SWINE 



543 



when wheat was fed with bran (half and 

 half) and pork was worth 4 cents per 

 pound live weight, a bushel of wheat had 

 a feeding value of 89.4 cents. 



Considerable work has been reported 

 by the Wisconsin station in feeding 

 wheat to hogs. Ground wheat has been 

 found to have about the same feeding 

 value as corn. That station holds that 

 wheat for hogs should be ground and fed 

 moistened either with water or milk. Dry 

 whole wheat has not been found satis- 

 factory. Even when soaked, a large 

 percentage of the grain was found to 

 pass tli rough the hogs and appear un- 

 broken in the droppings. The best re- 

 sults have been obtained when wheat 

 has been fed ground with ground corn. 

 Wheat shorts produced rather dark meat 

 and favored the development of liver 

 and kidneys. 



At the South Dakota station, wheat 

 damaged by frost and shrunken was fed 

 to hogs. The weight per measured 

 bushel in one instance was 57 pounds, 

 and in another 44 pounds. With pork 

 worth 4 cents per pound the heavier 

 wheat had a value for pork production of 

 63 and the lighter 57 cents. The Cen- 

 tral experimental farm in Canada re- 

 ports experiments in which pigs weigh- 

 ing 61 pounds at the beginning of a 

 test required but 4.23 pounds of frozen 

 wheat to produce a pound of gain. 

 Older pigs averaging 186 pounds each 

 required about 6 pounds of frozen wheat 

 to make a pound of gain. In some Dan- 

 ish experiments wheat proved slightly 

 more valuable than barley. 



Frozen wheat at the Montana station 

 proved equal in feeding value to a mix- 

 ture of wheat, barley and peas The 

 frozen wheat even when subsequently 

 heated by fermentation was profitably 

 and safely fed, 1 pound of the frozen 

 wheat proving equal in feeding value to 

 7.9 pounds of skim milk. 



Wheat middlings are considered one 

 of the best of all common feeds to sup- 

 plement a ration of corn for hogs and 

 has the further advantage of being pro- 

 duced in all parts of the country. It is 

 usually fed with corn in the proportion 

 of one part middlings to two or three 

 parts corn. Even when the proportion 

 of middlings is much smaller than this 

 it adds greatly to the effectiveness of the 

 corn feed. At the Ottawa station in Can- 

 ada it required 4.4 pounds of middlings 

 to produce 1 pound of gain. 



The conclusion reached at the Ne- 

 braska station as a result of feeding 

 wheat is that it should be first either 

 soaked or ground before feeding. Soak- 

 ing is the more economical of the two 

 unless grinding can be done for about 

 2 cents per hundred pounds. Wheat can 

 profitably be fed to hogs when the price 

 is not more than 9 per cent above that 

 of corn. 



Wheat should always be fed in troughs 

 or on the feeding floor. On this point 

 the Washington station states that "to 

 expect to reap returns by throwing wheat 

 on the ground, in the mud, or without 

 crushing or soaking it or in some way 

 making it more palatable and digestible 

 is sure to result in failure." 



Mixed grains — No single grain ordi- 

 narily gives as good results when fed 

 alone to hogs as when fed in combina- 

 tion with other grains. This point is 

 well brought out in the data summarized 

 in the Farmers' Cyclopedia of Agricul- 

 ture, in which the amount of the differ- 

 ent grains and of mixed grain required 

 to produce 100 pounds of gain is 

 shown. These data are given in the 

 table below and represent the result of 

 about 75 experiments with 500 animals: 



GRAIN REQUIRED FOR 100 POUNDS GAIN 



Kafir Bar Mixed 



Corn corn Oats Peas Wheat ley grain 

 Lbs Lbs Lbs Lbs Lbs Lbs Lbs 



The table shows that less mixed grain 

 is required to produce 100 pounds of 

 gain than of any single grain except 

 barley and the number of experiments 

 reported with this grain is rather lim- 

 ited. On an exclusive grain ration pork 

 is produced at the greatest expense. 

 Hogs should be fed as mixed and varied 

 a ration as possible and for cheap gains 

 should always have access to pasture. 

 At the Central experimental farm the 

 firmest pork was produced on mixed 

 grain, peas, oats and barley in equal 

 parts. 



Linfield, at the Montana station, gives 

 the following data showing the value of 

 mixed rations: On grain alone it re- 

 quired 528 pounds to produce 100 pounds 

 of gain; on grain and clover 487 pounds 

 of grain and 200 pounds of clover; on 

 grain and pasture 401 pounds of grain; 

 on grain and roots 376 pounds of grain 

 and 280 pounds of roots; on grain and 

 skim milk 311 pounds of grain and 888 

 pounds of skim milk. 



