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Feeding Experiments with Leghorns
SIXTH PERJOb: Milk Mixture 2 •Mixture 3 Rape Gr " Total
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maximum. Since the ratibK was properlv 3,400 balanced, in organic matter (so- far. as. our 1,353 present, knowledge, goes) as well as in in'38! organic or mineral content these chicks can 912 be regarded as Having made the maximum 33 growth they were capable of making. Of the ten birds completing their eight 6,079 weeks, six doubled their original weight in SEVENTH PERIOD: less than fourteen days. Beginning with Mi.lk •••' 3,989 their weights at the end of seven days five Mixture 3 doubled their weights before the end of 332 Mixture 4 1,236 fourteen days. Commencing with the Rape 880 weights at the end of fourteen days seven Grit 39 either doubled their weight before the end of the next fourteen days or within a very Total 6,476 small margin of that point. Beginning with EIGHTH PERIOD: the weights at the end of twenty-one days Milk 4203 only two doubled or came within a very Mixture 3 382 small fraction of doubling their weights by Mixture 4 1,484 the end of another fourteen days. Begi'.lRape 73i ning with the weights of the twenty-eighth day only one doubled its weight before the Total 6,800 end of the following fourteen days. Beginning with the weights at the end of the Discussion thirty-fifth day none doubled their weights A flock of 10 Single Comb White Leg- in the following fourteen days. horn chicks were tested to determine the B. F. KAUPP, rate of growth. The experiment was conNorth Carolina Experiment Station. ducted over eight periods of seven days each. The chicks were fed five times a day and accurate weights obtained. The FEEDING EXPERIMENTS WITH LEGchicks were weighed at 9 o'clock a. m., on HORNS. each weigh-day. They were brooded under an oil burning hover. This was kept on a Feeding experiments, particularly for metal floor and the feed containers were so constructed that there was no loss of feed. the Middle West colleges, have taken a A chick does not always make the same general trend toward the farmer's probrate of growth as will be noted from table lem directly rather than toward deep III. This table shows; that the percentage scientific investigation. At the Purdue Experiment Station we increase in weight in seven days varies from 4 per cent to 42 per cent. This flock have been working for nine years enshowed the greatest gain from a flock stand- deavoring to find out about various point in the first three weeks of., their life. kinds of animal protein, the proportions From a flock standpoint the percentage in- that should be used and their influences crease in weight ranged from 13 per cent upon the hens. Bulletins have been published on our earlier experiments to 31 per cent. with Leghorns and duplicate experiIn the first week there was required 1.7 ments with Plymouth Rocks. grams mash and grain and 7.8 grams milk The farmers of Indiana have, for their to produce one gram of gain; and in the second week, 2.2 grams mash and grain, o 5 hogs and cattle, an abundance of tankgram, rape, and 8.4 grams milk; in the age and cotton seed meal and when third week, 2.2 grams grain and mash, 0.9 meat scraps or skim milk are recomgram rape, and 5.9 grams milk; in the mended they are desirous of knowing fourth period, 2.8 grams mash and grain, what can be done with tankage or cot0.0 gram rape, and 6.5 grams milk; in the tonseed meal. Since our plan is to work fifth period, 2.8 grams grain and mash, for the farmers local needs, an experi0.58,grams rape, and 5.9 grams milk; in ment was run during 1917-18 comparthe sixth period, 2.9 grams mash and grain, ing tankage with meat scraps, and also 1.5 grams rape, and 5-8 grams milk; in using a pen lacking in meat scraps. The the seventh period, 3.6 grams mash and grain ration consisted of ten pounds grain, 1 gram rape, and 5.9 grams , milk corn, ten pounds wheat, five pounds in the eighth period, 2.6 grams mash and oats, five pounds bran, five pounds grain, 1 grame rape, and 5.9 grams milk shorts, and three and one-half pounds to produce a gram of grain as an average meat scraps or three pounds tankage. for the eight periods or eight weeks we The results are interesting in that tanknote that it required 2.8 grams mash and age showed itself to be practically as grain, 1.0 gram rape, and 6.9 grams milk valuable as meat scraps in every reto produce one gram of gain m weight. spect. The egg production in both pens These chicks were not given water during was very high. The tankage fed birds the entire test but were given all the milk produced 183.5 eggs, meat scraps 179 they would consume so that the consump- eggs and no meat food 59.35 eggs in the tion of milk and graia and mash was the two year experiment. This caused quite 6*
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Northern Arizona University on May 27, 2015
ON PAGE 64 SEE DESCRIPTION
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Northern Arizona University on May 27, 2015
