THE FEEDING AND SHELTERING OF SWINE. 97(7 



grain except bran, which they do not relish, principally for the same 

 reason. Chopped bai'ley and shorts make a good combination for feeding. 

 A small amount of bran can be used to good advantage when mixed with 

 other grains. Shorts alone will not furnish mineral matter enough for 

 growing pigs. 



XVII. Grain Should be Ground. 



Small grain should be crushed or ground for hogs. When fed whole 

 there is less gain to amount of food consumed, and the total gain in a 

 given time will be less. It is a too common practice among farmers in 

 this section to follow slovenly methods in feeding stock. Instead of 

 getting a few feet of cheap lumber for a floor on which to feed, or making 

 a few troughs, whole grain is strewn on the ground for the hogs to gather 

 up as best they may. Often the rainy season begins before the hogs are 

 sold ; then the feed yard becomes a slough of mud, out of which the ani- 

 mals work very assiduously to gather their daily food. This may be an 

 extreme picture, but who has not seen it many times in this Western 

 country ? 



In feeding experiments it was found that it required 1.2 pounds more 

 of whole wheat and oats to produce a pound of gain in live weight than 

 it did with ground grain fed under the same conditions. In many cases 

 the excreta were examined to determine the amount of undigested whole 

 wheat present, and it was found that as much as 50 per cent passed off 

 unmasticated. This condition was more marked when the grain was fed 

 dry, but at all times there was a very great loss. 



XVIIT. Wet Feed Better than Dry. 



Hogs relish a moist diet better than a dry one, and will give better 

 returns for the same food ted after soyking a few hours than when fed 

 dry. Soaking grain from twelve to twenty-four hours pays well for the 

 extra trouble in preparing the food. The old practice of permitting the 

 feed to ferment and become a source of great annoyance, on account of 

 the offensive odor it gives off, is no longer followed by the intelligent 

 feeder. 



XIX. Cooking Food. 



The practice of cooking grain for hogs has long since been discouraged 

 as of doubtful economical value. Pound for pound, the raw grain will 

 give the best results, and when the extra cost of cooking is taken into 

 account, the results are very much in favor of feeding the grain raw. In 

 case of vegetables it is quite different ; for the feeding value as well as the 

 palatability of most vegetables is improved by cooking. 



