154 MISSOURI AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



I have never found any slop yet that I think is the equal of corn, 

 wheat and oats ground together. The rye might be just as good as 

 the wheat, but I think no better. There is practically no danger in 

 the wheat. Rut aside from that, my own experience has been differ- 

 ent from what most men advise in regard to feeding sows in farrow. 

 I never have believed in feeding much slop. The agricultural papers 

 say, if it does not suit you to feed your pregnant sows corn, give them 

 slop. I don't believe it is a good way. I believe, the reverse is ex- 

 actly true. I have talked with ]\Ir. Snell of Kansas, and I told him my 

 method and he agreed with me that if you feed altogether slop, or 

 slop largely, to sows in farrow you have a great many dead pigs. They 

 are apparently well developed, but they have no strength. I have seen 

 a whole litter of a dozen pigs and every one dead from feeding the 

 sow too much slop. That, of course, is uncommon. I lost two or 

 three of the finest sows I ever raised by not giving them a grain of 

 corn when in farrow. I had been showing them and they were pretty 

 fleshy and I kept the corn away from them entirely. One was an im- 

 ported sow. They did not produce a pig. That is my opinion of what 

 slop will do. I love to feed the old-fashioned Missouri corn. Corn 

 is consumed largely in keeping up the animal heat. I can feed corn 

 during the winter months and it is not dangerous as it is in summer, 

 because it is consumed in keeping up the animal heat. But I believe 

 in slop feed for sows not in farrow. I like to see a sow not too fat 

 in time of service, but she must be in a thrifty, gaining condition for 

 the pigs to be strong and active. 



If your sows are in farrow, you don't want to feed much slop. 

 Wheat bran is enough if they can get to the grass. That and corn 

 is all they want. I do not keep my younger hogs fat, but I give my 

 sows and pigs plenty of corn and feed liberally and let them get fat. 

 But if the sow is fat at the time of service, you cannot give her corn 

 every day in order to produce pigs. Sows are thin as a rule wheu they 

 are bred and are thin after having' raised litters ; but I believe in lib- 

 eral feeding and letting them get pretty fat. 



Mr. Ellis: There was a statement made by Mr. Mumford, I be- 

 lieve, that should be explained. He stated one reason why he raised rye 

 was because it was more productice than wheat. People here do not un- 

 derstand that Prof. Mumford's farm is in Michigan. That condition is not 

 true in Missouri, for the average yield of wheat in Missouri is greater than 

 the average yield of rye. In this State — and in talking with the farmers 

 I find they agree with me — we can get as much out of wheat for pas- 

 ture as rye. Mr. Shepard, who is largely engaged in the dairy busi- 

 ness in Boone county, keeps about seventy cows and pastures them a 



