308 



PRODUCTIVE FEEDING OF FARM ANIMALS 



a safe rule to go by with regard to feeding grain to pigs on pasture : 

 When the price of pork on foot at the farm is more than three 

 times the price of grain, a rather heavy ration should be given; 

 when the price of pork is five times or less than the price of grain, 

 a minimum amount should be fed. 



The growing period of pigs will last until they are five to six 

 months old, depending on the method of feeding practised, usually 

 about five months old, when they will have reached a weight of 

 nearly 100 pounds; they are then put on fattening rations. 



The Dietrich Standard for Pigs. Dietrich concludes, from 

 careful studies of the nutrition of pigs conducted during a series 

 of years, that one and the same pig under different conditions may 

 maintain its live weight on distinctly different quantities of the same 

 combinations of feed. This variation appears to be due to the plane 

 of nutrition upon which the pigs have been maintained previous 

 to the time of making the maintenance experiment. He gives the 

 maintenance requirements of pigs that have been previously kept 

 on a low nutritive plane as follows : 



Dietrich Maintenance Standard for Pigs, Per Head, 100 Pounds Live Weight. 



Digestible crude protein Digestible carbohydrates Digestible fat 



0.10 pound 0.25 to 0.40 pound 0.03 pound 



The energy requirements of the ration are about 1.12 therms 

 (p. 35)." 



The rations given in the following table have been calculated 

 according to the rather elaborate system of feeding pigs recom- 

 mended by Dietrich: 



An Approximate Ration for Pigs Intended for Breeding Purposes 



In the place of corn may be substituted rye, barley, wheat, rice, 

 etc., and in the place of soybeans, linseed meal or peas, but in 

 the latter case the quantity fed must be increased, as peas contain 



"Illinois Bulletin 163; Circulars 126, 133, and 153. 



