c58 



IOWA DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE 



Molasses (.261) mixed with the chopped clover and shelled corn 

 daily; oats 3, bran 3, middlings (wheat) 3, and oil meal 2 parts, by 

 weight. 



We have found that on rations which are of balanced character, 

 rations that minister well to the nutritional needs of the sow, that said 

 sow receiving these rations during the period of breeding, farrows 

 more pigs and stronger pigs than where an improper ration, such as 

 corn alone, or wheat alone, or barley alone, or rye alone, is fed. 



In other cords, by keeping the sows coming during the breeding 

 season, making them gain abundantly, we are insured of litters of 

 a larger number. This practice is called flushing. The sheepmen have 

 taken advantage of this for years. Some of the good feeds with which 

 to! flush the sow, using corn as the base, are meat meal, milk, alfalfa 

 pasture, rape pasture, red clover pasture, or tender young blue grass. 



Table II gives the offspring record of the sows fed these various 

 rations, the feeds and gains of which are given in Table I. 



TABLE II— OFFSPRING RECORD. 



Results at Iowa Experiment Station, 1910, 1911, 1912, Animal Husbandry 

 Section. Gilts — Five in all lots but last, which had eight. 



Ration Fed 





Ear com only 



Ear corn plus 1-30 meat meal or tankage 



Ear corn plus 4-30 meat meal or tankage 



Ear corn plus 1-3 (03, B.S, MS, 0M2) 



Shelled corn plus chopped clover and molass 



Ear corn plus clover in rack 



Ear com plus alfalfa in rack 



Ear corn plus 1-10 meat meal or tankage 



13.20 

 14.89 

 19.62 

 19.50 

 15.32 

 14.17 

 17.41 

 18.00 



1.74 

 2.01 

 2.23 

 1.84 



2.19 

 2.21 

 2.29 

 2.12 



Yearling sows, ten in each lot. 



Ear com only 



Ear com plus 1-10 meat jnfeal or tankage. 



Ear com plus 1-4 oil meal, linseed 



Ear com plus alfalfa in rack* 



♦Actually almost a com-only lot; sows ate but little alfalfa from rack. To insure 

 alfalfa consumption is ofttimes a perplexing problem. 



It is well to note that meat meal, clover and alfalfa are splendid 

 supplements to corn, because the pigs are bigger and stronger. It is 

 well to note, however, that alfalfa in a rack is not a "sure-shot" mix- 

 ture, because yearling sows in this instance did not eat enough of it; 

 hence their pigs came weak simply because they did not take to the 

 alfalfa in the rack. Here is a case where the free-choice system went 

 wrong. Had this alfalfa been pasture rather than hay, there would 

 not have been any question about the sows eating enough of it, but as 

 it was they were inhibited, I think, by its fibrous content, and hence 



