RESULTS OF SOFT-PORK INVESTIGATIONS, II 
13 
Results have shown, in fact, that gain on corn with tankage up to approxi- 
mately 120 pounds, this maximum being produced during a feeding period of 
approximately 16 weeks' duration, following gains of 40 or more pounds on 
peanuts, usually will not produce hard or medium-hard hogs. As the gain on 
peanuts increases the subsequent gain on corn with tankage necessary to 
produce a certain degree of firmness likewise increases. 
The apparent deduction to be drawn from this conclusion is that 
although it is possible to produce medium-hard or hard hogs with 
this plan of feeding, it is probably quite impractical to attempt it 
under the ordinary economic conditions. 
RESULTS FROM HEAVIER PIGS 
With the realization that initial weight is a factor of importance 
in producing variations in firmness, a study was made of results from 
hogs fed peanuts followed by corn with nonsoftening protein sup- 
plements, beginning at weights above 114 pounds. Data from 27 
hogs fed in one experiment each at the Georgia and South Carolina 
stations and in four experiments at the Animal Husbandry Experi- 
ment Farm were included in this study. The peanut-feeding period 
in all cases was about 8 weeks, while the hardening period varied 
from 4 to 24 weeks. 
With the exceptions of two hogs which were fed wheat middlings 
and one fed cottonseed meal as a replacement for tankage during the 
final 3-week period of an experiment, all the hogs received tank- 
age as the supplement to corn in the hardening ration. No note- 
worthy differences in firmness could be detected under the condi- 
tions of the experiments, and the results from the three hogs were 
summarized with those from the hogs fed tankage. The tankage in 
all cases and the wheat middlings to the two hogs reported were 
self-fed, free choice, with the corn. The cottonseed meal fed during 
the 3-week period in the one instance comprised one-third of a 
mixture with ground corn, the mixture being self -fed. 
Table 2 gives a summary of results from the 27 hogs included in 
this study. 
Table 2. — Average tveights, gains, days on feed, gradings, and refractive indexes 
of back and leaf fats for 21 hogs fed peanuts followed by com with non- 
softening supplments 
[Range of initial weights on peanuts, 115 to 142 pounds] 
Number 
of hogs 
Initial 
weight 
Gain 
Days on feed 
Final 
weight 
Slaugh- 
ter 
weight 
Grading 
Refractive index 
Peanuts 
Corn 
Peanuts 
Corn 
Back 
fat 
Leaf 
fat 
27 
Pounds 
124.04 
Pounds 
54.78 
Pounds 
136.04 
55.63 
106. 52 
Pounds 
314. 86 
Pounds 
307. 37 
Medium soft 
1. 4603 
1. 4599 
It is especially noteworthy that the pigs were heavy as feeders at 
the beginning of the peanut feeding, the range of initial weights 
being from 115 to 142 pounds, and the average initial weight about 
124 pounds. The average weight at the close of the peanut-feeding 
period was 178.82 pounds, which is a very good market weight in 
many sections of the country. In the study of hardening require- 
