38 



Class 3 gets 15 per cent milk, 75 per cent grain and 10 per cent roots, or green fodder. 

 This ration consists of a mixture of 90 parts by weight of milk, 75 parts by weight of grain 

 and 80 parts by weight of mangels, etc. 



Class 4 each pig gets threee quarters of one food unit (4 Ibs.) of milk, one-quarter of 

 one food unit (2 Ibs.) of roots, if mangels, of 1^ pounds if sugar beets or lucerne, and the 

 remainder in the form of grain. 



The food is given in the form of a slop, rather thin while the pigs are young and thicker 

 towards the end. The food is prepared one day ahead. At the station visited in July the 

 grain mixture consisted of about equal parts of barley, corn, oats and shorts. The feeding 

 was done three times daily, and while the appetite was satisfied at each meal the trough 

 was always cleaned up by the time the meal was over. It was evident that the feeding 

 was intelligently done. Young pigs up to 60 pounds of weight get charcoal, and when 

 necessary to regulate the bowels, a little cod liver oil. 



GAINS BY AGES. 



The Danish farmer is convinced that the cost of gains increase with the age and weight 

 of pigs. This has been repeatedly proven at the experiment stations. The following table 

 shows the food units required in summer to make one pound of gain in pigs of different 

 weights : 



Pounds of gain up to 35 require 3 . food units. 



35 to 75 " 3.76 



75 to 115 " 4.35 



115 to 155 " 4.45 



155 to 195 " 4.66 



195 to 235 " 5.40 



235 to 275 " 6.14 



275 to 315 " 6.39 



Winter feeding has proved to be a little more expensive, the ratio being as follows : 

 Summer 3.5 food units. Winter 3.7 food units. 



4. 4.5 



4.6 " 5.2 



The above figures represent the result of carefully conducted feeding tests during many 

 years. They have been verified so ofter that they are taken as conclusive, not only by the 

 officers of the experiment station and the Department of Agriculture, but by farmers through- 

 out the country. This system of feeding according to the weight of the pigs is believed to 

 give the maximum of profit from the food consumed. This too has the confidence of the 

 feeders throughout the length and breadth of the land. By lectures and the distribution of 

 literature all farmers know these things, and, being educated and thrifty, they do not 

 follow old systems and customs because they are old, but adopt the new because they believe 

 them to be more profitable. The experiment station is believed in, and feeders everywhere 

 are anxious to learn and adopt the methods recommended by these institutions. It must 

 be remembered that those in charge of the station work are not only extremely practical 

 but sufficiently conservative to be sure of the accuracy of their findings before giving them 

 out. Instead of spinning fine theories and endeavouring to work these out, they begin at 

 the other end and consult the pig first and follow the way opened. The result of this is 

 that pig feeding throughout Denmark is extremely uniform. The Commission visited a 

 large number of representative farms and learned by observation that this is the case. All 

 feed milk or whey, and all use green food, while each man uses the particular grain mixture 

 he is able to procure most economically. In some cases home grown barley or oats was 

 being fed, while in others shorts, bean meal or some other foreign food was in use. These 

 are intelligently blended so as to get the most from the ration. Some feed three times 

 daily, others four times, but all use much the same character of ration. Because the highest 



