AN EASTERN CREAMERYMAN'S WAY. 77 



Calculating the nutritive ratio in the usual manner 

 (multiplying fat by two and one-quarter, adding to car- 

 bohydrates, and dividing by the protein ) we find that it 

 is rather narrower than i : 5, which is nearly correct. 

 This is a well-balanced ratio for the pigs when first 

 purchased, but is too narrow for the animals when fat, 

 as will be seen by comparison with the best feeding 

 standards, as explained in Chapter X. 



Assuming that no mistakes have been made in the 

 above figures, either in quoting the practice of the 

 creameryman or in the deductions which I have 

 drawn, the question still remains, " Would there not 

 have been an equal gain in weight on a smaller amount 

 of food, especially if the pigs were pastured or given 

 some bulky ration ? " 



The German tables, in the case of i7o-pound hogs, 

 call for only 5.2 pounds of organic matter, while this 

 feeder gives his pigs 7.59 pounds of organic matter. 

 This looks like a waste of food, and if it is a waste of 

 food it is a waste of money. 



A careful trial would soon settle the matter, and 

 when I attempt to follow this man's plan I shall de- 

 crease both the skim-milk and the hominy chops, or 

 perhaps only the former. 



A daily allowance of twelve pounds of skim-milk 

 and six pounds of hominy chops would have a nutritive 

 ratio of about one to six, a good ratio at the finish. 



If the skim-milk were reduced one-half in the latter 

 weeks of the fattening operation there would still be an 

 abundance of dry matter, protein and fuel value to meet 

 the full requirements of the German tables. It would 

 stand this way : 



