202 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE 



PIG FEEDING. 



BY CLINTON D. SMITH. 



Bulletin No. 138. — Farm Department. 



I. Gains Before and After Weaning. 



The object of this feeding experiment was to afford additional data 

 in answer to the question whether the gains made by young pigs before 

 weaning were put on at a greater or less cost per pound than when the 

 pigs were older. 



The sows and pigs before weaning and the pigs thereafter were fed 

 on a ration of skim milk and a grain mixture of one part corn meal and 

 two parts middlings. The supply of skim milk varied from week to week 

 and no constant relation between the quantity of grain ration and of 

 skim milk was maintained. 



The pigs were encouraged to eat in the trough with their dams as 

 early as possible. When, therefore, they came to weaning, they were 

 already in the habit of eating from a trough and the change from the 

 milk of the dam to the new ration was neither sudden nor extreme. 



Two sows and litters were used in the test. 



One of them was a registered Duroc Jersey, four years old, and with 

 her fourth litter. She had by her side at the beginning of the experiment 

 eight pigs apparently even in growth, sound and thrifty. They were 

 farrowed March 20. 



The other sow was a registered Poland China with nine pigs, her 

 second litter. These pigs were farrowed April 6. The pigs in both lit- 

 ters were marked and numbered by ear tags. Their weights were 

 taken weekly from the 13th of April, when the experiment began, 

 until the 10th of August. These weights are recorded in the fol- 

 lowing table to illustrate the variations in growth between individual 

 pigs from week to week. 



These weekly weights are combined in Table II and the weights of 

 the sows while running with the pigs are also given. 



