Management and Feeding in Winter 55 



contained in corn and most of the other grains. This is 

 particularly true for gilts and for older sows during the 

 last six weeks of pregnancy. 



Second, The supply of protein necessary to balance the 

 ration should be obtained largely from home-grown 

 legumes. If this hay is of fine quality, access to pur- 

 chased supplements like tankage, linseed-oil meal, and 

 shorts or bran will be unnecessary, in most instances, until 

 the later stages of the gestation period. 



Third, Every brood sow ration should contain some 

 bulky material, such as hay, and the amount eaten 

 should ordinarily be left to the judgment, or instinct, 

 of the sows themselves. 



Fourth, When possible, there should always be the 

 opportunity for the sows to get some green or other 

 succulent feeds, largely because of their tonic and regu- 

 lative effects, and 



Fifth, As a rule, the most economical ration is the one 

 most largely made up from home-grown sources. 



The experimental facts presented in the preceding 

 chapter and the principles deduced from them will help 

 in formulating specific rations. In the table on the fol- 

 lowing page different groups of standard hog-feeds are 

 shown, from which may be selected the ration which is 

 available and cheapest for a given set of conditions. 



Any of the rations recommended in this table for 

 mature sows during the last six weeks of pregnancy will 

 be appropriate for bred gilts. 



An extremely large number of combinations may be 

 selected from these groups. From Group I, for example, 

 the following ration for the corn-belt may prove the most 

 economical and suitable for some conditions : First ten 

 weeks, corn, with fine quality clover hay fed in a rack; 



