Fitting the Heed tor Show. 99 



to feed whole milk fresh from the cow. This is entirely- 

 useless and, I think, is one of the surest ways of overdoing 

 the pig and causing him to break down in the pasterns and 

 it is also almost a certainty that pigs fed fresh warm 

 whole milk will become more or less wrinkled, but skim 

 milk is not so apt to cause this trouble, and this is especially- 

 true when well balanced with the ground feed. 



Always remember, however, that' too much milk is worse 

 than none. The proper amount is three pounds milk to one 

 pound of grain; with this your ration is practically bal- 

 anced or at least gives the best results. 



If any of the animals at any time during the fitting do 

 not eat with as much relish as would seem best, there are 

 many kinds of condiments that could be used to make the 

 feed more palatable. A sufficient amount of brown sugar 

 or black strap molasses to well sweeten the mixture, will 

 make the feed much more palatable. This would be the 

 case even when milk was used instead of water in mixing 

 the feed. 



I would, by all means urge, while fitting these hogs for 

 show, that a mixture of mineral matter mentioned in an- 

 other part of this book be used. It may be well to mention 

 here that this should be made up of ground limestone, with 

 perhaps some slacked lime, together with ground phos- 

 phate rock or any other material that would contain plenty 

 of phosphate and the whole mixed with salt to make it 

 more palatable. I urge the use of this material so that 

 while fleshing these animals there would be no danger of 

 breaking down the bone, as the mineral matter is essential 

 for bone growth. 



If any of the younger animals in the show herd were in- 

 clined to be a little weak in the feet or pasterns, I would 

 buy one hundred pounds of finely ground bone meal or bone 

 dust and mix it with the mineral matter or even add it in 

 small quantities to the slop feed. 



Much care should be taken in fitting the show herd not to 

 break them down, and as a help in this matter as well as 

 in keeping them in better condition, it is necessary that the 

 show herd be given some special exercise other than that 

 which they will naturally take in their enclosure. By tak- 

 ing the three older boars out each day and driving a half 



