72 Forty Years' Experience of a Practical Hog Ma.\. 



of corn in good meat meal or tankage. This will bring 

 them on to a finish and put two curls in their tails. This 

 for spring pigs in preparation for early marketing in the 

 fall or for shipping out as breeders. The grain ration of 

 course may be varied, using ground corn meal with 10% 

 tankage, or by using ground barley or wheat or rye 

 with corn meal. Any mixture of fattening grains bal- 

 anced with a little tankage where skim milk cannot be 

 had is all that is necessary with good pasture to make 

 rapid gain. 



WEIGHT FOR AGE OF PIGS. 



This is a very difficult subject, as there is no iron clad 

 rule for pigs of certain ages. A litter of pigs from a sow 

 that was a poor milker would not grow out at weaning time 

 nearly as heavy as a litter the same age from a sow that 

 was a good milker. Neither would either litter make as 

 many pounds per age in the hands of a poor feeder as in 

 the hands of a good feeder. Much will also depend on the 

 inherited ability from the sire and dam. Even different 

 individuals in the same litter would differ in weight at a 

 certain age if each was fed by the same man on the same 

 ration, so it seems that not much information can be g'iven 

 along this line, except in a general way. 



One feeder will take a litter of pigs from a sow, that he 

 is particularly interested in making as large as possible at 

 six months of age and he can make them weigh as high as 

 225 lbs. each and possibly even more than this. He may take 

 another litter and fail to make, with the same care and ra- 

 tion, even 180 lbs. each at six months of age. While another 

 man may take the same two litters and feed them and not 

 make over 100 lbs. each on one litter and 125 lbs. on the 

 other, so that we really cannot say what a pig should weigh 

 at a certain age as there are so many conditions to be con- 

 sidered. 



On the other hand the pig that is pushed to weigh every 

 pound possible at six months, will, if he accomplishes the 

 feat of weighing 225 or 250 lbs., as is occasionally the case, 

 be practically ruined for future use in the breeding herd, but 



