168 : _ . HOW TO FEED YOUR HOGS 



In regard to the feed for a 100 pounds of gain, the self -fed group 

 took 353.1 pounds of shelled corn as contrasted with 389.1 pounds 

 where they were hand full-fed twice daily. Here is a difference of 

 36 pounds of grain on every 100 pounds of gain saved by self-feed- 

 ing. This is just on .the corn, yet there was also a saving of tankage, 

 self-feeding requiring 26.9 pounds as compared to 31.2 where hand- 

 fed, a difference of 4.3 pounds on every 100 pounds of gain. Actu- 

 ally less pasture was required for 100 pounds of gain where the 

 animals were self-fed than where they were hand-fed, or .012 as 

 compared to .013 acre. In other words, it took a twelfth more pas- 

 ture for every 100 pounds of gain where the animals were hand- 

 fed, simply because during the nights and the middle of the day, 

 when there was nothing else to eat, they would eat pasture, and also 

 because, under this system of feeding (that is, hand-feeding), they 

 actually require more total protein supplement daily per pig to 

 balance the ration than where self-fed, hence eat more pasture ; but 

 this has a nutritional basis which is too complicated to enter into 

 here. 



Beginnings of the Free-Choice System. In the Proceedings of 

 the American Society of Animal Production in 1916 and 17 there 

 appeared two papers, one entitled "The Pig Versus the Feeding 

 Standards," and the other "The Pig Versus the Feeding Stand- 

 ards: Further Progress," both being contributed by the writer 

 from the Animal Husbandry Section of the Iowa Experimental Sta- 

 tion. In those papers is given the results of taking j)igs on the 

 feeding standards versus the free-choice system up to the age of 8 

 months, taking the pigs when they were 2% months of age. The 

 method of feeding was as follows : Lot I, free-choice system (self- 

 fed). Shelled corn self -fed plus wheat middlings self -fed plus 

 tankage self-fed. Lot II, same as Lot I, excepting hand-fed three 

 times daily. Lot III, same as Lot I, excepting hand-fed two times 

 daily. Lot IV, Dietrich or Illinois system, hand-fed twice daily the 

 same feeds as used in Lots, I, II, and III, these being all mixed 

 together before feeding; water allowed at free-will. (The Dietrich 

 system was worked out by Dietrich, formerly of the Illinois Experi- 

 ment Station, after 10 years of laborious investigation.) Lot V, 

 same as Lot IV, excepting that water was limited according to 

 standard. Dietrich would weigh the water also and apportion it 

 on a certain specific basis. Lot VI, Kellner system, a German sys- 

 tem of recent origin. Hand-fed twice daily the same feeds as in 

 other lots, all mixed, however, before feeding. Lot VII, Wolff- 

 Lehmann system, also a German standard of "old-time" origin. 

 The same feeds fed as in other lots, but all mixed together, accord- 

 ing to this standard so much of protein, carbohydrates, fats, and 

 so on, in feed for each 100 pounds of pig daily as per standard. 

 It differs somewhat from the Dietrich and Kellner standard in 

 method of procedure, and so on. Lot VIII, free-choice mixture of 

 the feeds used above, this mixture being based on the average as 

 consumed by similar pigs when self-fed free-choice style, which 

 mixture was 89 parts shelled corn (ground after the first 60 days 



