APPETITE OF SWINE 
403 
5. The ordinary feeding standards for swine — the Dietrich 
or Illinois, and the Wolff-Lehmann, in some respects closely 
approximate the appetite, but in many, they diverge widely. 
This divergence is quite naturally expected, inasmuch as there 
are so many “unknowns” involved as regards the animals to be 
fed, the feeds to be used, and the environment to be experienced. 
6. The palatability of feeds is relative; the specific feeds 
which are relished early in growth may not be relished later when 
the animals are mature. 
7. The appetite of pigs varies according to growth or devel- 
opment ; many internal as well as external factors affect the de- 
sire for nutrients, 
8. Pigs fed according to the “Free-Choice System of Swine 
Feeding,” when given suitable feeds, grow very rapidly, oft- 
times weighing 300 pounds at eight months of age; one pig so 
fed weighed 405 pounds in 247 days, a remarkably good record. 
Evidently this “growthy” pig was provided a most excellent 
opportunity, as regards the “bill of materials” supplied, to 
make the maximum development. 
9. Heretofore in studying and formulating swine feeding 
standards the appetite of the pig has been largely ignored, de- 
pendence being placed on existing “man-made” standards. Each 
new comparison, therefore, was made with the various existing 
standards. Is it not time to face about and study normal ‘ ‘ appe- 
tite” intake, using this as a rational basis for further investi- 
gation. In the study of human dietaries this has been diligently 
done, hence it is the more surprising that but little attention has 
been accorded the '‘pigs’ appetite.” 
10. The “appetite” studies open a most promising field of 
research along nutritional lines. 
Animal Husbandry Section Laboratories 
OP THE Iowa Experiment Station. 
