New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 475 



riG FEEDING. 



Several lots of pigs of different breeds and crosses have, during 

 the past two years, been fed under similar conditions from birth. 

 They were fed with the sow until tliey had learned to eat readily 

 from a trough. During these two seasons the thoroughbred pigs 

 fed were Poland China, Berkshire, Tamworth and Yorkshire, and 

 the crossbred pigs were Tamworth-Duroc and Tamworth-Poland 

 China. 



Enough pigs have been kept at all times to consume all the skim 

 milk from the dairy. Occasionally the supply of skim milk has 

 been low, and there has been little to use at times when experiments 

 in manufacture of cheese were being made. Generally a liberal 

 allowance of skim milk has been fed to the growing pigs and to the 

 breeding stock. 



The rations fed were nearly alike for pigs of the same age except 

 that the amount of food was varied according to the capacity of 

 different lots. For the first four weeks after farrowing and while 

 the sow was with the pigs she was fed wheat bran and skim milk. 



After this time a mixture of wheat bran and wheat middlings 

 was fed with the skim milk and this ration was continued for a 

 short time with the pigs after the sow was removed. Corn meal 

 was then added to the mixed grain and a series of grain mixtures 

 fed in which the proportion of corn meal was increased as the time 

 for marketing approached. The different grain mixtures, numbered 

 for convenience 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, were composed by weight as fol- 

 lows : No. 1, of equal parts wheat bi'an and wheat middlings ; No. 2, 

 equal parts of wheat bran, wheat middlings and corn meal ; No. 3, 

 four parts corn meal, one part each of wheat bran and wheat mid- 

 dlings ; No. 4, ten parts corn meal and one part each of wheat bran 

 and wheat middlings ; No. 5, twenty parts corn meal, two parts 

 wheat bran and one part wheat middlings. 



In estimating the cost of food wheat bran was rated at $18 per 

 ton, wheat middlings at $20 dollars per ton, corn meal at $20 per 

 ton and skim milk at 25 cents per 100 pounds. These prices are 

 somewhat higher than would accord with those ruling in the markets 

 at the present writing. It is thought better to use these same valua- 

 tions, however, as they had been used in estimating the cost of pork 

 produced in former feeding trials. The data reported will allow of 

 recalculation of cost at any other prices. 



