FACILITY OF DIGESTION A FACTOR IN FEEDING 23 
TABLE 13. 
Digestible nutrients for 100 pounds of gain with pigs—milk, 
milk and shorts, and shorts. 








(a) 
re) ro) oD a x ae 
ei | 2 | 35 : Heh 20 tet elem ALC 
5a 5 © & ¢ a woaS 
Z Z Es goes 
oO opie 
2 FRR Eps: lebs: | err ana ar 
1 3 9453 ily, ooo 230 
8 28 34.5 LEO7 1,086 258 258 
1 a Z20e0 wA7 a | 445 294 



The reader should bear in mind that the financial problem is 
not here considered. It is admitted that while skim milk is 
easily digested, it is too bulky in character. The capacity of 
the pig to digest and assimilate is greater than its capacity to 
consume this watery fluid. At ordinary market prices, a pound 
of digestible nutrients would cost twice as much in skim milk 
as in shorts. Experience shows that from a financial stand- 
point, the most economical gains are made when skim milk and 
grain are fed in the proportion of 3-4 to 1. But the trials show, 
from a physiological standpoint, that less nutrients are required 
for a given gain when the ration consists of easily digested 
foods. These results are in harmony with those reported else- 
where in this bulletin. The conclusion seems warranted that 
the food requirements for maintenance and for production 
(milk or growth) depends not only upon the composition and 
digestibility of a ration but also upon ite facility with which 
it is digested and assimilated. 
