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IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



or tankage, as it does of a ration of corn plus ground alfalfa. In this 

 case, of course, we used hominy feed, but we consider hominy for gilts 

 of about equal value with corn. Hominy feed, you know, is a by-product 

 of the manufacture of corn meal for human consumption, and is entirely 

 a corn product. 



The more alfalfa we put into the ration, that is, the more we made 

 the gilts eat, the more total feed it took daily per gilt to keep up their 

 weight. And where we made them take an exceptional amount of 

 alfalfa, as in the self-fed ration of Lot 6, the most feed was used. Or 

 compare Lots 3 and 4 — Lots 4 took more feed because the alfalfa was 

 increased. 



One can about figure out in a rough way from these figures that it 

 takes about four tons of alfalfa, where it is fed as a lone supplement to 

 corn, to do the same amount of good as a single ton of tankage. This 

 was just average alfalfa that we fed— not the best. If one has an ex- 

 ceptionally fine, leafy grade, I would expect it to take not more than 

 three tons of that sort of material, but for average alfalfa four tons 

 will not miss it very much. 



However, where we add ground alfalfa in limited quantities along 

 with some tankage, it has a higher value, as the figures show. 



Now, how about the litter record? The number in the litter, the 

 average weight per pig, and their average strength, are shown in Table 

 VIII, which is presented herewith. 



TABLE VIII— LITTER RECORD. 



Results at the Iowa Experiment Station, Animal Husbandry Section. 

 Showing average strength of litters. 



Lot 1 



Lot 2. 



Lot S. 



Lot 4. 



Lot 5. 



Lot 0. 



Lot 7- 



2.38 



e.25 



4.44 

 5.00 

 7.89 

 8.51 

 9.30 



It will thus be seen that practically all the rations made a very 

 good showing. It would appear from these figures that alfalfa, from 

 the standpoint of the little pigs born, is equal as a substitute to meat 

 meal or tankage. Of course, we always have to keep in mind the 

 economy. Group 7, fed a moderate amount of ground alfalfa, made 

 an exceptionally good showing. Wg find that we have the greatest 

 number of dead • pigs in those groups which fed themselves; this may 

 be mechanical. Both Lots 6 and 7 were self-fed. Lot 6 self-fed en- 

 tirely, while Lot 7 was self-fed on alfalfa. This means that they have 

 to get into an open trough or rack, and that postiion may be strained 



