PREPARATION OF FEEDING-STUFFS 139 



88-4%; these animals, as is well known, swallow 

 their food without chewing it much, and so they 

 usually get corn in the form of meal. The advan- 

 tages gained by this have been clearly shown by 

 tests in the United States, where one lot of pigs were 

 fed on whole maize and bran gruel, whilst the 

 others got both maize and bran ground up and 

 made into gruel. The animals in each case were 

 allowed as much as they could eat. 



The experiments lasted for ten years, during 

 which time eighteen series of experiments with, in 

 all, 280 pigs were carried out. The total food con- 

 sumed and the total increase of live weight during 

 this time were as follows — 



From these figures it is found that in the whole 

 maize and bran series 501 lbs. of food were neces- 

 sary to make 100 lbs. increase of body weight, 

 whilst with the meal only 471 lbs. were essential, 

 so that 6% more maize would be needed if the 

 whole grains were fed. Whether it would be 

 profitable to grind the maize would depend upon 

 the price of it and of the pigs, as well as upon the 

 cost of grinding. Pigs that have not been accus- 

 tomed to feed on whole grain from a young state are 

 easily upset, and may suffer serious digestive troubles 

 if the corn is given unground. 



