520 



Pig feeding experiments in Wiltshire. Swine Husbandry 

 in the United Kingdom and Denmark. Report of Ca- 

 nadian Commission 1909, 12-13. Ottawa, Jan. ist., 1910. 



" To encourage production in quantity and quality of pigs the 

 Wilts County Council was induced to take up a series of pig feed- 

 ing experiments and demonstrations in cheap production. A Com- 

 mittee of ten members consisting chiefly of farmers was formed. 

 Contributions to carry on the work were made by Lord Lansdowne 

 whose estate joins Calne, the Harris Company and the County 

 Council. A thoroughly capable and painstaking secretary was ap- 

 pointed to keep records, while a son of one of the leading farmers 

 was entrusted with the actual feeding. The tests and demonstra- 

 tions were carried on for five years after which time the Secretary 

 and scientific adviser gave courses of lectures throughout the country 

 and distributed reports. 



During the five years 720 pigs were fed from store to finished 

 condition. No special care was taken to select stores, which were 

 of no special breed, and were bought in the manner customary 

 among the great majority of the farmers in the district. For the 

 feeding tests comfortable and sanitary pens were erected each to 

 accomodate ten pigs. The foods used were those commonly em- 

 ployed in that part of England and consisted of the following: 

 corn, barley, oats, peas, and bean chop, bran, separated milk, po- 

 tatoes and mangels as also a number of proprietary foods. The 

 dry food was soaked in water in the proportion of one peck of 

 the former to 5 gallons of the latter, except when separated milk 

 was used it replaced its own volume of water in the mixture. The 

 potatoes were boiled and the mangels sliced. The pigs were fed 

 three times a day as much each time as they could clean up. 



The weights of pigs at the commencement of fatteuing ranged 

 from about 90 to 140 Ibs. The live weights when finished ranged 

 from 133 to 236 Ibs. The feeding periods ranged from 7 to 14 

 weeks. An examination of the exhaustive report of the tests shows 

 the following conclusions : The diets which gave the highest weekly 

 increase in live weight were: 



1) Barley, separated milk and potatoes 15,8 Ibs. 



2) Corn, separated milk and potatoes 15,1 



3) Barley and separated milk 13,3 



4) Corn and separated milk 13 



5) Barley and potatoes 12,8 



