1188 THE PEOPLE'S FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



the animal eat a sufficient quantity of it. The great value of 

 corn as a fat producing food does not depend merely on the fact 

 that it is so rich in carbohydrates and fat, but also in the fact 

 that it is condensed so that the animal can eat a large quantity 

 of it. Ten pounds of corn is equal to about twenty-two pounds 

 of good hay, and its bulk is very much smaller. 



The correct albuminoid ratio for production of fat varies 

 with the animal. For fattening full-grown cattle a ratio of 1 : 9 

 is sufficient. Even a lower ratio would do were it not for the 

 fact that when the ratio falls below this the digestibility of the 

 food is impaired. For fattening immature animals which are 

 growing while taking on fat it is evident a higher ratio will be 

 needed, and one of 1 : 7 will be about correct. This ratio can be 

 obtained by the use of young grass or clover, either fresh or 

 ensilaged, clover hay, or meadow hay fed in connection with 

 bran or oil meal. When corn is used for fattening young stock 

 some food with a higher albuminoid ratio should be used in con- 

 nection with it, and clover, young grass, or oil meal will answer 

 a good purpose. 



Hogs require a higher albuminoid ratio in a fattening diet 

 than any other animal, and when growing pigs are to be pushed 

 and fattened as they grow a ratio of 1 : 5 is desirable. In this 

 country where beans and peas are so little used as food for stock 

 this high ratio can be obtained by feeding skim milk in connec- 

 tion with corn. When milk is not obtainable, the food may be 

 improved by feeding green clover in connection with corn. Corn 

 alone is not a complete diet for the hog at any stage of his 

 growth, and even when mature hogs are fattened on an exclusive 

 corn diet loss is incurred. If one hog is fed on corn alone, and 

 another on corn and skim milk supposing them to have equal 

 capacity as feeders the latter will make more pork out of the 

 corn he receives than the former. 



In some English and American experiments in feeding swine 

 the English experimenters obtained an increase of one hundred 

 pounds of live weight for every four hundred and sixty-nine 

 pounds of food consumed, while the American secured one hun- 

 dred pounds of increase to every five hundred and thirty-three 



