SWINE 601 



On the other hand, the community house is a disadvantage in that 

 location is not easily changed; isolation is practically impossible; sanita- 

 tion may be sometimes discouraged; construction is more complex; it is 

 not so practical for beginners; the first cost is somewhat high; more fencing 

 is required to provide similar range conditions; it is likely to be used 

 solely for a farrowing house and thus decrease serviceability; and fire 

 and other hazardous risks may be greater if it is built of wood and is in 

 close proximity to other buildings. 



A combination of the two types of houses, i. e., the large centralized 

 or community one supplemented with the small movable one, deserves 

 favor in practice. Each type has its own peculiar advantages and dis- 

 advantages, whereas the two together counterbalance each other so as to 

 make a very complete efficient practical combination system. 



Feeds for Swine. — Feeding swine has to do with the balancing of 

 the grain ration to make it most efficient. The shortcomings of corn as 

 feed for swine have their counterpart in other grains used less extensively 

 in pork production, namely, barley, wheat, rye, sorghum seed, Kaffir corn 

 and milo maize. 



The predominating deficiencies of corn as a grain for growing swine are: 



1. Low in Protein. — A young growing pig should have a pound of 

 protein with every three to four pounds of carbohydrates. Corn has 

 only one pound of protein to about eight and one-half pounds of 

 carbohydrates. 



2. The Quality of Protein is Only Fair. — Corn products alone, partly 

 because of the protein content being of low quality, are inefficient in dry 

 lot feeding, even though an abundance of protein be supplied as in the 

 form of gluten meal. 



3. Lacking in Mineral Elements. — Corn is particularly low in cal- 

 cium, which comprises 40 per cent of the dry ash of bone. The young 

 pregnant gilt would have to eat something like thirty pounds of corn a 

 day in order to get enough calcium to supply the growing foetus. Common 

 salt and calcium and potassium phosphate have been found beneficial 

 when added to a corn diet. The deficiency of minerals in corn has been 

 largely responsible for the widespread general use of condimental material, 

 such as wood-ashes, charcoal, bone phosphate, rock phosphate, cinders, 

 slaked coal and others being used in practical hog feeding. 



4. Presents an Acid Ash. — When corn is high in protein this acidity 

 is especially marked. To make corn more productive this acidity should 

 be counteracted. This is made possible by the judicious use of efficient 

 and proper supplements. 



The most acceptable, practical supplements to corn and the other 

 similar starchy grains may be briefly enumerated as follows: skimmed 

 milk, buttermilk, tankage, blood meal, linseed oil meal, cottonseed meal, 

 gluten meal, wheat middlings, Canada field peas, soy beans, alfalfa and 

 clover hay. 



