The yield and composition of milk from sows fed on three ration levels

摘要

Summary Two experiments were conducted in which the effects of three ration levels upon the yield and composition of sows' milk and the efficiency of milk production over the last seven weeks of an eight-week lactation were examined. The levels fed were: 6 units per sow and I unit per piglet suckled; 4 units per sow and ? per piglet; and 3 units per sow and ? per piglet per day. (A gallon of milk or a pound of concentrate was regarded as one feed unit.) There was a slight reduction in yield per sow and per piglet when the ration was reduced from 6 + 1 to 4 + ?, but no reduction when the ration was lowered from 4 + ? to 3 + ?. The average milk yield per sow and per piglet for the 4 treatments were, in the first experiment: 6 + 1, 573 Ib and 86.7 lb; 4 + ?, 493 lb and 82.1 lb; and in the second experiment: 4 + ?, 668 lb and 78.6 lb ; 3 + ?, 614 1b and 83 lb. The reduction in yield resulting from lowered intake was largely offset by the increased energy content of the milk, the values for the treatments bein...