470 



IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



LONG FEEDS MAKE SLOW (JAINS. 



It is a common observation that pigs full fed for a considerable 

 length of time make smaller gains. This is true with nearly all classes 

 of stock. The following table bears on that point: 



TABLE 7— LENGTH OF FEEDING PERIODS ON FULL FEED, TWELVE WEEKS. 



GRINDLNG GRAIN. 



Considerable work has ben done on this subject by the Missouri, 

 Kentucky, Ohio and Wisconsin Stations. While the result shows that 

 on the average, grain when ground will produce a somewhat larger gain 

 than when fed whole, yet the difference is so small that unless the grain 

 is high priced it will not under ordinary circumstances defray the expense 

 of grinding. For example, averaging all of these results on corn, it has 

 been found that a hundred pounds of gain required: 



Whole corn 521 pounds 



Ground corn 495 pounds 



Difference in favor of grinding, twenty-six pounds or 5 per cent. 



This means that with corn at forty cents a bushel, a saving of 5 per 

 cent would amount to about two cents a bushel, which would scarcely 

 bear the expense of grinding under ordinary circumstances. 



These experiments were conducted chiefly with hogs that were old 

 enough to do their own grinding. The results, therefore, do not apply 

 with the same force to pigs that are just being weaned. This is a critical 

 time in the life of a pig, and it will pay to grind the feed if even for a 

 short time, or until they get well started. At this time it is especially 

 important also to supply them with something besides corn. If oats are 

 cheap, or wheat that will not grade on account of having been wet or 

 for some similar reason can be procured at about the price of corn, it 

 will pay to mix equal parts wheat and corn, or two thirds corn and one 

 third oats, and grind the whole together and feed it in a stiff dough but 

 perfectly sweet. Under no circumstances should the grain be allowed to 

 sour, nor should it be fed in a thin slop so as to tempt the pig to gulp 

 it down without masticating it and mixing with it the proper amount of 

 saliva. Scours, indigestion and improper assimilation follow in the wake 

 of feeding the foods in a sloppy condition. 



Again, it sometimes happens in the case of older hogs that have 

 been fed for a long time on an exclusive com ration, that they cease to 



