698 FEEDS AND FEEDING 



In the northern states the earliest pasture will usually be furnished by 

 bluegrass or fall sown rye. (982, 993) 



The following concentrate mixtures will be found suitable for sows 

 suckling litters. These may be altered to suit local conditions, provided 

 the ration is balanced. 



(1) Corn, barley, or grain sorghum, 70 Ibs.; standard middlings, 15 

 Ibs. ; tankage, 10 Ibs. ; chopped alfalfa, 5 Ibs. 



(2) Ground corn, barley, or grain sorghum, 50 Ibs. and ground oats 

 or middlings (standard or flour), 50 Ibs., fed with 1.5 to 2.0 Ibs. of skim 

 milk or buttermilk for each pound of the mixture. 



(3) Corn, barley, grain sorghum, etc. with 2 Ibs. of skim milk or 

 buttermilk to each pound of grain. 



(4) Corn, barley, grain sorghums, etc., 50 Ibs. ; middlings, 35 Ibs. ; 

 linseed meal, 10 Ibs. ; tankage, 5 Ibs. 



Such simple rations as grain and tankage, or for sows on pasture, 

 grain and middlings or linseed meal, are quite satisfactory, but many 

 breeders prefer mixtures containing more variety and including some 

 bulky feed. Corn may be fed as ear corn or shelled corn (preferably 

 soaked in the spring when it is hard and dry) or it may be ground and 

 mixed with the other concentrates. The smaller cereals should always 

 be ground for sows, if possible. 



For sows and litters not on pasture, it is wise to supply a suitable 

 mineral mixture, but there is no need of this being an expensive pro- 

 prietary mixture. (916) 



1031. The sow as a milk producer. There is but little information con- 

 cerning the milk yield of sows or regarding the composition of their 

 milk, as it is difficult to milk sows and secure representative samples. In 

 studies at the Wisconsin Station 24 Carlyle determined the milk yield of 

 12 sows of 3 breeds by keeping the pigs from their dams except for 

 short periods at intervals of 2 hours by day and 4 by night, when they 

 were allowed to suckle. They were weighed collectively before and after 

 nursing, and the increase in weight was credited as milk drawn from the 

 dam. With extreme difficulty samples were also drawn for chemical 

 analysis. The average daily milk yield for Berkshire, Poland-China, and 

 Texas "razor-back" sows ranged from 4.9 to 6.3 Ibs. daily. The average 

 total yield for 84 days, by which time they went dry, was 429 to 532 Ibs. 

 Some sows gave twice as much milk as others. 



It is shown in Appendix Table I that sows milk is richer than cow's 

 milk in all nutrients, and especially in fat, for it contains on the average 

 6.7 per ct. fat. Woll 25 found the fat globules of sow's milk only one- 

 fourth as large as those of cow's milk, but 8 times as numerous. 



1032. Feeding the litters. When 2 to 3 weeks old, the pigs will begin 

 to eat grain from their mother's trough. As the milk yield of a sow 

 begins to decline after about 3 weeks, it is important that the pigs be 

 now supplied additional feed, where the sows can not get at it. This 



24 Wis. Bui. 104. 83 Wis. Rpt. 1897. 



