No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AaRICULTURE. 583 



At the age of eight weeks the pigs should be ready to wean. This 

 is a crisis in the young pig's life, and the skillful manager will see 

 to it that the pigs are not checked in their development at this time. 

 This can be done providing they are kept warm and dry, that their 

 food is suitable, palatable and properly prepared, and that they are 

 not over-fed at any time. Jf they are never given quite all they will 

 eat their appetites will keep keen and thus they may be made to eat 

 the maximum amount of food to the best advantage. 



From the time the pigs are weaned until they are shipped, the 

 question is to produce the greatest gain at the least expense. This 

 involves not only keeping in close touch with the feed market, se- 

 lecting the cheapest one and buying when the price is low, but it 

 also involves a knowledge of how to blend the growth producing and 

 fattening foods in such a way as to get a pig large enough to weigh 

 from 225 to 250 when about eight or nine months old. 



It is probable that in no way can pork be made more cheaply than 

 with grain on pasture, provided the grain and the pasture is of the 

 right kind. Experiments at a number of different stations have 

 shown that it requires from one-fifth to one-third less grain to pro- 

 duce one hundred pounds of pork with pasture than without it. 

 While this is no doubt true, care should be taken not to try to over 

 do the matter of pastures, especially with young pigs. Young pigs 

 need more protein than older ones, because they are growing rather 

 than fattening. In consequence, the young pig should receive for 

 sometime after being weaned a ration equivalent to two parts of 

 corn meal and one of middlings, with a little tankage perhaps aside 

 from access to good clover, alfalfa, oats and peas, or cow pea pas- 

 ture from which he will get considerable protein. On this sort of 

 pasture, as the pigs grow larger, the proportion of corn may be in- 

 creased until they have attained the weight of about one hundred 

 pounds, when corn alone may be economically fed, unless perchance 

 corn may be high and protein feed proportionately low in price. 

 Under usual conditions, however, the nitrogenous feed are so high 

 that, although their use undoubtedly Avould make more rapid gains, 

 they are obtained at such an increased cost as to render their use 

 unadvisable. Pigs should be so fed that they will gain from one- 

 half to one pound a day from the time they are three weeks old until 

 they are marketed. It is impossible to make anything like this 

 gain on pasture alone; but on the other hand the Montana Station 

 has found that it is possible to feed more grain than is necessary to 

 make the maximum gains. It seems, too, that in order to get the 

 best results from the pasture it is essential that the pigs be allowed 

 to graze rather than to have the green feed cut and brought to them. 

 Whole grain fed on pasture should be ground or soaked with the 

 possible exception of corn, which may be fed on the cob or shelled. 

 It will pay, however, to soak old corn before it is fed, as soaking is 

 equivalent to grinding and is much cheaper. 



It was further found at the Utah Station that pigs in pasture con- 

 sisting of about half alfalfa and a full grain ration gained 1.3 pounds 

 per day, and that 417 pounds of grain were required for 100 pounds of 

 gain. In pasture and three-fourths grain ration the daily gain was 

 1,2 pounds and 377 pounds of grain required for 100 pounds of gain. 

 On a half grain ration the daily gain was .87 pounds and 352 pounds 



