Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1869-07-29
farmers department
Cooked Food for Swine.

The sfalloving report of expert
ments in the cooking OF 1000 lo
swine was furnished the rraesaeas 20, ss. -.
Farmer by Thomas J. Edge enes'o'
county, Pa: w;th o,d
corn in three forms, VIZ, sheiieu
sud fed whole; ground and made in
10 sIop with cold water, ana grouhto
and thoroughly cooked. - =
"The pigs, five in number we're
from, the same litter, and were the
nroduce of a good common SOW,
crossed with Berkshire boar. Z
tIn each case the food was given
them as fast as consumed, and all
possible care taken to avoid any
waste or irregularity of feeding, in
every case of a change of food, three
days was allowed before che weigh
ing for the experiment, in order that
the effect of sudden and entire
change of diet might not affect the
result. A~ f@fSRe = 2 sseeE q
L found that five bushels of whole
corn made 472 pounds of pork. Five
bushels (less miller's toll) of corn,
ground and made into thick slop
with cold water, made 544 pounds of
pork. The same amount of meal,
we'll boiled and fed cold, made S32
pounds of pork.
"With the whole corn, the pigs had
the slops from the kitchen, (Ho milk; }
and for drink with the boiled mush,
one or two quarts were thinned with
cold water or slop from the house;
in each case the house slop was used
in some form or other, but all the
milk was reserved for small pigs.
"The fifteen bushels of corn cost
81 80 per bushel, and you will no.
tice that while the pork made from
the whole corn barely paid for the
corn--that from the same amount of
ground corn cooked, paid the whole
cost of the corn and a little more
than one dollar per bushel over, and
that the economy of grinding and
making into slop will fully warrant
the extra trouble and expense; How
could it be otherwise, when the
whole economy of profitable feeding
consists in bursting off or breaking
the indigestible hull which inclsses
the minute particles of the food2
"Ih the above experiment the data
are based upon pork at Sl4 per cwt.,
and corn at 81 80 per bushel, but it
will apply as well to other prices.
"The second experiment was ex
clusively with new corn, in two
forms, viz, on the ear, and shelled
and ground before boiling, and all
in such case was what we know as
'nubbins, or soft corn. The best of
this class of corn was reserved for
the pigs, and the worst fed to the
cattle. Ten bushels on the cob made
293 pounds of pork, fed in the usual
way, on the ground. The same
amount shelled, ground by horse
power and boiled, made 64 pounds of
pork. OF course, portion of that
fed on the ear was wasted; but it is
the common plan, and forms but
fair test of the comparative merits of
cooked food. I have made no ex-
pertinent with sound new corn, yet
may have favorable opportunity be-
fore the season is past, but would
suppose that my experiment with
old corn would form good criterion
to judge by. 81 aagE asi;
81 have found thatethere is econ
omy in allowing the food to become
thoroughly cold before it is fed; that
in this state larger amount will be
eaten, with more apparent good ap-
petite; that while scalding is benefi-
cial, thorough and prolonged cook
ing, under pressure is more econom-
ical. In more than one case, fas
tened the lids of the barrels down
until the pressure was as high as five
pounds per square inch in the barrel
and steamer, and an examination in
to the condition of the food con-
vlnced me that its globules were
thoroughly bursted, and it was all,
or nearly all, rendered available.
During given time, the same pigs
will consume rather more corn cook
ed than uncooked.
"Having eaten various portions of
one of the above pigs, fed almost en-
tirely on cooked food (fed cold, }
and having assisted in killing all of
them, l must say that the prevalent
idea that the meat of such pigs is not
as firm as if fed apon uncooked food,
has proven, in my case, to be errone-
ous-though 1 am not prepared to
say what the result would have been
had the food been used while warm"