368 FEEDS AND FEEDING, ABRIDGED 



pigs, middlings being far preferable. Where clover or alfalfa hay, 

 roots, or other cheap bulky feed are not available, a limited amount of - 

 bran is excellent for brood sows, as it is bulky and also laxative. 



Linseed meal. — Linseed meal is an excellent supplement to corn or 

 the other cereals, pigs fed this combination making good gains and 

 yielding pork having firm, white fat. Because of its mucilaginous 

 character, linseed meal makes a slop of uniform, creamy consistency. 

 Since sufficient linseed meal to balance a ration of corn or other cereals 

 often renders it unpalatable to pigs, many feeders prefer to give 

 less linseed meal and add a small allowance of other supplements, 

 such as skim milk, tankage, or middlings. Especially for brood sows, 

 it is often highly beneficial to add a small amount of linseed meal to 

 the ration on account of its laxative effect. 



Other protein-rich concentrates. — Cottonseed meal, as now pre- 

 pared, is poisonous to swine, and no uniformly successful method of 

 feeding it has yet been found, tho a few feeders, guided by experi- 

 ence, use it with little loss. If cottonseed meal is not fed continuously 

 for over 40 days and does not form over one-fourth of the ration, and 

 if the pigs are freely supplied with green forage or graze on pasture, 

 the risk is slight. It is considered safe to have pigs follow steers 

 which are being fed cottonseed meal, for the meal does not seem to be 

 poisonous after passing thru the cattle. One should see that the steers 

 do not throw so much meal out of the feed boxes that the pigs may 

 be poisoned by eating it. 



Field peas, rich in protein, are well suited to supplement corn and 

 the other cereals. In certain irrigated mountain valleys of the West 

 large numbers of pigs are fattened by turning them into fields of 

 peas, or peas grown with oats or barley, after they have matured, an 

 acre of good peas producing about 400 lbs. of gain. 



Pigs fed soybeans and corn made slightly larger gains than others 

 fed linseed meal and corn at the Indiana Station, 11 and required some- 

 what less feed for 100 lbs. of gain. No more soybeans should be fed 

 than is needed to balance the ration, for when fed in large amount 

 they produce soft pork, dark in color. They are commonly ground 

 for pigs. 



Cowpeas are of great importance in the South for economical pork 

 production. The seed may be used as a supplement to corn or other 

 carbonaceous feeds, or the pigs may be turned in to harvest the crop 

 when the pods are well matured. 



Peanuts, likewise of great importance for pork production in the 

 South, are commonly harvested by letting the pigs gather the crop. 

 Peanuts alone produce soft pork, but this may be overcome by feed- 



ii Skinner and Cochel, Ind. Buls. 126, 137. 



