FEEDING AND CARE OF SWINE 



349 



Grinding or soaking grain.— To find whether it was profitable to 

 prrind corn for fattening pigs, the senior author, at first alone and 

 later with Otis, conducted 18 trials at the Wisconsin Station^ during 

 10 consecutive winters with pigs averaging 175 lbs. in weight at the 

 beginning of the trials. In each trial one lot was fed a ration of two- 

 thirds 3'ear-old shelled dent corn and one-third wheat middlings, and 



Fig. 97. — The Scoop Shovel Method of Preparing Corn for Pigs 



For pigs under 1.50 lbs. in weight, shelling or grinding corn does not increase 

 its value. For older pigs the saving by grinding is only 4 to 6 per ct. (From 

 Iowa Station.) 



the other lot wheat middlings and the same corn ground to meal. In 

 11 of the trials grinding the corn saved from 2.5 to 18.5 per ct. in the 

 amount of feed needed for 100 lbs. gain, while in the other 7 trials 

 shelled corn gave the best results. On the average, it required 501 

 lbs. of whole corn and wheat middlings and only 471 lbs. of ground 

 corn and middlings for 100 lbs. gain, a saving of 6 per ct. This means 

 that with corn worth 50 cents per bushel grinding saved 3 cents on 

 each bushel, allowing nothing for labor or expense. It was observed 

 that the pigs fed ground corn ate more in a given time and gained 

 faster than those getting shelled corn. This no doubt explains the 



iWis. Rpt. 1906. 



