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MASSACHUSETTS STATE 



Agricultural Experiment Station, 



BXJ^4I_,ETI2^T IISTO. 13. 



NOVEMBER, 1884. 



240. NOTES ON FEEDING EXPERIMENTS WITH PIGS. 



The experiment described in a few subsequent pages is the first of 

 a series [)hinued for the purpose of studying the comparative feeding 

 value of skim milk and of creamery butter milk, in connection with 

 corn meal, for the production of pork. To secure a suitable basis 

 for the work, it was decided to ascertain, first the facts regarding the 

 results of feeding equal measures of skim milk and of butter milk 

 with a corresponding weight of corn meal in both cases. The skim 

 milk was obtained from the dairy of the college and the station, the 

 butter milk from the factory of the Amherst Co-operative Creamery 

 Association. The skim milk was rated at two cents per gallon, and 

 the creamery butter milk 1.37 cts. per gallon — the contractor's price. 

 Corn meal was bought at $28.00 per ton. Several analyses of both 

 kinds of milk and the mean of three analyses of the corn meal, fed 

 during the experiment, are stated further on, (see Nos. 241, 242 and 

 243,) in this Bulletin. The skim milk contained about 2.5 per 

 cent, more solid matter, than the creamery butter milk, a circumstance 

 most likely due to the access of some water from the first washing of 

 the butter. Six pigs from forty to fifty pounds in weight, (Berk- 

 shires,) secured from the College farm, were used for the experiment ; 

 three of them were fed with skim milk and corn meal, (Lot A), and 

 three with creamery butter milk and corn meal, (Lot B) . Each of the 

 two lots consisted of one barrow and two sows ; the former (III) gave 

 in both lots the best results. The animals were fed alike in the follow- 

 ing way : one-third of the daily ration of milk was fed with one-half of 

 the daily ration of corn meal, at 6 o'clock, a. m. ; one-third of the 

 milk at 12 o'clock, m., without any meal; and the remaining third, 

 part of milk with one-half of the meal, at 6 o'clock, p. m. When- 

 ever the previous feed was consumed, some hours before a succeed- 

 ing feeding time, the amount of daily fodder was gradually increased. 

 This rule of feeding was '^arried out during the entire trial and suf- 

 fered only a tempor; . lification in consequence of a few short 

 periods of very hot ■. At the beginning of the experiment 



