FEEDING SWINE 313 
According to the forage conditions in different parts of the 
country, great variations in the methods of feeding fattening hogs, 
as well as swine in general, are possible. The preceding sugges- 
tions will, however, indicate in general the plan of feeding that 
will be likely to give best results in special cases. 
Summer vs. Winter Feeding.—By far the greater proportion 
of the pigs in this country are fitted for the market in the summer 
and early fall, and depend on the summer pasturage, supplemented 
by grain, for cheap and rapid gains. Hogs fattened during winter, 
as a rule, require somewhat more feed for making a certain gain 
in weight than during the summer, at least in the North. No 
exact information in regard to this point is available for this country, 
but records obtained in Danish pig-feeding trials with about 2500 
summer- and winter-fed pigs have a direct bearing on this question. 
The following summary table 2? shows the amount of feed eaten, 
reduced to a grain equivalent according to the feed-unit system, and 
the feed requirements per 100 pounds gain in weight and for each 
of three groups of pigs—35 to 75 pounds, 75 to 115 pounds, and 115 
to 155 pounds—with averages: 
Feed Required to Fatten Danish Pigs in Winter and in Summer 
Grain equivalent Grain equivalent- 
per day per head, for 100 pounds gain, 
Weight pounds pounds 
Winter Summer Winter Summer 
35 to 75 pounds............... 2.66 2.65 371 346 
75 to 115 pounds............... 3.96 3.92 446 397 
115 to 155 pounds............... 5.26 5.25 516 457 
AVETARGs Siiacces  csnnt wea he acees 3.96 3.94 444 400 
While the pigs ate practically the same amounts of feed in 
summer and winter, it required 400 pounds to make 100 pounds of 
gain in summer, against 444 pounds in winter, an increase of 11 per 
cent. The larger feed requirements in winter are explained by the 
fact that more body heat is lost by radiation on account of the lower 
air temperature. The same result was obtained in comparing the 
feed required by pigs weighing about 70 pounds each, kept in a well- 
built piggery and in individual hog-houses (Fig. 83), at the Ottawa 
station.2* The trial was conducted during 60 days in winter time. 
* Copenhagen Station Report 30, 1895; Exp. Sta. Record 7, p. 246. 
7° Report, 1904, 
