SWINE 



551 



food required to produce a pound of The Wisconsin station reports the re- 

 gain, suits of a number of experiments in 



RELATION BETWEEN WEIGHT OF HOGS, GAINS MADE AND FOOD REQUniED 



The last column of this table brings out 

 clearly the fact that it requires about 

 two-thirds more food to produce 100 

 pounds of gain with hogs weighing about 

 300 pounds than with hogs weighing 40 

 pounds, and that there is a uniform in- 

 crease in the amount of food required 

 to produce a pound of gain as the pigs 

 increase in weight. 



Wide vs. narrow rations — A number 

 of experiments have been reported in 

 feeding carbonaceous rations in compari- 

 son with more nitrogenous rations. Nar- 

 row rations are sometimes fed also with 

 the belief that the proportion of lean 

 meat can be increased. At the Virginia 

 station a lot fed on corn meal, bran and 

 beef scraps, having a nutritive ratio of 

 1 :5.8 made 18 per cent better gains than 

 a lot fed on corn meal alone having a 

 nutritive ratio of 1 :9. Not the slightest 

 difference in the proportion of fat and 

 lean could be detected in the meat of 

 these two lots of hogs. 



At the New York station at Cornell 

 hogs fed a ration having a nutritive 

 ratio of 1 :3 made practically the same 

 gains as another lot fed a ration with 

 a nutritive ratio of 1:9; and so far as 

 looks and chemical analysis could de- 

 termine, the meat produced in both cases 

 was of the same character. The only 

 striking difference in the two lots was 

 that the livers of those fed the narrow ra- 

 tion were nearly twice as heavy as those 

 on the wide ration. In another test 

 where corn meal was fed against corn 

 meal and meat scraps, 67 per cent better 

 gains were made on the latter ration, 

 yet there was no marked difference in 

 the character of the meat produced. The 

 proportion of lean meat, however, was 

 somewhat larger on the narrow ration. 



"feeding for fat and for lean." The 

 results indicate that if fed mixed ra- 

 tions the muscles of the hogs reached 

 their fullest development and thus in- 

 creased the proportion of lean to fat 

 meat over that obtained when a carbo- 

 naceous ration like corn alone is fed. 

 They did not indicate, however, that the 

 muscles can be increased beyond their 

 normal size. Generally speaking, the 

 ration for growing pigs should be com- 

 paratively narrow, from 1 :5 or 6, while 

 for fattening hogs the ration can vary 

 within quite wide limits without marked 

 results either way. 



Maintenance rations— The Wisconsin 

 station reports experiments on the 

 amount of food required to maintain the 

 weights of pigs at different stages of 

 growth. With such common foods as corn 

 meal, middlings and skim milk the 

 amounts shown in the following table 

 were required: 



AMOUNT OF FOOD REQUIRED DAILY TO 

 MAINTAIN HOGS OF DIFFERENT WEIGHTS 



Pigs averaging 50 



lbs in weight. . 

 Hogs averaging 10 



lbs in weight. . 

 Hogs averaging 150 



lbs in weight. . 

 Hogs averaging 200 



lbs in weight... .67 



6.5 



Pigs fed on the rations given in the 

 table were active and did not show much 

 greater signs of hunger than when on 

 full feed. Other experiments at the 

 same station indicate that a maintenance 

 ration for hogs amounts to about 1 



