CHAPTER XXX 
METHODS OF FEEDING 
Hoe 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, grinding, 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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