452 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



5 GEORGE v., A. 1915 



Tlie grain foods used varied in price, and each pen was charged according to the 

 fond eaten. The prices charged were as follows: — 



Whea\ shorts 



R'ce meal 



Peas. oats, and barley (home-grown) 



Ground alfalfa • 



Dried blood 



Mangels and green food 



Skim-milk 



Potatoes ( culls ) 



Lots 1 axd 2. 



In lot 1, all the pens were fed rice-meal a.= the grain ration, and all the pens in lot 

 2 were fed wheat shorts as a control. This experiment was made in the different sea- 

 sons of the year, and the average represents all of our yearly conditions. 



It will be noted that the periods vary in length. This irregularity was brought 

 about by the rice-meal fed pigs becoming disabled and being killed when they began 

 to lose weight. At the same time, the controls were gaining rapidly and had not yet 

 reached the height of their production. This, to a groat extent, lessens the difference 

 between the two lots, but, even at this stage, there is more profit to the credit of the 

 controls. 



From a nutrition point of view, the difference is very marked. In pen 1, the 

 pigg all became very stiff and sore and refused food at fifty days; their hair was rough 

 and the skin yellow to brown. Pen 5, at a different season of the year, also went 

 exactly the same way at the fifty-day stage. Pen 10 started to show symptoms of 

 trouble at thirty days, and at fifty days the pigs were all unable to use their hind-feet 

 and had very rough hair and brown skins. This pen was treated with Epsom salts, 

 given shorts to eat, and in a few days they were on their feet. They were put back on 

 rice-meal and all stiffened up again, becoming very bad before the period was up. They 

 were all condemned before killing. Pen 12 had a slightly different history. At fifty- 

 three days, one pig became very lame very suddenly as if attacked by a terrible cramp 

 in the hind legs. He was exceedingly sore and noisy. Three days later the other pigs 

 became gradually lame. All of them had very rough hair and dark skins. They 

 gradually became worse until the end of the period. The first symptom one would 

 notice was a uniform wild or staring expression of the eyes, next they would not clean 

 their trough out, then they would get stiff and bury themselves in the straw and they 

 would squeal, vehemently if disturbed. 



In contrast to this, there was no trouble at all with the pigs in lot 2, fed on 

 straight shorts with all the other conditions exactly the same. In pen 2 the pigs were 

 healthy and active every day, although they became very fat, and they were always 

 hungry. Their trough was always clean, their skin and hair were pure white and they 

 were making their best gains at the end of the period. Pen 6 has exactly the same 

 history as pen 2, only that they started as much younger pigs and ran a longer period. 

 Pen 9 started very young and ran the full 100 days, without the slightest trouble 

 occurring. They varied from the other two pens in this lot because they were pushed 

 to the limit throughout the trial. They were given every pound of shorts they would 

 possibly eat, yet they never refused a meal or had anything wrong with them, except 

 that they became very fat. 



Several times during the various periods, the pigs changed places with one 

 another to try to prove whether or not there was any difference- in location in the 

 piggery or anything contagious, but negative results were obtained at each time. The 

 ration was the only factor in changing the condition. From the results obtained from 

 lots 1 and 2, it must be said that rice-meal is not a safe food for fattening hogs. 



Agassiz. 



