725. A comparison of dried skim-milk and white fish meal as protein supplements: III. For fattening pigs fed whey without restriction under commercial conditions

Abstract

1. An experiment has been carried out under commercial conditions to compare the value of dried skim-milk and white fish meal as protein supplements in a basal meal fed to fattening pigs in conjunction with unrestricted amounts of whey.2. There were four treatments. All pigs received 3 lb./pig/day of a basal meal, reduced to 2 lb. by the 13th week of life, plus unrestricted amounts of whey. The protein supplement in the four basal meals comprising the four treatments were: (1) 10% white fish meal, (2) 10% dried skim-milk, (3) 15% dried skim-milk and (4) 20% dried skim-milk.There were five pens of nine group-fed pigs on each treatment, involving a total of 180 pigs. The pigs were on experiment from approximately 10 weeks of age to bacon weight. Comprehensive carcass measurements were made on all the pigs.3. The results showed that the white fish meal in the basal meal fed with unrestricted amounts of whey could be replaced by dried skim-milk on a weight for weight basis (10%) without adversely affecting the performance of the pigs. Increasing the percentage of dried skim-milk to 15% appeared to have no advantage, but increasing it to 20% resulted in a slightly better performance of the pigs.4. The results are discussed in relation to the findings in previous experiments and it was concluded that the evidence obtained so far strongly suggests that as a protein supplement, dried skim-milk is superior to white fish meal for the fattening pig, when compared on a protein content basis.5. The commercial grading results of the pigs on all four treatments were quite good, with no very marked differences between any of the groups.6. An average daily peak consumption of about 4¾ gal. whey/pig was reached by all groups of pigs during about the 26th–28th weeks of life. The growth curve and pattern of food consumption of the pigs during the experiment were compared with those in two earlier trials carried out under similar conditions, and possible reasons for some of the differences observed were discussed.