624 FEEDS AND FEEDING 



as linseed meal, wheat middlings, gluten feed, corn germ meal, etc., are 

 unbalanced in somewhat the same manner as the proteins of corn and 

 the other cereals. In other words, these feeds, tho they are rich in 

 protein, do not furnish enough of those amino acids which are deficient 

 in the cereal grains. Hence, if young pigs which are not on pasture are 

 fed only corn or other grain, supplemented by such feeds as linseed meal 

 or wheat middlings, they will fail to make good gains. This will be true 

 even if there is supplied some mineral supplement that furnishes calcium, 

 in which such rations are also low. Skim milk, buttermilk, whey, 

 tankage, and fish meal, all of which are of animal origin, supply proteins 

 which are admirably suited to supplement corn, for they are rich in the 

 very amino acids that are deficient in the cereal grains. Furthermore, 

 all these feeds, except whey, are rich in calcium. Therefore, especially 

 for young pigs not on pasture, much better results are secured when 

 one of these feeds of animal origin is included in the ration. 



Fortunately, good pasture crops, such as alfalfa, clover, and rape, are 

 all rich in proteins and also the proteins balance the proteins of the 

 cereal grains quite well. Furthermore, such green crops are also high 

 in calcium. Therefore, for pigs on pasture protein-rich supplements 

 of plant origin, such as linseed meal or wheat middlings, may give 

 nearly as good results as skim milk or tankage. 



It is pointed out later that for feeding pigs which are already well 

 grown, weighing 125 Ibs. or over, rations of grain supplemented by such 

 feeds as linseed meal or wheat middlings may give fair results, even with 

 pigs not on pasture, since animals of this weight are growing less rapidly 

 in protein tissues. However, more rapid and cheaper gains are usually 

 secured, even with such older pigs, if care is taken to supply a ration 

 in which the proteins are better balanced. (969, 973) 



938. Correcting the deficiencies of corn. No single fact in stock feed- 

 ing has been more clearly demonstrated by numerous feeding trials than 

 that corn alone gives exceedingly poor results when fed to growing and 

 fattening pigs. A glance at the following table should convince any 

 farmer of the folly of feeding such an inefficient ration. This sum- 

 marizes the results of 7 trials in which corn alone, without pasture, has 

 been fed to young pigs, averaging 69 Ibs. in weight, in comparison with 

 a balanced ration of corn and tankage. The results are also given for 

 15 similar comparisons of corn alone versus corn and tankage for older 

 pigs, averaging 148 Ibs. in weight when the experiments began. 



In the trials in which young pigs were fed corn alone, they gained only 

 0.59 Ib. a head daily and required 642 Ibs. of corn for each 100 Ibs. 

 gain. This was a poor showing, indeed, but the results would have been 

 even worse if the pigs had been started on this inadequate ration when 

 still younger. "When corn was balanced with tankage, the gains were 

 doubled, and only 387 Ibs. corn and 42 Ibs. tankage were consumed for 

 each 100 Ibs. gain. Futhermore, at the end of the trials, the pigs fed 

 corn alone were usually stunted and averaged only 141 Ibs. in weight, 



