466 FEEDING ANIMALS. 



is fed alone, the nitrogenous elements are in excess, and not 

 fully utilized. This illustrates the advantage of mingling 

 a variety of elements in the food-ration, and these elements 

 should be selected with reference to the proper balance of 

 all the constituents. 



The food of the young pig should be in liquid form, and 

 cooked, to render it easier of digestion ; and, as the suckling 

 pig is accustomed to take nourishment from its dam many 

 times a day, he should be fed, after weaning, five times per 

 day for some weeks, and then gradually reduced to three 

 feeds per day. 



FEEDING WHEY TO PIGS. 



Whey may also profitably be fed to pigs ; but even greater 

 care is required to supply the missing constituents of the 

 whey than in feeding calves, especially if the pigs are young. 

 See pages 242, 243. The young pigs cannot properly be 

 grown upon whey alone, as they get less of other food than 

 the calf. Pigs are usually kept in pen, and there is not 

 food in the whey to grow the bones and muscle ; and this 

 explains the cause of disease among small pigs attempted 

 to be raised at cheese factories upon whey alone. The only 

 case where whey alone may sometimes be fed safely to hogs 

 is, when the hogs are full grown, with well developed frame 

 and muscle, but lean, requiring to be fattened. Such hogs 

 will sometimes fatten very rapidly upon whey alone the 

 whey furnishing the materials to make fat, rounding out 

 the body into fine proportions. This mode of feeding may 

 be pursued for three months with such hogs, producing a 

 good result. But when the young pig is to be grown upon 

 whey, it must be mixed with other food, as directed for the 

 calf. The pig should also have green grass given in pen 

 every day. We have found whey to pay a fine profit when fed 

 to shoats of 80 Ibs. weight, somewhat lean at the start. 

 To experiment, we put up 6 shoats of 80 Ibs. weight on the 