comparing cottonseed meal with animal source of protein. The results from this experiment showed that Leghorns drank about ninety pounds of milk and consumed sixty-five pounds grain under conditions of free range. The birds on cottonseed meal consumed about fourteen pounds less feed than tnose given milk and laid no better than if cottonseed meal had been eliminated from the ration. The ration seemed reasonably palatable but the results were 55.6 eggs per bird while the milk pen averaged 166.87. When double grain was given the birds averaged to lay 137.8 eggs. During the forepart of the experiment, that is, the winter months, the double grain fed birds seem to do about as well as the standard grain fed birds, the real difference not showing itself until late in the summer. For instance, during May the egg production averaged the same. In April the difference was only one per cent. Therefore, we believe that the increased grain was not as harmful for active Leghorns as might be supposed though the total production was somewhat lower. It might be fair to conclude that the grain proportion might profitably be reduced from the beginning of the laying year to the end, giving birds more protein towards the close of their pullet year. This is rather difficult to do for birds on the farm and given free range but might be accomplished under commercialized or more easily controlled conditions. The feeding of cottonseed meal or increased grain did not hurt the fertility of eggs but the cottonseed meal fed birds were consistently poor in hatching power. The birds given cottonseed meal, while slightly smaller in size, did not produce the mortality that might be expected. Along in the summer time, before the moulting season, they looked much poorer than the other birds but along in September and October, when getting their new coat of feathers, they were as good looking as any of the birds on the other rations. It was interesting to note, in following the egg production, that birds that were on the no meat fed ration or cottonseed meal ration laid every month in the year and did their best production in April and May or March and April and followed the same curve that the better fed birds made. All of the poorer fed birds had yellow shanks in the fall and kept this condition throughout the laying year. For Indiana farmers we class buttermilk, skim milk, fish scraps, meat scraps and tankage all in the same category, believing them absolutely necessary in the ration and figure one hundred pounds skim milk equal to seven pounds fifty per cent meat scraps. A. G. Philips, Purdue University. 63
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Northern Arizona University on May 27, 2015
heavy consumption of feed, the amount being about eighty-two pounds for the animal fed pens and only eighteen pounds less for the poorer layers. This might indicate that from this eighteen pounds difference came the increase of over one hundred eggs per bird. Oyster shell was consumed in eight to ten times as large quantities as grit. Our profitable egg laying months were March, April and May even though a great many people think that eggs in the winter are the profitable months. Comparing the tankage or meat scraps pen with the no meat feed pen the feeding value of tankase was $1371 per ton and meat scraps $1051 per ton. The three pens produced similar fertility though the tankage fed pen hatched slightly poorer than the other pens. The meat scraps pen hatched little better than the no meat fed pen. One particularly interesting thing about this experiment which is not generally found possible in all college plants is the fact that each of these pens contain full sisters in both of the other pens. Since all the Leghorns on the Purdue Farm are pedigreed, thirty sets of triplets were used, thus reducing as far as possible the influence of breeding on the egg production. Of course all sisters did not lay alike but there was a trend towards the high laying birds in one pen to have high laying sisters in the other pens. The breeding work of the department has had marked influence on the results of the feding experiments. When the Poultry Deartment first started its work the average results of the meat scraps feeding was around one hundred and thirty-five eggs. After several years very careful breeding the average of the no meat fed pens will be nearer sixty eggs and the animal fed pens will lay from 180-90 eggs per bird. The Purdue Experiment Station has been very definite in its recommendation as to the proportion of grain to mash that should be fed when using their ration, believing that it is easier to over feed grain than to overfeed mash. This is particularly true on the general farm. Since it is easier to feed grain than mash the Purdue ration requires only half as much mash as grain. We still have trouble with persons mixing mash and grain as recommended and then feeding it in some different proportion. In order to get a little data on this the Purdue standard ration of ten pounds corn, ten pounds wheat, five pounds oats, five pounds bran, five pounds shorts and fifty pounds buttermilk was used against a pen in which the grain was doubled and against a pen in which 5.3 pounds cottonseed meal was compared with the fifty pounds buttermilk. This experiment, of course, involved two problems, one on the question of doubling the grain and one on
