26 DEPARTMENT BULLETIN 1492, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
Thirty-six of the hogs were slaughtered at the close of the soy-bean- 
grazing period. This explains the difference between 134 and 98, the 
numbers of hogs fed in the two periods. The average rate of gain 
during the first period was only moderate, while the variation in 
the different lots was from 0.47 pound to 1.87 pounds, inclusive. In 
the two Beltsville experiments in which comparative lots were fed with 
and without minerals the rates of gain of the former were 1.25 pounds 
and 0.53 pound as compared with 0.55 and 0.47 pounds, respectively, 
of the latter. It is believed that the difference between 1.25 pounds 
and 0.55 pound in the first experiment is much greater than should be 
expected under average conditions. The amount of shelled corn con- 
sumed per unit of gain during the grazing period was rather high. 
To summarize, it is evident that the soy beans consumed by the hogs 
had a value, as an average, of approximately 100 pounds of grain 
for each 100 jDounds of gain made, since 425 to 450 pounds of concen- 
trated feed are usually required to produce that gain in hogs of the 
size used in these experiments. 
During the finishing period on corn with tankage the 98 hogs 
gained rapidly. The total feed consumed per unit of gain was 
normal. The 56 hogs which were fed minerals with the corn and 
tankage consumed 17.01 per cent less total feed (including minerals) 
for each 100 pounds gain than the 42 others. 
RESULTS WITH 2 5 TO 85 POUXD PIGS 
In view of the recognized importance of initial weight as a factor 
in influencing variations in firmness, additional experiments were 
conducted under this system of feeding, utilizing pigs having a range 
of initial weights from 25 to 85 pounds. Three experiments were 
conducted during a period from August, 1923, to January, 1926. The 
South Carolina station fed the hogs in all three of these tests. 
Complete data are available on 29 hogs. 
It was the plan in these experiments to hand feed 2 pounds of 
shelled corn per day per 100 pounds live weight of hogs, as supple- 
mentary to the mature soy beans which were grazed. The pigs 
were weighed at 14-day intervals during the tests and the amount 
of shelled corn to feed recalculated each weighing day on the basis 
of these weights. The average percentages of shelled corn (based on 
the weights of the animals) consumed daily in the three experiments 
were 1.64. 1.88, and 1.85, respectively, with a general average per- 
centage of 1.8. Haberlandt, Mammoth Yellow, and Biloxi varieties 
of soy beans were grazed in succession in the first experiment. Mam- 
moth Yellow and Biloxi in the second, and Haberlandt 38 (Herman) 
and Mammoth Yellow in the third. The grazing period was 71 
days in the first test and 56 days in each of the others. Shelled 
corn and tankage were self-fed. free choice, in dry lot during the 
finishing or hardening period of all the experiments. The hardening 
period was of 84 days' duration in both the first and third experi- 
ments and 81 days in the second. Mineral-mixture supplement com- 
posed of charcoal 12 parts, ground limestone 4 parts, and common 
salt 1 part, by weight, was self-fed throughout all tests. 
Killings of representative animals were made after approximately 
four and eight weeks' hardening and at the close of the period. 
