EIGHTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK^PART VII 363 



^oaiotinies; at any rate the largest percentage of dead pigs was found 

 in tliese two groups. We notice, however, that Lot 5 had quite a few 

 dead pigs out of a hundred — practically eight — which would indicate 

 also perhaps that as compared with Lot 6 excessive alfalfa feeding 

 might have something to do with it, altho this is merely a bare hypoth- 

 esis. In truth, to be really accurate one had better call it a guess, 

 because there is not enough evidence to make an hypothesis out of it. 



At any rate, these figures show clearly that ground alfalfa can be 

 fed to good advantage to pregnant gilts along with hominy feed, which 

 really means that it can also be fed to good advantage along with corn. 



Some good swine rations for the corn belt, for the breeding herd, 

 may be described as follows: 



From one-third to tw;o-thirds of a pound of tankage per head daily 

 for gilts and older sows, in conjunction with as much corn as is neces- 

 sary to keep them in the condition desired. The corn may .be substi- 

 tuted with hominy feed, or oat meal, or barley, or wheat, or rye, de- 

 pending upon the economic conditions. Generally speaking, corn is the 

 most economical. 



The meat meal or tankage may be substituted with two other prod- 

 ucts — skim-milk or butterwilk, or alfalfa to very good advantage. 



It requires about fifteen times as much milk, pound for pound, as 

 it does of tankage; otherwise the rations would be the same with milk 

 as with tankage. This really means, then, that if one feeds milk he 

 should feed from five to ten pounds daily per head. 



With alfalfa hay one should insist that the gilts eat at least a pound 

 per head daily; sometimes only three-fourth of a pound will give fairly 

 good results, but to be sure one should insist upon the gilts eating a 

 pound, and the same is true of old sows. If they will eat this out of a rack, 

 this is the most economical way to supply it; if not, it should be ground 

 and mixed with other feeds. In addition, feed enough of the other grains 

 mentioned — corn, hominy and so on — to keep them up in condition. 



Of course, for fall litters the most economical feeds are pasture feeds, 

 such as alfalfa pasture, or rape pasture, or red clover pasture, or young, 

 tender blue grass — these and corn make a very acceptable ration. To 

 play safe, it is well to add a little tankage or a little milk the last 

 thirty to sixty days .of the gestation period. This is particularly im- 

 portant because during the last months of pregnancy, practically 90 per 

 cent of the dry matter of these little pigs is formed in utero. 



There is another product called corn oil cake meal, which can be 

 used to good advantage to substitute a third to a half of the tankage or 

 milk in the ration. But, instead of feeding, therefore, a half pound of 

 tankage, as might be the determined ration, along with what corn is 

 necessary, one could feed a fourth of a pound of tankage plus three- 

 fourths to a pound of corn oil cake meal. Or, in the case of its re- 

 placing milk, suppose the determined allowance of milk was 10 pounds 

 per head daily per gilt or old sow, the milk allowance could be put at 

 five pounds, and corn oil cake meal fed to make up the balance of milk, 

 five pounds, by allowing a pound and a half of corn oil cake meal, or 

 about two-fitths as much as of the milk. With this extra allowance of 



