300 PRODUCTIVE FEEDING OF FARM ANIMALS 



Indian corn is by far the most important single swine feed in 

 this country. The States in the corn belt are growing more pigs 

 than any other section, and there is, in general, a parallelism 

 in the different States between the two industries, corn growing 

 and pork production (Fig. 74). The corn is mostly fed on the cob, 

 and the labor and expense of shelling and grinding are thus saved. 

 Trials at a large number of stations have shown that it requires, 

 on the average, about 555 pounds of shelled corn per 100 pounds 

 gain, or that a bushel of shelled corn (56 pounds) will make very 

 nearly 10 pounds of pork. The pigs made an average daily gain of 

 0.98 pound in these trials, which were conducted in more than a 

 dozen different States and included thirty different series of ex- 

 periments. 



Corn is, above all, a fattening feed, and stands at the head of 

 desirable concentrates for finishing fattening swine. Both on 

 account of its relatively low protein content and high starch content 

 (N. R., 1 : 9.5) arid its low content of mineral matter, it is not well 

 adapted for feeding alone to young growing pigs, and much danger 

 has been done to our swine industry through the abuse of this grain 

 as an exclusive feed for such pigs. The studies of this problem by 

 Sanborn and Henry in the eighties were some of the earliest con- 

 tributions of the Missouri and Wisconsin stations to the science of 

 animal nutrition and have been of the greatest importance to 

 American swine-breeders. 



Feeding for Fat and for Lean. Henry's striking experiments 

 on " feeding for fat and for lean " 8 were especially adapted to bring 

 the attention of farmers to the danger of using corn as a sole feed 

 for young pigs (Figs. 75 and 76). In these trials one lot of pigs 

 was fed corn meal only, and the other received skim milk, wheat 

 middlings, and dried blood or other combinations of protein feeds. 

 The method of feeding followed greatly influenced both the gains 

 made by the pigs and the composition of their bodies. The corn 

 ration produced relatively low gains in live weight, and the bodies 

 of the pigs were abnormal as regards the development of the 

 skeleton, muscles, and internal organs. The amount of blood for 

 each 100 pounds of dressed carcass of the corn-fed pigs was greatly 

 decreased below normal. The tenderloin and other muscles were 

 relatively light, the proportion of internal fat and that stored within 

 the muscular tissue was abnormally high, and the strength of the 



8 Wisconsin Reports, 1886-1890. 



