THOUGHT FOR FOOD .sx by .sx ANTHONY LISLE .sx TESTS were recently carried out at the National Institute for Research in Dairying , Shinfield , to find the optimum level of restricted feeding for the economic production of baconers .sx For the particular strains in the Shinfield pig unit and the type of ration in use , it was found that a maximum of 6 1/2 lb .sx a head daily gave the best results .sx But in an identical trial on another farm , using exactly the same diet on pigs of different breeding , it was not possible to feed much above 5 lb .sx a day without lowering the grading of the carcasses .sx This illustrates the great difficulty commercial bacon producers are up against in feeding for economic growth and top grading .sx It also shows why scientists can do little to help in this particular field .sx What is sound practice on one farm can be economically disastrous on the next .sx Producers will have to carry out their own trials to discover the best way to feed their pigs in their particular environment .sx It is not easy to carry out accurate trial work and keep detailed records on a busy , practical farm where labour is already being used at full stretch .sx But it is vitally important to know the most economic way to feed baconers .sx Adopting an arbitrary level of feeding restriction based on other people's experience will not help .sx If the pigs are fed less than they are capable of taking before reaching a point of downgrading , they will take an unnecessarily long time to reach bacon weight and throughput will be slowed down .sx If the daily ration is too large , the pigs will grow rapidly enough , but their grading will be unsatisfactory .sx The margin between underfeeding and overfeeding is very narrow , and it can only be discovered on a basis of trial and error from farm to farm .sx CLOSELY related to this is the problem of deciding the best stage of growth at which restricted feeding should be introduced .sx Here again , most producers tend to adopt a set age or weight without first endeavouring to establish if it is the best time to make a change .sx Changing from 6ad lib .sx to restricted feeding when the pigs are 100 lb .sx liveweight may be , and probably is , too soon .sx If they are allowed to feed to appetite until 140 lb .sx they will reach bacon weight 10 to 12 days earlier .sx The advice of Dr. R. Braude , who runs the Shinfield pig unit , is to feed young pigs 6ad lib .sx until they reach the level of daily intake at which it is intended to restrict them , and then to ration them at that level .sx His experience has been that it is important not to let the pigs reach a daily feed intake above the restriction level and then drop them down again .sx This leads to a growth setback .sx For some time it has been a universal practice among bacon producers to use a two-ration feeding pattern .sx Sow-and-weaner meal is used until a certain stage , when a cheaper , low-protein diet is introduced .sx Once again the question arises :sx when should the change be made ?sx Dr. Braude feels that the decisions should be based on the appearance of the pigs and their known grading ability .sx If they tend to put on fat it will pay to keep them on the richer diet up to 120 to 140 lb .sx But if they are lean and from a good grading strain , the cheaper ration can be introduced between 100 and 120 lb .sx He emphasises , however , that these figures are only guides :sx every producer must find out for himself which is the best stage to make the change for his pigs , type of ration , and environment .sx THERE is a growing school of thought today which wonders if there is any advantage in making a feeding change at all .sx It is felt that the continued feeding of sow-and-weaner meal through to slaughter may improve grading , speed throughput and lower feed conversion to an extent that will more than offset the extra cost of the ration .sx Even if this is not so , there are other advantages .sx The use of only one ration in the piggery speeds the work of feeding and simplifies milling and mixing .sx It also ensures against any possible growth check which might occur if the change over to a finishing diet is made too early .sx Whether it is economic or not will be determined only on the farm , but it is of interest to note the results of a comparative experiment carried out by the Norfolk School of Agriculture :sx These figures show a distinct grading improvement which , in view of the fact that there was no increase of premium payments for length , must be attributable to the feeding .sx In addition , baconers on the single ration reached their slaughter weight five days earlier in summer and 10 days earlier in winter than pigs on two-stage feeding .sx In terms of hard cash , this is calculated to bring in +20 to +25 more profit from every hundred baconers sold , without taking into consideration the streamlining of labour and the simplification of mixing and storage .sx This illustrates how wrong it is to attach too much importance to the price of a ration .sx It is the feeding value which counts .sx A food costing +30 a ton may be dearer to buy than one at +28 a ton but it can be cheaper to feed .sx If the diet is +2 a ton more expensive because it has a higher nutrient value and its use improves the feed conversion rate of a baconer from 3.5 to 3.2 , the cost of feeding that baconer is reduced by 3s .sx 1d .sx For this reason , trials carried out on the farm to determine the best method for feeding bacon pigs should not be evaluated in terms of feed conversion ratios , as they are in official progeny tests .sx The best measure of efficiency is the food cost per pound of liveweight gain related , of course , to the grading results obtained .sx 1,050 galls .sx a cow from a hungry soil .sx by PHILIP BOLAM .sx SIMPLICITY is the hallmark of David Stevens' farming at Lechlade , Gloucester .sx The whole business is geared to low-cost milk production from over 100 Friesian cows , with