Jasper County Democrat, Volume 10, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 August 1907 — FEEDING SKIM MILK. [ARTICLE]

FEEDING SKIM MILK.

Experiment* Show That It Is ■ Valuable Ration For Fowls. A writer in the American Poultry Advocate has the following to say of the value of skim milk as a partial ration for fowls: The West Virginia experiment station has recently made some systematic tests to prove the value of skim milk for laying hens. The first test covered 122 days. The twentytwo hens fed skim milk laid 1,244 eggs as compared with 996 eggs laid by the twenty-two hens fed mash wet with water. In another test sixty hens fed the skim milk ration laid 862 eggs In thirty-seven days as compared with 632 eggs laid by a similar lot fed no skim milk. Other tests gave about the same comparative results. The conductors of these experiments estimate that under the prevailing conditions and with eggs selling for 20 or 25 cents per dozen the skim milk used for moistening the mash had a feeding value of from IV£ to 2 cents per quart That milk Is one of the best general foods for almost all stock and human beings, too. Is recognized by everybody and needs no special proof. That It should have better results In nutrition than Just plain water Is really self evident When I feed skim milk to my fowls, I do expect to get some benefit from it. But it is a satisfaction to know that It Is werth, for feeding purposes, the comparatively high figure of 1% or 2 cents a quart. At the Ontario experimental farm some tests of the value of skim milk, whey, etc., as an addition to grains for fattening poultry have recently been conducted. From a summary of data on the relative value of whey, skim milk and numerous feeds for fattening chickens It appears that gain was most cheaply made on a mixture of equal parts of corn meal, oatmeal and shorts mixed with whey, the cost being 4 cents per pound, and was most expensive (6 cents per pound) on a mixture of equal parts of cornmeal, shorts and oatmeal, with 30 per cent of pork scrap, water being used to wet up the ration. It was found that sour skim milk (milk that is thickened) Is without doubt the best liquid to mix with grain rations where a uniform product is wanted and more so where white fleshed chickens are In demand; also that sweet ,«klm milk has not so high a feeding value for grown chickens as sour milk and that whey is a better food than Is generally considered. It seems to aid digestion.