352 FEEDS AND FEEDING, ABRIDGED 



one lot, consuming an average ration of 6.0 lbs. shelled com, 0.08 lb. 

 oats, 0.10 lb. linseed meal, and 0.40 lb. tankage, gained 1.6 lbs. per 

 head daily. They reached an average weight of 316 lbs. at 248 days 

 of age, one of them weighing 405 lbs., an unusual record. This lot 

 required 417 lbs. of concentrates for 100 lbs. gain. Nearly as large 

 gains were made by a second lot, fed shelled corn, oats, and meat meal, 

 and by a third lot, fed shelled corn, oats, wheat middlings, linseed meal, 

 and meat meal. 



Evvard states that pigs allowed free access to corn and supplements, 

 such as tankage, linseed meal, and wheat middlings, show a remarkable 

 ability to balance their own ration. At first about 75 per ct. of the 

 entire ration was corn and the remainder meat meal and other supple- 

 ments. As the pigs grew older they widened the nutritive ratio till 

 at the close about 99 per ct. of the feed eaten was corn. All lots ate 

 a larger proportion of oats during the first few weeks than later, con- 

 suming only an insignificant amount of this bulky feed when they 

 became well fattened. When pigs are not supplied all the corn they 

 will eat it is inadvisable to feed tankage in a self feeder, for because 

 of hunger they will eat more meat meal than is needed to balance 

 their ration. 



Salt and correctives of mineral nature. — Tho pigs require less salt 

 than the other farm animals, they should be supplied with it regularly. 

 In a trial by Evvard at the Iowa Station " pigs allowed free access to 

 salt made better gains than those receiving no salt or others getting 

 allowances of one-sixty-fourth, one-thirty-second, or one-sixteenth 

 ounce per head daily. Salt may be supplied in a trough or a small 

 self feeder. If pigs have not had free access to salt they may at first 

 overeat. 



Pigs, especially those kept 'in confinement, often show a strong 

 craving for seemingly unnatural substances — charcoal, ashes, mortar, 

 soft coal, rotten wood, soft brick, and other substances being greedily 

 devoured when offered. Such cravings should be satisfied by supply- 

 ing such materials as charcoal, air-slaked lime or ground limestone, 

 wood ashes, bone meal or ground rock phosphate, and copperas, with 

 or without salt. A mixture of correctives may be placed before the 

 pigs or they may be offered in separate compartments of a covered 

 trough or of a self feeder. 



Shelter and exercise. — Even in the northern part of the corn belt, 

 where the winters are severe, inexpensive shelter is all that is necessary 

 for swine. The req^:iisites for healthful winter shelter are freedom 

 from dampness, good ventilation without drafts on the animals, sun- 

 light, reasonable warmth, and a moderate amount of dry bedding. 



6 Information to the authora. 



