I486 
D* RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
October 4. 1919 
Live Stock Questions 
Answered By Prof. F. C. Minkler 
The Value of 
Home Grown Feeds 
Digestible nutrients in hay and ensilage should 
be available for the cow just as they are in the 
grain ration. Pound for pound they are worth just 
as much. 
Cleanliness for Swine 
We are in the hog business here, and 
have a little argument in regard to hous¬ 
ing hogs. I say they should be kept in 
well-cleaned pens, well bedded, and al¬ 
ways make it a point to keep things a> 
clean as possible. The hired man thinks 
if pens are in a filthy condition, wet and 
nasty, they are far better off. What does 
The R. N.-Y. say? c«. l. 
New Jersey. 
The question of sanitation is not de¬ 
batable. particularly as regards quarters 
where pigs are confined. It is easy to 
associate a pig with filth and unsanitay 
conditions: but if he is reared under 
such conditions he is more subject to dis¬ 
ease. will not gain economically, and it is 
doubtful indeed whether when maintained 
under such conditions the animal will 
yield a new dollar for an old one. There 
is only one answer to your question: It 
is necessary to keep the pens clean and 
well bedded, and it is absolutely wrong to 
permit the pigs to be confined in small 
pens that are • not regularly cleaned or 
properly bedded. A pig is not unappre¬ 
ciative of these conditions and. if he is 
provided with relatively large areas, you 
will find that his sleeping quarters will 
be kept quite clean by .himself, and that 
he will form regular habits of cleanliness. 
Pigs confined under filthy conditions are 
invariably covered with vermin, infested 
with internal and external parasites, and 
of course do not make the best use of 
their feed. In this instance the hired 
man is absolutely in error, and he will 
find that his charges will do much better 
provided they are given the kind of atten¬ 
tion that you suggest, whereby they are 
supplied with clean pens and generous 
amounts of bedding. 
If that fact is carefully considered when mak¬ 
ing up the grain ration, the feed bills can be reduced, 
stock kept in better condition, and cost of milk \ 
production lowered. 
Failure of Breeding Sire 
This is the basic principle of 
Service. 
TI-O-GA Dairy Feeds form a balanced ration with the kind of 
roughage with which they are intended to be fed and are mixtures which 
furnish nutrition at lowest cost per unit. 
Red Brand TI-O-GA Dairy Feed to be fed with ensilage, pastur¬ 
age, green fodder or low protein roughage. 
White Brand TI-O-GA Dairy Feed to be fed with medium protein 
dry roughage. 
Blue Brand TI-O-GA Dairy Feed to be fed with high protein dry 
roughage. 
Full feeding instructions and classification of roughages will be 
found with every bag of TI-O-GA Feed. Every bag is guaranteed 
satisfactory when fed as intended. 
Inquire of your dealer. Book on TI-O-GA Feed Service contain¬ 
ing valuable information on feeding and conservation of home grown 
feeds sent free on request. 
We have a Berkshire boar now going 
on three years old. weighing probably 500 
to 000 lbs. He appears to be iu excellent 
health, eats everything put before him, 
not ugly except around small pigs. lie 
(has refused to give service during the 
past six weeks. lie is fed on middlings 
and is in open range on rape and field 
_ peas. He also has with the middlings 
A r 00Q ground walnuts, which we were able to 
secure at a reasonable price, and we are 
now feeding them to our hogs. 
New York. R. w. M. 
It is not uncommon for aged boars to 
refuse service, especially if they have 
been closely confined and fed on highly 
nutritious and fattening feeds. _ Often¬ 
times it is possible to reduce their flesh 
and get them in what might be termed 
a very thin condition by means of flush¬ 
ing out their systems with an abundance 
of green feed and retiring them from 
service for the time being : then, by the 
use of a nutritious ration consisting 
largely of ground oats and ground barley 
it is often possible to bring about the 
breeding instinct. It is not uncommon 
for breeding boars of this sort to go one 
entire season and refuse to mate, while 
the next year, under conditions that are 
quite similar, go into the stud and render 
satisfactory service. Exercise is funda¬ 
mental in animals of this sort, and there 
is nothing that retards or prevents their 
mating instinct quite so much as a high 
degree of flesh and confinement iu small 
pens. 
have access to only one field at a time. 
It would not be necessary to put in many 
posts in running this temporary fence, 
and the wire could be tied to the corn 
stalks. The pigs would not bother this 
fence so long as they had plenty to eat 
iu the fii’st area. 
8o far as the sheep are concerned. I 
would not suggest that they be turned 
into the cornfield at the outset, but rather 
that they should be relied upon to clean 
up the area after the pigs have eaten up 
the greater portion of the corn. The Soy 
beans and other forage that is supplement¬ 
ing the corn would make excellent feed 
for the sheep, and you would be surprised 
to find how much of this green forage the 
pigs would consume after their curiosity 
and original hunger had been satisfied. 
It is not an easy matter to determine 
the age of pigs by any«examiuation that is ' 
practicable. While it is true that there 
are certain appearances of the teeth that 
an expert can follow, so much depends 
upon the way they may have been fed 
and the nature of the food that they have 
consumed that this is often misleading 
and indefinite. From the general appear¬ 
ance of the pig, however, one ought to be 
able to determine whether they have 
grown vigorously from birth to their pres¬ 
ent age. or whether they show evidence 
of being stunted. It is much better to 
select animals that do not grow an ex¬ 
cessive amount of flesh, particularly if 
they are chosen through stock yards. This 
practice has many disadvantages, in view 
of the fact that so much cholera is preva¬ 
lent among hogs that pass through stock¬ 
yards and large distribution centers. If 
you could assemble some pigs of the de¬ 
sired weight and age in your own com¬ 
munity without going to the stockyards 
I am sure that you would run less risk, 
so far as disease is concerned. 
