FEEDS AND FEEDING 391 



Corn Feeding. --The great dependence of the farmer 

 for fattening hogs is on corn. This contains a large 

 proportion of carbohydrate material and will put fat 

 on the hog very rapidly if reenforced with some 

 protein foods. If the price of corn is low, it may be 

 profitable to finish the fattening process with corn alone. 

 An exclusive corn ration during the growing period is 

 likely to result in a weakened constitution and a con- 

 sequent invitation to disease. 



To furnish the requisite amount of ash, hogs should 

 have before them at all times a mixture of charcoal, 

 ashes, and a small amount of salt. Ground bone is also 

 valuable for furnishing mineral matter. 



Because of the extensive use of corn in pork pro- 

 duction there has grown up a relation between the 

 price of corn and of pork. As a rule, a high price for 

 corn means a correspondingly high price for pork. 

 Numerous experiments have been made to determine 

 the amount of gain in weight of a hog that may be 

 credited to a given quantity of corn fed under ordinary 

 conditions. It has been agreed that one bushel of 

 good corn will produce a gain of about 10 pounds in 

 the weight of a hog during its growing and fattening 

 period. The marketing of corn through the hog will 

 usually be found to be the best way to get a maximum 

 price for the corn grown on the farm. 



Many feeders of cattle feed whole corn to their 

 steers. About 15 per cent of this may pass through 

 the animal undigested. One shote is placed in the 

 feed lot to follow each steer so as to clean up the un- 

 digested corn, thus utilizing the waste. 



Hogs may harvest the corn crop with a very little 

 loss of corn if they are allowed to run in a part of the 



