CHAPTER XXX 

 METHODS OF FEEDING 



Hog raisers have for generations been trying to find 

 some method of finding that which would give to the 

 feed some added nutritive value. In recent years even 

 the chemists have tried to discover chemical processes 

 that would increase the value of the feeds. Of the vari- 

 ous methods that have been suggested, those in more or 

 less common use to-day are : cooking, griading, soaking, 

 and the use of self-feeders. 



COOKING FEED 



Cooking feed has been largely abandoned, because it 

 has been found that the digestibility of most feeds is 

 diminished by cooking. Potatoes seem to be the one 

 exception. When cheap enough to feed to pigs, potatoes 

 will pay a profit for cooking if the equipment does not 

 cost too much. It seems fairly well determined that 

 at the present time no one would be justified in installing 

 an expensive cooker, for ordinarily potatoes are more 

 valuable for human food than for pig feed, and in localities 

 where they are not, other crops would furnish more 

 nutrients at less cost. Potatoes are cooked in order to 

 decrease the water content and to burst the starch cells. 

 Steaming is more desirable than boiling, and in the latter 

 process, if the water is drawn off and the potatoes left 



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