Pkactical Feeds and Feeding. 87 



the season when there is no pasture, as in our northern 

 and' western States. In portions of the country where 

 roots are grown to some extent, such as mangels, sugar 

 beets, turnips, etc., they can be used with success as a 

 succulent feed during the winter months, but my experience 

 is that the average farmer or any help that he can hire will 

 do mighty little getting down on his knees to work among 

 roots of any kind, which is necessary in order to thin out 

 and keep clean from weeds until they become large enough 

 to be cultivated in the proper manner, so the root ques- 

 tion with us has never, with the exception of one or two 

 j^ears, been considered in our ration for succulent feed, pre- 

 ferring to use the last cutting of green alfalfa instead. 

 Let me emphasize the great importance of pasture and 

 succulent feed at all times. 



COOKING OF FEED. 



It is a well-known fact that the nutriment in feed for 

 swine, or its value as a flesh producer, is not increased 

 by cooking ; but it is also a well-known fact that during the 

 cold months, at least in the northern states, much benefit 

 is derived in feeding Fall pigs and others not well on to ma- 

 turity, a warm feed rather than one mixed with cold, icy 

 water. 



There are some kinds of feed, however, often fed dur- 

 ing the winter that require thorough cooking; particu- 

 larly is this true of potatoes, which some people use when 

 they have a quantity of small ones sorted out from the reg- 

 ular lot. Potatoes are of little food value unless thor- 

 oughly cooked, and when so cooked and mixed with corn- 

 meal and other ground grains are really a valuable adjunct 

 to the ration. Shelled corn is often fed to' young pigs dur- 

 'ing the winter, and this is much improved by being steamed 

 until soft, then cooled down to the proper temperature for 

 feeding, but such matters will be treated in another chapter. 

 We have for many years made it a practice to feed Fall 

 litters (either not weaned or recently weaned) during the 

 entire winter on a feed mixed with hot water that would 

 make it quite warm for the pigs when poured in the trough. 

 For this purpose we have used a boiler of about ten-horse- 

 power capacity, in which steam can be raised in a very few 

 minutes, with pressure enough to heat several barrels of 



