THIRD ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART VI. 



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daily. Three hogs weighing 175 pounds each were placed after each lot 

 of steers to work over the droppings. The hogs were further fed from 

 the trough enough corn to supply their apparent wants. As a check in 

 experiment three similar hogs were placed in a pen and fed all of the 

 corn they would consume. The following table from "Feeds and Feed- 

 ing" summarizes the trial: 



It will be seen that the hogs kept in the pen and fed corn required 

 564 pounds of corn for 100 pounds of gain; the three hogs following the 

 steers getting cornmeal required 479 pounds of corn fed in the trough to 

 enable them to put on 100 pounds of gain. Here was a saving of 15 per 

 cent, because of the droppings of the steers. Where the hogs followed 

 the steers getting whole corn there was required only 272 pounds of grain 

 fed in the trough to give 100 pounds of gain. Thus there was a saving of 

 52 per cent by allowing three hogs to follow six steers fed shelled corn 

 and bran. Had we fed these hogs a little middlings, ground oats or some- 

 thing to add variety to the ration, we would doubtless somewhat have 

 reduced the pounds of feed required. 



Helpful as the above is, it does not answer our correspondent's in- 

 quiry directly. For this purpose we must refer to the only available 

 experiment, that made by Georgeson at the Kansas Station several years 

 ago and likewise reported in "Feeds and Feeding." In this experiment 

 Georgeson divided a bunch of ten thrifty steers into two lots of five each, 

 giving the first shelled corn which had been soaked until it had begun 

 to soften, while the second received dry shelled corn. Both lots were con- 

 fined in open yards, with sheds for shelter, and received the same rough- 

 age. All statements of the corn fed are based on the weight of dry corn. 

 The trial began Nov. 7, lasting five months, with the results shown in 

 the table: 



The table shows that the steers fed soaked corn did not consume 

 quite as much grain as the other lot, yet made a better gain. In this trial 

 there was a saving of 15 per cent by soaking shelled corn. 



Fortunately Georgeson placed eight thrifty shoats, averaging 

 eighty-eight pounds per head, with each lot of steers, to pick up the corn 

 voided in the droppings. At first they subsisted entirely on such corn, 

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