The Bulletin. 53 



CORN WHEN FED ALONE IS NOT SATISFACTORY. 



The majority of our farmers feed too much corn. It is generally con- 

 sidered that there is no other feed equal to corn for pork production. This 

 is true, provided the corn is used judiciously. But if it be fed alone for any 

 length of time there are few feeds which are poorer. If, however, corn is 

 fed in combination with other feeds, its use is to be highly commended, and 

 it can be used to great economical advantage, too, even though it sells upon 

 the market as high as $1 a bushel. 



The hog is not adapted to living on corn alone, and when we require it of 

 him we are forcing him to do a thing which is not consistent with his nature. 

 Man likes a mixture of feeds or a change in diet; so do the lower animals. 

 The hog in its wild state is omnivorous, feeding upon roots, nuts, fish, grass, 

 snakes, etc.; in fact, but few feeds can be mentioned that he will not eat if 

 he be given the opportunity. Our domesticated hogs have inherited the 

 tendency to select their feed from a variety of substances, and when we 

 enclose them in a pen and give them but one feed we can feel assured that 

 we are not allowing them to reach their highest possibilities. 



Experimental data, as well as the experience of our best farmers, show that 

 pork can not be profitably raised and finished upon corn alone when corn 

 sells for 70 cents a bushel. The man who tries to finish hogs on corn alone 

 is following a losing business. There are plenty experiments to show that 

 when corn is worth 90 cents a bushel the cost of each pound of gain will be 

 just about 9 cents; when corn is selling at 80 cents a bushel each pound of 

 gain put on will cost 8 cents; when corn is worth 70 cents a bushel each 

 pound of gain will cost 7 cents; and when corn is worth only 60 cents a 

 bushel pork can be finished for only 6 cents a pound. It appears, therefore, 

 that when 90-cent corn is fed to 7-cent hogs the feeder is losing 20 cents a 

 bushel on his corn. Eight-cent pork must go along with 80-cent corn if the 

 owner is to strike even on feeding corn alone. As a general thing the farm- 

 ers do not get 8 cents for their hogs. If corn were worth but 40 cents a 

 bushel, as it often is in some of the Western States, it would be a very profit- 

 able thing to raise corn and feed it to 6 and 7-cent hogs; good money could 

 be made out of it, as the farmer would then be selling his 40-cent corn, by 

 means of hogs, at 60 and 70 cents a bushel. But even in the corn-belt States 

 it is more profitable to supplement the corn with other concentrates or green 

 crops, and this practice is followed by the best farmers. 



CONCENTRATES TO StTPPLEMENT CORN. 



Fortunately for the South, it is not necessary to depend upon corn alone, 

 as almost all the crops which can be grown in any part of the country can be 

 grown in the South, and there are many crops suitable for hog feed which 

 can be grown in no other section of the country. This section is wonderfully 

 blessed in its great variety of grain and concentrates, and, in addition, green 

 and pasture crops can be made to spread over twelve months of the year. In 

 fact, with the use of pasture crops the South is in a position to make pork 

 cheaper than any other section of the United States. 



As stated before, the hog likes a variety of feeds and thrives better upon 

 a ration made up of two or more feeds than upon one made up of but one. 

 It has been proved by several of the experiment stations that wheat and corn, 

 when fed separately to fattening hogs, are practically equal in feeding value. 

 At the Wisconsin Experiment Station several tests were made to learn the 

 relative value of wheat and a mixture of wheat and corn in equal parts. It 

 was found that 500 pounds of wheat were required to make 100 pounds of 

 gain, but when wheat and corn were fed in equal parts only 485 pounds of the 

 mixture were required to make the same gain. When fed separately, these 

 grains are of equal feeding value, but the mixture of the two was more valu- 

 "able than either grain when fed alone. While the South has not the wheat, 

 vet the Wisconsin experiments teach the lesson that if the most is to be 

 realized upon the hog and the corn a supplementary feed must go along with 

 the corn. 