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Northern Arizona University on May 27, 2015
maximum. Since the ratibK was properlv 3,400 balanced, in organic matter (so- far. as. our 1,353 present, knowledge, goes) as well as in in'38! organic or mineral content these chicks can 912 be regarded as Having made the maximum 33 growth they were capable of making. Of the ten birds completing their eight 6,079 weeks, six doubled their original weight in SEVENTH PERIOD: less than fourteen days. Beginning with Mi.lk •••' 3,989 their weights at the end of seven days five Mixture 3 doubled their weights before the end of 332 Mixture 4 1,236 fourteen days. Commencing with the Rape 880 weights at the end of fourteen days seven Grit 39 either doubled their weight before the end of the next fourteen days or within a very Total 6,476 small margin of that point. Beginning with EIGHTH PERIOD: the weights at the end of twenty-one days Milk 4203 only two doubled or came within a very Mixture 3 382 small fraction of doubling their weights by Mixture 4 1,484 the end of another fourteen days. Begi'.lRape 73i ning with the weights of the twenty-eighth day only one doubled its weight before the Total 6,800 end of the following fourteen days. Beginning with the weights at the end of the Discussion thirty-fifth day none doubled their weights A flock of 10 Single Comb White Leg- in the following fourteen days. horn chicks were tested to determine the B. F. KAUPP, rate of growth. The experiment was conNorth Carolina Experiment Station. ducted over eight periods of seven days each. The chicks were fed five times a day and accurate weights obtained. The FEEDING EXPERIMENTS WITH LEGchicks were weighed at 9 o'clock a. m., on HORNS. each weigh-day. They were brooded under an oil burning hover. This was kept on a Feeding experiments, particularly for metal floor and the feed containers were so constructed that there was no loss of feed. the Middle West colleges, have taken a A chick does not always make the same general trend toward the farmer's probrate of growth as will be noted from table lem directly rather than toward deep III. This table shows; that the percentage scientific investigation. At the Purdue Experiment Station we increase in weight in seven days varies from 4 per cent to 42 per cent. This flock have been working for nine years enshowed the greatest gain from a flock stand- deavoring to find out about various point in the first three weeks of., their life. kinds of animal protein, the proportions From a flock standpoint the percentage in- that should be used and their influences crease in weight ranged from 13 per cent upon the hens. Bulletins have been published on our earlier experiments to 31 per cent. with Leghorns and duplicate experiIn the first week there was required 1.7 ments with Plymouth Rocks. grams mash and grain and 7.8 grams milk The farmers of Indiana have, for their to produce one gram of gain; and in the second week, 2.2 grams mash and grain, o 5 hogs and cattle, an abundance of tankgram, rape, and 8.4 grams milk; in the age and cotton seed meal and when third week, 2.2 grams grain and mash, 0.9 meat scraps or skim milk are recomgram rape, and 5.9 grams milk; in the mended they are desirous of knowing fourth period, 2.8 grams mash and grain, what can be done with tankage or cot0.0 gram rape, and 6.5 grams milk; in the tonseed meal. Since our plan is to work fifth period, 2.8 grams grain and mash, for the farmers local needs, an experi0.58,grams rape, and 5.9 grams milk; in ment was run during 1917-18 comparthe sixth period, 2.9 grams mash and grain, ing tankage with meat scraps, and also 1.5 grams rape, and 5-8 grams milk; in using a pen lacking in meat scraps. The the seventh period, 3.6 grams mash and grain ration consisted of ten pounds grain, 1 gram rape, and 5.9 grams , milk corn, ten pounds wheat, five pounds in the eighth period, 2.6 grams mash and oats, five pounds bran, five pounds grain, 1 grame rape, and 5.9 grams milk shorts, and three and one-half pounds to produce a gram of grain as an average meat scraps or three pounds tankage. for the eight periods or eight weeks we The results are interesting in that tanknote that it required 2.8 grams mash and age showed itself to be practically as grain, 1.0 gram rape, and 6.9 grams milk valuable as meat scraps in every reto produce one gram of gain m weight. spect. The egg production in both pens These chicks were not given water during was very high. The tankage fed birds the entire test but were given all the milk produced 183.5 eggs, meat scraps 179 they would consume so that the consump- eggs and no meat food 59.35 eggs in the tion of milk and graia and mash was the two year experiment. This caused quite 6*
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Northern Arizona University on May 27, 2015
ON PAGE 64 SEE DESCRIPTION
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Northern Arizona University on May 27, 2015
