476 Report op the First Assistant of the 



The pigs were fed three times a day, about one-third of the daily 

 ration being given at each feeding. After one feeding the grain 

 and milk intended for the next were mixed and allowed to stand 

 for the few hours intervening. Charcoal was fed in small quantity 

 once a week. Except in the winter the pigs were allowed the lib- 

 erty of small open yards. The pens indoors had wooden floors 

 The pigs were generally fed with the sow for about six weeks 

 The pigs, and also the sow while with them, were weighed once a 

 week. The skim milk and grain were weighed out for each 

 feeding. 



The results obtained in the feeding trials are given in accom- 

 panying tables averaged in periods of several weeks according to 

 the rations fed. There is given for each period the total cost of all 

 food consumed for each pound gain in weight made by the pigs. 

 Generally there was considerable loss in the weight of the sow 

 while suckling the pigs. This would be an immediate loss if the 

 sow should be sold, or if kept for breeding would normally be 

 restored at an expense of food in excess of that required for main- 

 tenance. The food cost of the gain in weight made by the pigs 

 while fed with the sow, making allowance for the cost of restoring 

 any weight lost at the same time by the sow, is also given with the 

 tabulared data. The average loss in weight by eight of the sows 

 was somewhat over 37 pounds, and the average cost of food at the 

 prices mentioned, for restoring this weight, was 4.40 cents per 

 pound. This was determined by feeding each sow separately after 

 she was removed from the pigs. For a few days after removal the 

 sow w^as fed sparingly on mostly dry food, until the secretion of 

 milk had about ceased, and then the amount of food was rapidly 

 increased. The gain in weight was as a rule made very quickly. 



The first set of tables show the records of pigs fed during the 

 summer of 1894. These were Tamworth, Poland China, Tam- 

 worth-Duroc cross, Tamworth-Poland China cross, and Berkshire. 

 The Berkshire pigs were not farrowed until June, so that they were 

 fed for a somewhat shorter time than the others, and during colder 

 weather for the last periods of the trial. The pigs of the Tara- 

 worth-Duroc cross were farrowed earlier in the spring than the 

 others and w^ere fed somewhat longer. The other lots farrowed 

 during April were all fed for 196 days. 



