the prediction is that it
may soon be much more efficient
than that
The protein factor in all cases
is apt to be important. When we
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East Earl R D. 1
.it Wisconsin fattened a groan of
•Inn sows ioi the maiket on an
IT, piotein intion. it required
406 pounds feed to pioducc 100
pounds gam
\ similar gioup on a 14'?■ pro
tein union needed only 346
pounds feed a saving of 60
pounds feed for every 100
pounds gam The slightly higher
cost of the lafion was amply re
paid
The Umveisity of Illinois years
ago look ovei a held of cows that
had been fed unbalanced rations.
When this was corrected, the
cost of lations rose 157 r, but the
cows produced 509 c more milk.
These examples are relatively
mild contrasts in consideration
of the many extreme ones the
country over, but they all tend
to support the statement that
more feed is wasted inside than
outside an animal.
Quality Forage And
Trace Minerals
A fai-reaching obseivation was
made at the Ohio Experiment
Station that the quality of roug
hage largely determines the need
£oi feeding tiace minerals.
This Is of real impoitance to
dauymen and stockmen since
only about one-thud of the hay
put up throughout the country
can be graded as good to excel
lent Two-thirds is only fair or
actually poor.
Weather conditions, late cut
ting and the kind of crop are
primary causes of low-quality
hay. We also know that silage
and pasture are not always of top
quality.
When the Ohio workers fed
mature timothy hay with protein
balanced gram to comparable
lots of steers, the trace mineral
supplemented lots had a 33% in
creased rate of gain and a 15%
increased feed efficiency over the
unsupplemented lots.
As a hay crop matures and is
cut at a late stage of growth, its
tiace mineral content may de
cline to half or less of what it
was earlier. Loss of leaves is
one explanation, because "the
leaves and not the stems carry
the nutrients Alfalfa leaves con-
tain 70C/. of the minerals and
m r /r> of the vitamins of the untiro
plant.
Leafy hay. especially legume
hay, with half its weight in
le.ivoa, is moic apt to be richer
in cobalt and other minerals than
grass hay like timotny.
Alfalfa is a deep rooted hay
cop. compaied to timothy, thus
may be expected to be richer in
mincials. For example, taking
copper as a representative trace
mincial, alfalfa hay has 8 2 mil
ligrams per pound but timothy
only 2 0 milligrams.
But if the soil is deficient in
essential mmeials, the hay crop
of whatever kind is bound to be
deficient, whether m major min
eials (like phosphorus) or minor
(like copper, cobalt or others.)
As proof, we have the story of
the discovery of cobalt as an es
sential mineral Sheep in Aus
ti alia grazing on lush pasture
pined away because of lack of
what later was found to be co
balt. When it was supplied, le
covery was almost instant.
Therefore, considering the var
iability of forage of whatever
kind, and as shown by the Ohio
leseaicheis, it pays to supply the
likely missing minerals.
As good a way as any is to
provide both mixed with the
grain of the ration, and leadily
accessible on the side, the mix
ture of equal parts dicalcium
phosphate and tiace mineralized
salt.
Coarse Sawdust
Duung the past month we have
had plenty of time to try out
different materials on the side
walks in order to prevent slip
ping. There are man> materials
that may be used but most of
them have some disadvantage.
Salt is very commonly used but
tracks into the house and is hard
on turf and shrubs near the point
of application. Sand is safe to
use but is not welcome in the
home when tracked in on foot
wear. I’d like to suggest the use
of coarse sawdust to reduce this
hazard. It is not harmful to lawns
or plants and is cleaned up very
readily when tracked into the
home or buildings. It is reported
that several kinds of nitrogen
fertilizer may be used as abra
sives, but engineers report them
to be hard on the surface of the
concrete when used repeatedly.
Use Saif Sparingly
On Snowy Sidewalks
If you use salt to melt Ice on
sidewalks and driveways, use It
sparingly, says Dr. Francis R.
Gouin. Extension hoiicullurise at
the University of Maryland.
Salt can be tracked into the
house and will damage wood
floors, linoleum or concrete. On
the driveways it can also cause
corrosion on automobiles
But the damage to grass and
oinamental shrubs near walks
and driveways can be much
more dramatic.
Continuous use of salt will
raise the salt content of the soil
around the plant roots. When
the salt content reaches a certain
point, it will retard the plant
growth-or may even kill it. Sym
ptoms are similar to drought in
jury.
The plant begins to die back
gradually at the ends of twigs
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and the leaves turn brown; even
tually the plant dies.
Heavy watering as soon as the
syptoms appear will sometimes
help prevent fuithcr injury, how
ever, it will not solve the prob
lem, Dr. Goum adds
Watering will only dilute the
sail to the point where the plant
can tolerate it, but if you add
more salt next year, the effects
may be fatal to the aheady-weak
ened plant.
Olditm&L
“The smoothest running
families are those that believe
in teen •work.”
WHITE OAK MILL
R. D. 4, Manheim
HEISEY
FARM SERVICE
Lawn Ph: 964-3444