Pig Feeding Experiments. 



489 



Further experiments were made with feeding* with ground 

 grain, soaked and dry, the meal being composed of equal parts 

 of oats, barley, and pease, with a half part of bran. To 

 one pen this meal was fed after it had been soaked for thirty 

 hours in cold water ; in the other case it was fed dry and a 

 tub introduced into the pen with water so that the pigs could 

 drink as often as they desired it. Each pig was given 3 lbs. 

 of skim milk per day as in the other tests, and all they could 

 consume of soaked meal in one case and of dry meal 

 in the other case. These pigs were from the same litter, 

 and they weighed about 100 lbs. each at the start, there 

 being a difference of only 4 lbs. in the total weight of 

 each pen. 



The four pigs fed on imeal soaked made one 'pound of 

 increase in live weight on a consumption of 4*69 lb$. of meal 

 and 3*61 lbs. of skimmed milk, whereas the four pijgs fed on 

 the same meal dry made a pound of increase from 4-19 lbs. of 

 meal and 3-20 lbs. of milk. Those fed with dry food made 

 34 lbs. less weight in the same time to the pen, and they 

 consumed 316 lbs. less of grain. So that it appears from this 

 experiment that it is more economical to feed meal dry. 



One lot of four pigs weighed 407 lbs., and the other lot of 

 four a total of 403 lbs. At the close of the test the first lot 

 weighed 756 lbs., and the second lot 718 lbs. Those that 

 were fed on the moist food did not do so well as those that 

 were fed on the dry food until the last four or five weeks of 

 the feeding period. In the meantime they had grown a little 

 more "rangy," and during this latter period they put on weight 

 more rapidly than those fed on dry meal, but there was more 

 shrinkage when they were killed. Those fed on dry grain 

 were shorter, more solid and compact, and they made on the 

 whole m.ore flesh with the consumption of less grain. 



The live weight of the first lot fed on soaked meal, fasted 

 14 hours, was 743 lbs., and the dressed weight 24 hours after 

 killing was 540 lbs. In the other case, where the pigs were 

 fed on dry meal, the live weight, fasted 14 hours, was 

 690 lbs., and 24 hours'' after [killing it was 545 lbs. There 

 was nearly 50 lbs. less shrinkage with those fed dry. 



The results of these experiments are held by the Director 



