118 SECOND THOUSAND QUESTIONS IN AGRICULTURE 



There should be no difficulty in selecting from the long list of feeds 

 given a combination that will make an excellent balanced ration for 

 brood sows. As the cost of the different feeds is not given one cannot 

 figure on the economy of any special system of feeding, but it is doubt- 

 less both practical and economical under our conditions to "hog-off" 

 corn, Kaffir or rape, and all these crops make first-class hog feeds. 

 The following grain mixture may be recommended: Barley, emmer, 

 Kaffir corn and horse beans, equal parts by weight. F. W. W. 



Feeding Scrub Hogs. 



What is the best way to feed a lot of nine scrub hogs for fatten- 

 ing? I have milo maize, ground head and all, tankage, about 75 pounds 

 skim milk daily, and alfalfa hay. Hogs weigh about 50 pounds apiece 

 with good frames. Would you, soak milo in milk or soak with water 

 and add milkf Should tankage be fed wet or dry? That is, wet long 

 before feeding? 



Feeding scrub hogs will not differ from that of feeding pure-breds 

 if satisfactory results are to be obtained. With the feeds named there 

 should be no difficulty in securing satisfactory gains. We suggest that 

 the hogs be fed three per cent of their body weight in the form of 

 grain, viz., nine-tenths of milo and one-tenth tankage, the milo being 

 soaked in water or skim milk and the tankage added just before 

 feeding. In addition, the hogs are given all the alfalfa hay they will 

 eat and about four times as much skim milk as the amount of grain 

 fed. This will take all the available skim milk at the start and if more 

 milk cannot be obtained, the proportion of skim milk to grain is re- 

 duced and somewhat more grain fed so as to secure a body weight of 

 toward 200 pounds at the close of the fattening period. F. W. W. 



Grain for Fattening Hogs. 



Our barley costs us about $1.10 a cental, and it takes 500 pounds to 

 put 100 pounds of meat on a hog. We are offered 6 and 6 l /2 cents a pound 

 for our fat hogs; and then no market close and there seems to be not 

 much of one in San Francisco. Will you please tell me if I am right, 

 and if so, will it pay? 



It is true that it will take toward 500 pounds of grain to put 100 

 pounds on the hog, but this amount can be greatly reduced by furnish- 

 ing cheaper feed with the grain, like alfalfa pasture or alfalfa hay, in 

 which case only 200 to 300 pounds will be required per 100 pounds 

 gain in body weight. It is often possible to utilize barley in stubble 

 fields for fattening hogs. This would otherwise be wasted and has no 

 market value. Feeding grain to fattening hogs also pays for the 

 reason that it shortens considerably the feeding period and improves 

 the dressing percentage and the quality of the pork produced. Accord- 

 ing to the figures given by the correspondent he is getting full value 

 for his grain and has not, therefore, much cause for complaint. It 

 is, of course, necessary to use good judgment in feeding grain to hogs 

 as well as to their other farm animals in order to come out ahead. 



