FOURTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART VI. 465 



TABLE 2-CATTLE-OOSr Ob^ GAIN COMPARED WITH PIGS. 



In Table I the fact that gains are uniformly made for less expendi- 

 ture on young animals than on older and larger ones is clearly showc. 

 A great many experiment stations have tested this matter, and in the 

 table is shown that pigs weighing twenty-five to fifty pounds make a 

 gain of one hundred pounds for a little over one half the amount of 

 grain required toi make the same gains on' pigs weighing three hundred 

 pounds and over. The same principle holds good in cattle feeding. Re- 

 ferring to Table II, you notice the cheapest gains are on calves and the 

 most expensive on the large steers. But the purpose of introducing the 

 table on cattle feeding is to make the comparison of cost of putting 

 on gain as between cattle and pigs. The cheapest gain made on pigs, 

 average of 41 trials of different stations, averages two hundred and 

 ninety-three pounds of grain, not necessarily corn in every case, but 

 as a rule a balanced ration was fed. Compare this with some of the 

 cheapest gains made by cattle. In the case of the calves reported by 

 the Kansas station it is claimed to be the cheapest production of baby 

 beef on record, yet it took five hundred and three pounds of corn plus 

 five hundred and eight pounds of alfalfa hay to produce one hundred 

 pounds of gain, amounting to at least the equivalent of seven hundred 

 and fifty pounds of grain such as was fed to the pigs. Look througj 

 the tables and you will find the general testimony verifies the statemenl 

 as to the productive uses the pig makes of his feed. Take the highest 

 requirement for the pig at the weight of three hundred and twenty 

 pounds, viz, five hundred and thirty-seven pounds; compare with the 

 requirement of the large beef steer, viz, one thousand one hundred and 

 forty pounds of grain; plus four hundred and seventy pounds of timothy 

 hay, equal to a total of at least one thousand three hundred pounds of 

 grain, such as was given to the pig to produce one hundred pounds of 

 gain. 



CHEAPENING PORK PRODUCTION. 



But the main problem that confronts us now is how may we cheapen 

 production of pork? Or in other words, and more directly stated, how 

 may we make the feeds we give our pigs more efficient? More produc- 

 tive? As between some methods of feeding and management and other 

 methods there is a difference of ten. twenty or even fifty per cent in the 

 30 



