562 Feeds and Feeding. 



devoured when offered. The desire for these may often be charged 

 to unnatural conditions, but it shows under a wide range of feed 

 and care. As a rule, the feeder would best supply what the pig 

 craves, and search for explanations later. Ashes from either wood 

 or coal are always helpful in the feeding pen and even in the pas- 

 ture. Dietrich^ recommends that salt, charcoal, air-slacked lime, 

 bone meal, and wood ashes be kept in different compartments of a 

 covered trough where they are accessible to the pigs at all times. 

 Ground rock phosphate should be added to the list, since we now 

 know that the pig can utilize the phosphorus and possibly the lime 

 it furnishes for bone building. (89, 90, 115, 892) 



923. The administration of feed. — Sucking pigs take nourishment 

 from the dam about every two hours, and we should accept Nature's 

 rule in feeding very young animals. Dietrich's experiments- lead 

 to the conclusion that young pigs should be fed at least three times 

 daily, giving little less each time than they will readily consume. 

 With large animals getting considerable coarse feed, such as legume 

 hay, rape, or roots, two feeds a day should suffice, since coarse food 

 remains longer in the digestive tract. During the last stages of 

 fattening and when living wholly on finely ground rich concen- 

 trates containing little fiber, swine should be fed three times daily. 



Since dry meal is more slowly masticated than moistened meal it 

 might be supposed that the greater addition of saliva consequent on 

 slow eating would increase the digestibility of meal so fed, but the 

 trials so far made favor moistening the feed with water. The pig 

 does not take kindly to dry meal, eating it slowly, and often rooting 

 much of it out of the trough. On the whole, sloppy feeds are 

 best. (824) 



924. Water required by pigs. — Dietrich,^ who has given the sub- 

 ject much careful study, concludes that the proper water supply 

 for the pig ranges from 12 lbs. daily per 100 lbs. of animal at the 

 time of weaning dowm to 4 lbs. per 100 lbs. during the fattening 

 period. He holds that pigs do not usually drink enough water in 

 winter, and that they should be forced to take more by giving it, 

 warm if necessary, in their slop. He states that the total quantity 

 of water drank seems to be of greater importance than the manner 

 in which it is fed. The best results have been obtained by feeding 

 the bulk of the water after the rest of the feed has been eaten, using 

 enough water to wet the dry feeds. During the hottest weather 



^ Swine, p. ICl. = Loe. cit., p. 194. •' Loc. cit., p. 156. 



