1890.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 33. 103 



V. Feeding Experimexts with Pigs. 



The preceding annual report contains a summary of a 

 series of feeding experiments with pigs, carried on at this 

 station since 1884, for the purpose of ascertaining the cost 

 of the feed required to produce a given quantity of dressed 

 pork. Our first attention in this connection was directed 

 towards a profitable disposition of two l)y-products of the 

 dairy industry, — skim-milk and buttermilk from creameries. 

 As the daily supply of these materials varies, for ol)vious 

 reasons, widely on farms, it seemed advisable to devise 

 economical fodder rations adapted to different conditions in 

 that direction. 



The dail}^ diet in our earlier experiments contained a more 

 liberal amount of milk than in our later ones. For several 

 years past we have raised, the M'hole year around, for every 

 cow on our farm, a pig for the meat market, to dispose of 

 our skim-milk. This course necessitated, at times, addi- 

 tional resources of supply of nutritious food. To meet this 

 requirement in an economical and profitable way, and by 

 means which are in the reach of every farmer, has been our 

 aim. How we have thus far succeeded in our endeavor, may 

 be ascertained from a subsequent short review of our pre- 

 vious course of observation. A correct interpretation of 

 our latest feeding experiment (X.) , which forms the principal 

 part of the subsequent communication, renders a brief restate- 

 ment of the results of our earlier experiments advisable. 



During our first and second experiments (1884), skim- 

 milk or buttermilk or both and corn meal furnished the daily 

 feed. In the first experiment, the relative proportions of 

 skim-milk or of buttermilk and of corn meal remained the 

 same from the beginning to the end of the trial ; namely, 

 three ounces of corn meal for every quart of skim-milk 

 required to meet the increasing wants of the animals. The 

 daily average consumption per head amounted at the close 

 of the experiment to fourteen quarts of skim-milk and forty- 

 two ounces of corn meal. The nutritive character of the 

 daily diet remained practically the same during most of the 

 time of observation. It was, in the case of the buttermilk 

 diet, one part of digestible nitrogenous food constituents to 



