470 MANUAL OF FABM ANIMALS 



tication. Soaking or wetting is, however, a very cheap method 

 of preparing hard grains for swine, by rendering them more 

 palatable and adding succulence. 



Grains should be soaked long enough to make them soft. 

 They should not be permitted to sour. While sour food, as 

 such, is not injurious to swine, there is risk of feeding it one 

 time sour and the next time sweet, as digestive disorders will 

 surely follow a changing from one to the other. 



Cooking the feed. — As a general practice, cooking food for 

 swine is no longer regarded as profitable. In fact, cooking 

 certain foods renders some of the nutrients less digestible. 

 Cooking feeds for swine, however, has many advantages, chief 

 of which are that it softens small and hard seeds ; increases the 

 succulence and to some extent the palatability of certain dry 

 grains, such as peas and beans ; reduces the water content of 

 certain other feeds, such as roots and tubers, which contain 

 more water than swine can economically use ; and renders foods 

 more uniformly mixed. Furthermore, cooked foods do not sour 

 so readily, and the hard grains or particles of feed become 

 thoroughly softened. It is considered best to put a variety 

 of foods into the cooker. This serves a double purpose : since 

 the small grains usually contain more protein, they form a more 

 nearly balanced ration; and they add variety to the ration, and 

 thus increase the palatability. 



MAKING UP A RATION 



The ration is ordinarily not given much consideration in 

 swine feeding, but at the same time it is of great importance. 

 The several factors considered in determining the desirability 

 of a ration for other farm animals are of equal importance in 

 swine feeding. The dry matter, digestible nutrients, protein, 

 palatability, variety, suitability, and cost of foods should be 

 carefully considered. 



Feeding capacity among svdne. — As with steers, it is desirable 