comparing cottonseed meal with animal source of protein. The results from this experiment showed that Leghorns drank about ninety pounds of milk and consumed sixty-five pounds grain under conditions of free range. The birds on cottonseed meal consumed about fourteen pounds less feed than tnose given milk and laid no better than if cottonseed meal had been eliminated from the ration. The ration seemed reasonably palatable but the results were 55.6 eggs per bird while the milk pen averaged 166.87. When double grain was given the birds averaged to lay 137.8 eggs. During the forepart of the experiment, that is, the winter months, the double grain fed birds seem to do about as well as the standard grain fed birds, the real difference not showing itself until late in the summer. For instance, during May the egg production averaged the same. In April the difference was only one per cent. Therefore, we believe that the increased grain was not as harmful for active Leghorns as might be supposed though the total production was somewhat lower. It might be fair to conclude that the grain proportion might profitably be reduced from the beginning of the laying year to the end, giving birds more protein towards the close of their pullet year. This is rather difficult to do for birds on the farm and given free range but might be accomplished under commercialized or more easily controlled conditions. The feeding of cottonseed meal or increased grain did not hurt the fertility of eggs but the cottonseed meal fed birds were consistently poor in hatching power. The birds given cottonseed meal, while slightly smaller in size, did not produce the mortality that might be expected. Along in the summer time, before the moulting season, they looked much poorer than the other birds but along in September and October, when getting their new coat of feathers, they were as good looking as any of the birds on the other rations. It was interesting to note, in following the egg production, that birds that were on the no meat fed ration or cottonseed meal ration laid every month in the year and did their best production in April and May or March and April and followed the same curve that the better fed birds made. All of the poorer fed birds had yellow shanks in the fall and kept this condition throughout the laying year. For Indiana farmers we class buttermilk, skim milk, fish scraps, meat scraps and tankage all in the same category, believing them absolutely necessary in the ration and figure one hundred pounds skim milk equal to seven pounds fifty per cent meat scraps. A. G. Philips, Purdue University. 63
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Northern Arizona University on May 27, 2015
heavy consumption of feed, the amount being about eighty-two pounds for the animal fed pens and only eighteen pounds less for the poorer layers. This might indicate that from this eighteen pounds difference came the increase of over one hundred eggs per bird. Oyster shell was consumed in eight to ten times as large quantities as grit. Our profitable egg laying months were March, April and May even though a great many people think that eggs in the winter are the profitable months. Comparing the tankage or meat scraps pen with the no meat feed pen the feeding value of tankase was $1371 per ton and meat scraps $1051 per ton. The three pens produced similar fertility though the tankage fed pen hatched slightly poorer than the other pens. The meat scraps pen hatched little better than the no meat fed pen. One particularly interesting thing about this experiment which is not generally found possible in all college plants is the fact that each of these pens contain full sisters in both of the other pens. Since all the Leghorns on the Purdue Farm are pedigreed, thirty sets of triplets were used, thus reducing as far as possible the influence of breeding on the egg production. Of course all sisters did not lay alike but there was a trend towards the high laying birds in one pen to have high laying sisters in the other pens. The breeding work of the department has had marked influence on the results of the feding experiments. When the Poultry Deartment first started its work the average results of the meat scraps feeding was around one hundred and thirty-five eggs. After several years very careful breeding the average of the no meat fed pens will be nearer sixty eggs and the animal fed pens will lay from 180-90 eggs per bird. The Purdue Experiment Station has been very definite in its recommendation as to the proportion of grain to mash that should be fed when using their ration, believing that it is easier to over feed grain than to overfeed mash. This is particularly true on the general farm. Since it is easier to feed grain than mash the Purdue ration requires only half as much mash as grain. We still have trouble with persons mixing mash and grain as recommended and then feeding it in some different proportion. In order to get a little data on this the Purdue standard ration of ten pounds corn, ten pounds wheat, five pounds oats, five pounds bran, five pounds shorts and fifty pounds buttermilk was used against a pen in which the grain was doubled and against a pen in which 5.3 pounds cottonseed meal was compared with the fifty pounds buttermilk. This experiment, of course, involved two problems, one on the question of doubling the grain and one on