maximum use of grass , on 260 acres of Thames gravel .sx Such a soil would have tempted many farmers to escape from the cow's tail and the seven-day week- perhaps to adopt some intensive arable cropping along with fat lamb production .sx But Mr. Stevens feels there are advantages in being a specialist .sx Getting the most out of well-manured grassland , keeping up to date with new techniques and managing a large dairy herd profitably is a skilled occupation , especially with the profusion of new ideas from the research stations and the farming press .sx The herd is milked in a six-stall six-unit Hosier bail , which in summer is drawn round the grass fields and in winter stands on concrete near the loose housing and the self-feed silage clamps .sx When the bail is in the field an electric fence forms a collecting pen and a simple " electric dog " speeds milking when concentrate feeding is low .sx Many dairy farmers in this situation are content with moderate yields , relying on low costs to provide a good margin of profit .sx But Mr. Stevens' [SIC] had a true average of 1,050 gallons per cow consuming 1.9 lb .sx cereal and concentrates for each gallon of milk produced .sx Gross sales per man now stand at +5,000 a year .sx The labour force consists of two cowmen on contract who also tend all the replacement stock , and a tractor driver who acts as relief milker .sx Critics of the system suggest that the herd should be halved and milked in two separate six-stall three-unit bails with one cowman responsible for each .sx While partly agreeing with this , Mr. Stevens argues that managerial decisions would increase with twice the milking machinery and two sets of grazing to arrange , without much financial advantage .sx He believes that if concentrates are cubed , the cows learn to eat quickly- after all , they masticate food at leisure .sx Rolled barley is used to balance grass or silage .sx Space was short in the bail , so in-churn milking was discarded in favour of an overhead pipeline which carries the milk to churns at one end .sx A quick and simple method of washing up is based on the immersion cleaning technique developed by the NIRD , using a 3 per cent caustic soda solution .sx No daily dismantling is necessary .sx The caustic soda , stored in a twenty-gallon container in the bail loft , flows by gravity into the milking system .sx The teat-cups are inverted in racks and each set is filled in turn from the overhead milkline .sx Odd pipes and utensils are soaked in a special container .sx The solution is sucked back into the storage tank before the next milking , followed by a rinse with cold water .sx The cost of converting to this system is low , and the only running expense is 10s .sx worth of caustic soda and water softener each month .sx THE grazing and silage-making programme revolves round Italian ryegrass , kale for autumn grazing and timothy-meadow fescue-white clover leys , together with an acreage of permanent grass .sx No grass is conserved as hay .sx Leys are ploughed for Italian ryegrass , which in its second summer is heavily coated with farmyard manure and ploughed for kale .sx The leys are reseeded direct the following spring .sx This is a hungry soil and fertilisers cost +8 an acre .sx Only two types are used- nitrogen and a concentrated compound .sx Recording the treatment and output of each grass field was started last year , so the present programme might well be modified when sufficient information has been accumulated .sx There are few hedges or walls .sx Most fields are about 10 acres , separated by one or two strands of barbed wire .sx These are now being replaced by sprung fencing or the electrified lines of high tensile wire with posts every 50 yards .sx Strip grazing with back fences is preferred to paddock grazing .sx Cows are given two fresh feeds of grass a day , usually in two different fields .sx The more grass they can be persuaded to eat , the more milk they give .sx Any grass left uneaten is allowed to grow on and cut for silage .sx Herd health is good with culling at 15 per cent .sx Milk fever and hypo-magnesaemia are not common but foul-in-the-foot and arthritis can be troublesome .sx A phosphorous deficiency was noticed recently and now a high phosphorous supplement is added to the food .sx The covered yards built eight years ago and open self-feed silage clamps cost about +50 a cow .sx The two clamps , just outside the covered yard , each hold 375 tons and provide a total feeding face of 64 ft .sx Walls of railway sleepers assist filling , but when the silage has settled the top sleepers are removed and the clamps covered with thin polythene sheeting .sx The area of concrete between the loose housing and the silos has been kept to the minimum , but slurry disposal was a problem , as buildings and the surrounding land are on the same level .sx The muck from the silo face and concrete yard is collected by an adapted buckrake and pushed over a concrete ramp by reversing the tractor .sx It lies untouched till midsummer , by which time it is sufficiently solid to be handled with a muck loader .sx Lying in a low rainfall area , spring reseeding and summer kale sowings were always a risk .sx In 1959 irrigation was introduced and now it is possible to cover 3 1/2 acres a day with 1 in .sx of rain- although moving the pipes makes heavy demands on the labour force .sx Like many others , Mr. Stevens feels his farming must be geared to meet sterner times .sx He may have some answers when he returns from his visit to New Zealand .sx FINE CROPS FROM SMALL FARMS .sx THE three most powerful impressions I received on my recent tour of the French countryside- in particular some of the recent " agricultural trouble " - were 1 .sx The absence of any farm labourers , or farmers , for that matter , under 35 or so years of age ; 2 .sx The comparatively high standard of crop husbandry ; and 3 .sx The comparatively small size of most farming units , herds and flocks .sx