FEEDING SWINE 



313 



According to the forage conditions in different parts of the 

 country, great variations in the methods of feeding fattening hogs, 

 as well as swine in general, are possible. The preceding sugges- 

 tions will, however, indicate in general the plan of feeding that 

 will be likely to give best results in special cases. 



Summer vs. Winter Feeding. By far the greater, proportion 

 of the pigs in this country are fitted for the market in the summer 

 and early fall, and depend on the summer pasturage, supplemented 

 by grain, for cheap and rapid gains. Hogs fattened during winter, 

 as a rule, require somewhat more feed for making a certain gain 

 in weight than during the summer, at least in the North. No 

 exact information in regard to this point is available for this country, 

 but records obtained in Danish pig-feeding trials with about 2500 

 summer- and winter-fed pigs have a direct bearing on this question. 

 The following summary table 22 shows the amount of feed eaten, 

 reduced to a grain equivalent according to the feed-unit system, and 

 the feed requirements per 100 pounds gain in weight and for each 

 of three groups of pigs 35 to 75 pounds, 75 to 115 pounds, and 115 

 to 155 pounds with averages : 



Feed Required to Fatten Danish Pigs in Winter and in Summer 



While the pigs' ate practically the same amounts of feed in 

 summer and winter, it required 400 pounds to make 100 pounds of 

 gain in summer, against 444 pounds in winter, an increase of 11 per 

 cent. The larger feed requirements in winter are explained by the 

 fact that more body heat is lost by radiation on account of the lower 

 air temperature. The same result was obtained in comparing the 

 feed required by pigs weighing about 70 pounds each, kept in a well- 

 built piggery and in individual hog-houses (Fig. 83), at the Ottawa 

 station. 23 The trial was conducted during 60 days in winter time. 



22 Copenhagen Station Report 30, 1895; Exp. Sta. Record 7, p. 246. 



23 Report, 1904. 



