CHAPTER XXXIV 



FEEDS FOR SWINE 



I. CARBONACEOUS CONCENTRATES 



During the past few years remarkable advances have been made in 

 our knowledge concerning the feeding of swine. This is because the 

 recent discoveries in animal nutrition and stock feeding are of far 

 greater importance in pork production than in most other phases of 

 animal husbandry. Swine are fed chiefly on corn and other cereal grains 

 and usually eat relatively little roughage except when on pasture; 

 furthermore, they grow more rapidly than other classes of stock and 

 produce young when less mature. Hence they suffer more frequently 

 than cattle, horses, or sheep from a lack of the right kind of proteins or 

 from deficiencies of mineral matter or of the fat-soluble vitamine. 



We shall learn in this chapter that many rations which, a few years 

 ago, were considered satisfactory have been shown by careful experi- 

 ments to be strikingly inefficient under certain conditions. Therefore, 

 in order to secure maximum profits from hogs, it is necessary not only 

 to feed " balanced rations," which supply enough digestible crude pro- 

 tein, but also to supply combinations of feeds which meet the more 

 recently discovered nutrient requirements. Fortunately, investigations 

 have shown that for success in pork production it is not necessary to 

 feed complicated or expensive rations. All that is needed are common 

 feeding stuffs properly combined in the manner pointed out later. 



937. Indian corn. This imperial fattening grain is the common hog 

 feed in the great pork-producing districts of America. Not only is it 

 usually the cheapest carbonaceous feed available in the corn belt, but it 

 is exceedingly palatable to swine and produces unrivaled results when 

 fed in properly balanced rations. Often, however, poor results are 

 secured because swine raisers do not realize the limitations of corn and 

 do not supply other feeds which will make good its deficiencies. We 

 have learned in previous chapters that corn is not only low in protein 

 but that the proteins are also unbalanced in composition; i. e., they 

 contain too small proportions of some of the amino acids necessary for 

 maintenance and growth. Corn is also exceedingly low in calcium and 

 contains only a fair amount of phosphorus. Moreover, white corn con- 

 tains little or none of the fat-soluble vitamine. In feeding corn all of 

 these facts must be kept clearly in mind. (201-2) 



The proteins in most protein-rich concentrates of plant origin, such 



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