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FPARF.NTn- a little nr.uht lift, 

 witli plenty o( niidniqlit snacks 

 under the bright li;.'lit>. and lots 

 ot rest during the day. pays ott 

 in raisjnt; hoas. 



Put like that it may sound just a bit 

 extreme, but ni^ht feeding ol" hogs, at 

 least dunnj^' the hot summer months, may 

 prove higlily practical for the average 

 farmer and hog raiser. 



Speedy Pork Production 



Ihis IS indicated in the results of what 

 is believed to have been the first experi- 

 ment in night feeding of hogs conducted 

 on the farm of Robert CI Turner. Henr)'. 

 Illinois, this suminer. 



Turner, a GI paratrooper turned 

 farmer, established enviable records for 

 speedy and economical pork production 

 in a 63-day test with 10"' purebred Duroc 

 hogs. 



Control By Time Clock 



Turner noted that hogs are reluctant 

 to eat during the heat of the day, but 

 will make regular visits to their self- 

 feeders on moonlit nights. He erected 

 electric lights over the feeders in his hog 

 lot and had them controlled by time 

 clock to provide two feeding periods each 

 night. His idea was to entourage his hogs 

 to eat during the cool of the night and 

 thus increase their feed intake and get 

 them to market weight earlier. 



107 Pig Experiment 



The experiment was started on July I 

 when 107 Duroc pigs, farrowed in late 

 March and early April, were weighed 

 in. They weighed a total of ~.\2i lb., 

 or an average of 69.38 lb. per pig. Thev 

 were placed on a ration of ground oats, 

 plus a pelletized milk product in the 

 self-feeders, and ear corn which was 

 hand fed. Thev were on trood alfalfa 



NIGHT FEEDING 



Farmer GI Finds Hogs Put On Weight Faster 

 When They Get Plenty Of Midnight Snacks 

 Under Bright Lights. After 63 Days Gain 

 Per Day Registers 1.45 Pounds 



The lights flash on and Robert C. Turner's hogs get up and head for the feed trough 



during the night. 



pasture and also had a supply of salt 

 and mineral. 



Gain 1.45 lb. Per Day 



At the end ot the 63-da\ period, on. 

 Sept. 2, the hogs were weighed out dnd 

 tipped the scales at 1~.J"() lb. for the 

 lot. or an average of I6I.1 lb. per hog. 



Ihis meant that thev had made an 

 average daily gain of about 1.1^ lb. per 

 hog per day which may be compared to 

 an averagL- daily gain of .ihout 1.31 lb. 

 tor hogs of similar weight and .ige i!i 1 _ 

 experiments of fi\e midwest experiineiu 

 stations reported in L'.SD.A Technical 

 Bulletin No. S9 i. July. 19i^. 



Turner kept complete records of feed. 

 consumption and costs. I'eed consumption 

 per 100 lb. gain was of special signifi- 

 cance. To make a total gain of 9.S 16 lb. 

 of pork in 63 days, the pigs consumed a 

 total of 27.069 lb. of feed, or 2"^ lb. of 

 feed for each 100 lb. of pork produced. 

 This may be compared to 300 to 3^0 lb. 

 of feed for e.ich 100 lb. gain, which is 

 generally considered good to average feed 

 consumption. Turner figured the feed 

 cost at SI 1.70 per 100 lb. of pork pro- 

 duced. 



Electricity — 7 Cents 



Total cost of electricity for the 63 days 

 was S7.40. or about 7 cents per pig. 



lurner has one pole with a single 1 50- 

 watt bulb to light the pen area, and 

 another pole with two 1 "SO-watt bulbs 

 and retkaors direttlv over his leeders. 

 Lights were time clock controlled to tome 

 on automatically twice during the night. 

 from 10 to 11:30 p.m. and from 2 to 

 3:30 a.m. This resulted in the use t>t 

 l-liS kilowatt hours of elect riutv. 



1 urner noted that when the lights 

 xanie on at night the hogs made no t^uuk 

 rush to the feeders, but within about fi\e 

 minutes thev got up in groups ot tour 

 or five to go to the feeders. He eslim.ited 

 that at least three-quarters of the herd 

 got up to feed during each of the mglit- 

 feedinL' ["-.nods. 



Plans to Repeat 



lilt txj-tnnitiit was sponsored jointly 

 bv a teed tompanv and local teed 

 distributor. Paul l.aflev. .Marshall- 

 Putnam farm adviser, and Ira Burton. 

 lurner's neighbors, were official w itiiesses 

 .It the scales at both the weighing in and 

 weighing out of the hogs for the experi- 

 ment. 



Turner, who was well pleased with the 

 results, said. "The results speak for 

 themselves. They're a swell lot of hogs 

 and I think my program is right. Lead- 

 ing hog men who saw them at the weigh- 

 ing out said my animals would top the 

 market. I'm going to repeat the program 

 with my fall pigs. ' 



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