CHAPTER XVI 

 FEEDS AND FEEDING 



Under this head comes tankage, which is the by-product of 

 the packing house, made up from various waste products steamed 

 to a high degree of heat, after which the liquid is drawn off and 

 the residue dried and ground into a fine meal. Meatmeal is prac- 

 tically the same thing only wholly made from meat scraps. Both 

 of these feeds are extremely high in protein, which is a very 

 necessary element combined with other feeds to make up a balanced 

 ration. 



From 5 to 10 per cent, of 60 per cent, protein tankage is gener- 

 ally sufficient to balance a corn ration for swine. I have mentioned 

 the use of tankage in several places in this book. 



There is another variety of meatmeal which the writer has used 

 quite extensively. It is purchased from the large butcher shops, or 

 from the small packing; house near home where a few hundred 

 hogs are slaughtered daily, and is known as "cracklings," being 

 the compressed part of the fat after. the lard is pressed out by 

 hydraulic pressure, and usually comes in cakes of about 125 Ibs. 

 each. We purchase these cakes half a ton or a ton at a time, break 

 them up into small pieces with an axe and run the broken pieces 

 through our steel burr grinder, making a finely ground article 

 of pure scrap meat. We add about five percent of this to a pig's 

 ration, and it is certainly relished by pigs of any age. It keeps 

 the bowels open and in nice condition, makes the hair glossy and 

 is of great value. 



Hogging Down Corn. Some farmers and perhaps breeders of 

 pure-breds, practice the custom of "hogging down" a field of 

 corn. If this is to be done and it is a good custom it would be a 

 very great help at the time of the last cultivation of the corn to 

 sow some rye or rape, or both, in the corn and let it get a few 

 inches high by the time the hogs would be turned into the corn. 

 This would be a help in balancing the ration. It is also well if 

 the field of corn is adjoining a clover or alfalfa field, as either 

 would have the same tendency to make a quicker and a cheaper 

 growth than would the corn alone. If the field is large it will be well 

 to fence off by some kind of temporary fence, a portion not too 

 large, and let the hogs have that until it is well worked down, pre- 

 ferably by the older hogs that would be ready for market first 

 and followed by the younger hogs or shotes that do not need so 

 heavy a feeding of corn. This is a very economical way of finishing 

 up a bunch of hogs for the market. 



Prof. W. J. Carmichael, formerly of the University of Illinois, 

 and now secretary of the National Swine Growers' Association, 



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