60 BIGGLE SWINE BOOK. 



growing animal, but that they may well serve as a 

 model of operations. Milk is well suited to building 

 up a frame-work. A little grain, like oats, will do 

 no harm. Grass is an excellent growing food, and 

 hogs will do well on it, especially if given a little 

 middlings and milk, either once or twice a day. 

 Finally, the corn will add the fat very rapidly when 

 the pigs are to be made ready for market. 



Vegetables and roots are especially useful for 

 their effect upon the digestive system. They are an 

 agreeable change in addition to the regular food of 

 the hog, and also serve to keep the bowels in good 

 order. They have what is termed a cooling effect 

 upon the blood, which is equivalent to saying that 

 they favor a good action of the liver. Be careful to 

 avoid the excessive use of any one thing. 



It is never a mistake to provide large hog pas- 

 tures, or else to plant crops like rye, clover, sweet 

 corn, turnips, etc., that can be cut for feed. The 

 farmer can best determine whether to carry the pro- 

 vender to the pigs or the pigs to the provender. 



Opinions differ in regard to the value of silage 

 for hogs. There is a vast difference in silage itself. 

 When the corn has ears nearly ripe the silage makes 

 pretty good hog food, if fed moderately say one pound 

 per day to start with, and three pounds or four pounds 

 per day as a maximum amount. Some feeders have 

 pushed the amount considerably higher. 



Turning hogs upon growing crops, a system 

 known as "hogging down" the crops, is wasteful in 

 one sense ; but if it saves labor, and if the crops so 

 treated are speedily turned under by the plow, it may 