So far as the self-feeder is concerned, 
if you will communicate with the director 
of your Experiment Station at Wooster, 
Ohio, requesting the Animal Husbandry 
Department to send you plans and speci¬ 
fications of a self-feeder I am sure that 
this request will be promptly complied 
with. 
The same careful service is furnished 
in the preparation of: 
TI-O-GA Brood Sow and Pig Feed. 
TI-O-GA Growing Shoat Feed. 
TI-O-GA Fattening Hog Feed. 
TI-O-GA Chick Feed. 
TI-O-GA Growing Mash. 
TI-O-GA Growing Grains. 
TI-O-GA Laying Food. 
TI-O-GA Poultry Grains. 
TI-O-GA Calf Food. 
TI-O-GA Horse Feed. 
Colonel’s Ration (Full Feed for 
Horses). 
Tioga Mill & Elevator Co. 
Waverly, N. Y. 
T-O-GA 
FEED SERVICE 
Pasturing Hogs 
I have a 10-acre field of corn which 
will run between .10-1(1 bn. to the acre. 
As soon as I drilled the corn in. I went 
over the same rows and drilled Soy beans, 
of which I have a good stand. I wish to 
hog-off this mixture and would like to 
know about how many hogs it will carry, 
and if it would not bo a good idea to 
turn in with the hogs a few sheep, as 
there is an abundance of forage, beans 
and fodder. Would this he practical? I 
will have to purchase my stock at the 
yards (some of it), and I want to know 
what would he the best weight lmg t<> 
buy, and if there is any way to tell the 
age of swine. Can one tell the difference 
in appearance of a 12-months-old stunted 
hog which weighs about 125 lbs., and one 
which weighs the same and is only five 
or so months old? I am also looking for 
plan of a good self-feeder for hogs. 
Ohio. L. F. E. 
There are several reasons that suggest 
the usefulness of the plan you submit 
relative to hogging down corn. While 
it is true that, during the initial period 
of 10 days, the hogs will be extravagant 
and apparently wasteful of corn, yet after 
they are brought to a full ration, and fed 
some green corn on the stalk for 10 days 
or two weeks previous to actually turning 
them into the cornfield, you will find that 
very little will eventually be wasted by 
I the pigs. Shotes weighing 125 lbs. are 
best suited for hogging down corn. Young¬ 
sters are always more wasteful, and 
'young pigs do not do as well on green 
corn. It would scarcely be practicable 
to turn into the whole 10-acre field at 
the outset, as better results would follow 
the running of a 26-iuch woven wire fence 
through the field, dividing ir iuto two 
five-acre areas, and letting the animals 
Clover Meal for Steers 
I am planning to winter some Hereford 
steers with a ration of 40 lbs. of good 
matured silage and 8 lbs. a day of clover- 
meal made from Sweet clover with an 
Alfalfa meal attachment. Supplementing 
this will be a little roughage, all they will 
clean up. of wheat straw or oat straw, or 
oats and straw. I see that Henry in 
‘‘Feeds and Feeding” gives Sweet clover 
about the same feeding value as Alfalfa, 
and compares the latter equally with bran. 
Will you give me your opinion as to 
the above ration, as with the present 
prices of grain. I could not get a new 
dollar for an old one. iu feeding steers 
and buying grain. H. J. F. 
Rhode Island. 
A combination of silage and Sweet 
clover hay ground into a meal would 
make an excellent base for a ration in¬ 
tended for feeding steers; but you will 
find that it will not he possible to make 
them put on very much flesh or weight 
with this combination. Rather than sup¬ 
plement this material with wheat or oat 
straw better results would follow the use 
of some concentrate, such as hominy or 
cornmeal, yet I am mindful of the fact 
that one caunot pay $2.50 per bu. for 
cornmeal and feed it to steers at the 
present time and realize a profit. You do 
not state what age the Hereford steers 
are to be. nor do you indicate whether 
it is your purpose to finish these and place 
them on the market, or whether you de¬ 
sire merely to rough them, or winter 
them over and sell them a- feeders during 
the coming season. The only advantage 
iu grinding clover for steers would be 
to increase their consumption. If given 
as much as 40 lbs. of silage they would 
not eat 8 lbs. of hay. especially if they 
have access to oat or wheat straw. How¬ 
ever. if clover hay were ground iuto a 
meal and then mixed with the .silage I 
dare say that the consumption would be 
cousiderably inoreased. 
Again ; clover of this sort would he 
equal in feeding value to wheat bran, in 
fact, it would be superior to bran, inas¬ 
much as it carries a higher percentage 
of ash and is also more digestible. If 
the Sweet clover is cut during its early 
stages of development and before it be¬ 
comes woody or wiry the best results 
will he obtained. So far as your second 
question is concerned, as to whether you 
will get a new dollar for au old one in 
feeding steers and buying all of your 
grain. I am quite sure that you would 
have to charge considerable to experience, 
and quite as much to the value of the 
barnyard manure, in order to realize much 
of an income from such a transaction. 
Of course, where you have silage and hay, 
and this is supplemented by a relatively 
small amount of grain, you would come 
out all right: but where steers are fin¬ 
ished and fed largely on purchased con¬ 
centrates. it is not clear how one can 
determine a great deal of income unless 
he places rather extravagant values upon 
the manure and the conversion of it and 
other farm materials iuto fertilizer con¬ 
stituents. 
