298 PRODUCTIVE FEEDING OF FARM ANIMALS 



question in feeding swine, we shall give briefly the evidence of experi- 

 mental work along this line. 



Grinding Grain. Trials conducted for ten years at the Wis- 

 consin station 4 show that an average saving of 6 per cent was secured 

 by grinding shelled corn for pigs; in 11 out of 18 trials conducted 

 there was a saving and in 7 cases a loss by grinding the corn. 

 If corn is worth 50 cents a bushel, there is, therefore, a saving of 

 3 cents per bushel by grinding, out of which the labor and cost of 

 grinding must be paid. It is evident from this result that grinding 

 corn for fattening pigs in general does not pay. In these trials 

 the pigs fed ground corn ate more feed and gained more rapidly in 

 a given time than those receiving whole corn. This is doubtless the 

 reason why some farmers believe that pigs do better on ground than 

 on whole corn. According to a summary by Rommel 5 of 19 trials 



FIG. 74. The "hog motor," a device for making pigs grind the corn they eat. (Hog Motor 

 Company, Minneapolis.) 



with 297 pigs, it required 524 pounds whole corn or 479 pounds 

 meal to produce 100 pounds gain, a saving of 8% per cent, or 

 a little higher than found in the Wisconsin trials. Similar experi- 

 ments with small grains and peas have shown that there is a saving 

 of 12.3 per cent in feed by grinding. 6 It is advisable, therefore, 

 to grind these grains in feeding pigs or to soak them before feeding 

 (see below) . Swine may grind their own grain, as shown in Fig. 74. 

 Cooking Feed. Cooking feed has now been abandoned for all 

 classes of farm animals except occasionally for swine. The question 

 of the advisability of cooking grain for fattening hogs was studied 

 by a number of stations in the eighties. Henry gives a sum- 

 mary of 17 trials at five different stations with cooked and un- 

 cooked grain (corn, barley, peas, rye, or shorts, fed separately or in 

 mixtures) for swine, showing that in all but one trial there was a 

 marked increase in the feed required per 100 pounds gain when this 



4 Report 1906. 



6 Bureau of Animal Industry Bulletin 47. 



6 Loc. cit. 



