Feeding and Care of Pigs 131 



more to thinness than to fatness. The amount of grain 

 necessary to feed during the summer to produce an active, 

 strtmg-boned pig which will weigh in November from 100 

 to 150 pounds will depend on the time of farrowing and 

 the quality and abundance of the green feed available. 

 With good forage crops and early farrowing, no more than 

 half a ration, or 2 per cent of their weight daily, should 

 be sufficient to produce this weight with pigs of the right 

 type. With April and May pigs and no special forage 

 crops, heavier grain feeding would be necessary. Under 

 such conditions, it is difficult to have the pigs at satis- 

 factory weights without making them too fat for good 

 cattle hogs. 



When hogs are produced in relatively large numbers 

 and are the principal live-stock product of the farm, the 

 question of intensity of feeding during the summer should 

 be determined for any year by the availability of forage 

 crops, the price of feed, and market conditions. Intensive 

 feeding and early marketing in the corn-belt necessitate 

 early farrowing and a large use of old corn. The higher 

 cost of feed and the special attention required by early 

 pigs at farrowing time, however, are believed by many to 

 be more than compensated for by the better market and 

 the shorter period of dry lot feeding necessary. (See 

 Chapter XVI, page 387.) On the other hand, the 

 system of feeding which finishes the pigs in the middle 

 or late winter does not require so large a use of old corn, 

 may rely more largely on forage crops for the summer 

 gains, and postpones any heavy feeding until the new crop 

 is available. As indicated by present practices in the 

 corn-belt, the general farmer believes this system to be 

 one well adapted to his conditions. With the increase 

 in the practice of hogging-down corn and the need of hogs 



