144 HOW TO FEED YOUR HOGS 



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balance the corn ration, or meatmeal tankage, or alfalfa hay, either 

 ground or fed in a rack, or good green pastures of alfalfa, or red 

 clover, or rape, good, strong pigs can be produced, even though the 

 major portion of the ration is corn; and we have further found 

 that, as a general rule, we have not only got better, bigger, stronger, 

 more thickly-coated and more nicely-boned pigs where we have 

 properly supplemented the corn, but the pigs have cost less money 

 at farrowing time, particularly where we used meatmeal tankage, 

 or alfalfa hay, or milk, or any of the good pastures mentioned. 



Corn and Other Feeds. Corn, as compared to other feeds is 

 more valuable per pound than barley or rye. Good, dry corn has 

 about the same value as ordinary feeding wheat, although any corn 

 in the fall that runs 30 per cent moisture does not compare favor- 

 ably with wheat, because it is low in the particular material that 

 does the real business in producing hog gains, namely, dry matter. 

 On the dry matter basis, good hard old corn running 10 per cent 

 water, which is considerably below the average, contains in every 

 100 pounds of corn, 90 pounds of dry matter. In the fall when new 

 corn comes on, particularly in a year when frosts come a little early, 

 30 percent corn is not at all unusual. Such corn contains 70 pounds 

 of dry matter in 100 pounds, or 20 pounds less than good, hard 

 corn. The comparative value is, therefore, primarily dependent 

 upon the comparative amount of dry matter present in each 100 

 pounds of these respective corns, or a comparison of 70. with 90. 

 In other words, it will take as many 100 pounds of this softer corn 

 to equal 100 pounds of good hard corn as 70 is contained into 90 or 

 128.57 pounds, or, comparing it on the other basis, 100 pounds of 

 30 percent moisture corn is equivalent in feeding value to 77.7 of 

 good hard corn. Of course, this comparison is on a dry matter 

 basis. We believe that in actual practice new corn dry matter is a 

 little more valuable, pound for pound, than old corn dry matter, 

 when both are fed in the natural state ; but if one will take the trou- 

 ble to soak the old corn, then there should be little difference. At 

 any rate, this difference on account of degree of hardness of the 

 grain is relatively small as compared to the big difference in values 

 for each 100 pounds based on the dry matter content. We give this 

 at some length to emphasize that when comparing other feeds with 

 corn it is quite essential to know what kind of corn one is talking 

 about. There is more difference between different corns of varying 

 moisture percentages. than there is for instance between good corn 

 and good wheat. It is similar to the old, old story of there being 

 more differences within certain breeds than there is between the 

 average of one particular breed and the average of some other breed. 



Soft Corn. Soft corn varies much, depending on its moisture 

 content, and in determining its value it is well to take a sample to 

 a nearby elevator and have the moisture determined, and then com- 

 pare the different corns examined upon the basis of dry matter fur- 

 nished by 100 pounds of each, the dry matter being determined by 

 simply subtracting the moisture percentage from 100. For instance, 



