PRINCIPAL SWINE FEEDS AND THEIR USE 145 



if corn runs 30 percent moisture, according to the elevator deter- 

 mination (which, by the way, is an oil method devised by the Gov- 

 ernment), the dry matter content will be 70 pounds in each 100 

 pounds (or 100 minus 30 which equals 70). Soft corn is especially 

 good for pigs. They relish it and do well on it, and it is surprising 

 how well hogs will handle soft corn, even though it is quite moldy 

 and of poor appearance. We must remember, however, that with 

 soft corn more tankage should be fed than with hard corn, possibly 

 because the germs are cut short in development. Our advice would 

 be that when soft corn is fed along with tankage it would be well 

 to secure some corn oil cake meal, which is really the corn germs, 

 with the oil mostly pressed out, and feed it in conjunction. In this 

 way tankage will be saved, and the pigs should make more rapid 

 gains. 



Corn and Pork Prices. The great importance of corn has been 

 emphasized by the Food Administration. It realized that swine 

 production in America centers to a large extent around corn, in 

 truth to such an extent that a definite ratio exists between the price 

 of a bushel of No. 2 corn in Chicago compared with 100 pounds of 

 average hogs. This ratio for the ten years ending in 1916 was 11.67 

 or, more plainly speaking, as an average for those ten years, an 

 average 100 pounds of live hog, Chicago, would buy at the same 

 point 11.67 bushels of No. 2 corn. The commission appointed by 

 Herbert C. Hoover composed of seven members (the author was 

 chairman), determined that on the average it takes, under present 

 (1917) conditions, approximately the equivalent of 12 bushels of 

 No. 2 corn to produce 100 pounds of marketable swine on the aver- 

 age farm. This is not all corn, of course, but it is expressed in corn 

 equivalent; in other words, it might take 9 bushels of corn to do 

 the actual feeding, then the money secured for the other 3 bushels 

 would pay for the risk, interest, supplementary concentrates and 

 other feeds, pastures, depreciation, buildings and marketing. In 

 practice the man who secures 100 pounds of gain from 500 pounds 

 of grain, corn furnishing the major part or upwards of 80 percent, 

 is doing well. This figure includes the feed fed all hogs on the 

 farm, but it takes into consideration no losses except of pigs before 

 weaning time. It is possible to produce pigs from weaning time on 

 to 225 or 250 pounds with an outlay not to exceed 400 pounds of 

 feed for 100 pounds of gain, but this is one of the most efficient 

 periods in swine husbandry, because when we start at weaning time 

 we start with a pig that has a considerable number of charges 

 against him such as sow feed, boar feed, labor and so on, and 

 that is why weanling pigs sell for much more than the market price. 

 Hence it is unwise for anyone to show how profitable swine hus- 

 bandry is by using a feeding record which covers a period from 

 weaning time to marketable weight. Such a method is misleading 

 to the novice. 



Barley. This is a fine feed for swine. It is especially used to 

 advantage in the western part of the country, and in some sections 



