SWiNE RAISING IX HAWAII. 
19 
under the present price of feeds. The swine raiser should weigh 
all his pigs at definite intervals and also keep close check on the 
kinds and amounts of feed being used. This is the only way that he 
can know with any degree of certainty how things are going. 
The following weights are considered very satisfactory at the ages 
specified : 
Satisfactory weights of pigs of varying age. 1 
Age. 
Weight. 
Ago. 
Weight. 
Days. 
50 
Pounds. 
30 to 50 
75 to 100 
150 to 200 
Days. 
270 
Pounds. 
275 to 300 
325 to 400 
100 
365.. . 
ISO 
1 Average weights under best conditions. The heaviest weights at the Haiku substation for two 6-months 
old barrows was 422 pounds. 
PIG-EATIXG SOWS. 
When a soav develops an abnormal appetite and begins to eat her 
young, she is usually in a fevered condition, probably due to im- 
proper feeding during the period of gestation, and needs an oil-meal 
ration to regulate the bowels. The pig-eating tendency can be 
warded off by giving the sow a ration containing generous amounts 
of meat scraps and tankage during gestation. After she has far- 
rowed the sow should be placed in a pen by herself, and the young- 
should be brought to her at regular intervals for nursing and per- 
sonally guarded until they are returned to their own pen. Should 
these precautions fail to make the sow properly mother her succeed- 
ing litter, she should be disposed of to the butcher. 
SOME PRINCIPLES OF SWINE FEEDING IN HAWAII.^ 
Feeding is the most expensive part of swine raising, and it is not 
unusual for the cost of feeds to equal or even exceed the value of 
production of the animals. As an example, it requires, on the aver- 
age, at least 5 pounds of grain or milled feed to produce 1 pound of 
gain, live weight, in hogs that are not provided with pasturage or 
green feed, or which are given a poorly balanced ration. When it 
is selling at $50 a ton (2 J- cents a pound) , which is the lowest average 
price paid for grain in Hawaii, feed needed to produce 1 pound of 
pork, live weight, will cost 12J cents, which is the minimum. When, 
however, the maximum cost of feed, $100 a ton or 5 cents a pound, 
is taken as a basis, 1 pound of pork, live weight, will cost 25 cents. 
During the past five years the range of prices of live hogs on the 
Honolulu market has very closely approximated the figures repre- 
senting the feed cost of production, with the result that the animals 
could seldom be supplied with commercial feeds at a profit at any 
period, as is frequently the case on the mainland. 
From the foregoing it may readily be surmised that it is hazardous 
to undertake to raise market hogs entirely or nearly so on purchased 
grain and milled feeds. Investigations made at a number of the 
most profitable swine-raising enterprises in Hawaii showed that 
the quantity of feed purchased by them is relatively small, amount - 
*See also Hawaii Sta. Press Bui. 53 (191S). 
