480 MANUAL OF FARM ANIMALS 



Whatever food-stuffs are used, the swine should be put on 

 full feed slowly. Much care should be exercised not to throw 

 them off their feed in the beginning, as it will take some time for 

 animals to recover. For best results swine should never be fed 

 more than they will clean up at each meal. Fattening swine 

 make better returns for the food consumed when their appetites 

 are kept keen; they wait eagerly for their food and relish it 

 much better than when overfed. If convenient, they should be 

 fed both mash and dry grain. Nothing makes a better food 

 for swine in the fore part of the fattening period than meal and 

 skim-milk mixed in the proportion of one part of meal to five 

 of milk. As the period progresses the portion of meal should 

 be gradually increased until towards the close the proportion 

 may be one part to three parts of skim-milk. If the skim-milk 

 is not available, water may be used to make the mash. If water 

 is used, the mash should be fed much thicker, using only enough 

 water to mix the meal, as it is useless to fill the fattening animal 

 up on water and thus prevent the consumption of nutritious 

 foods. When such is the case, some linseed meal should be 

 used, say 10 per cent of the meal. In either case, dry grain 

 should be fed in addition. 



Swine will make much better returns for the food consumed 

 if they have access to green forage. Where fattening hogs are 

 turned to pasture, it must be so arranged that they need not 

 graze over too large an area. If at all convenient, it will be more 

 profitable to cut the green forage and feed to the hogs. In 

 this way a smaller area will support a larger number of hogs, and 

 the swine need not rustle to get the much needed succulence. 

 The number of hogs that may be pastured on an acre will de- 

 pend on the age and size of the animals, the quality and kind 

 of crop, and other conditions. For an average it may be said 

 that an acre of blue-grass will support eight to ten hogs for 

 two months or more in the spring, and for two months in the 

 fall ; red clover should support six to ten hogs for three or four 



