Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1869-08-25
agricultural.

COOKED Fo9D FOR SwISE.-The following
report of experiments in the cooking of food
for swine was furnished the Practical Farmer
by Thomas J. Edge, Chester county, Penn:
Ny first experiment was with old corn, in
three forms, namely, shelled and fed whole
ground and made into slop with cold water
and ground and thoroughly cooked.
The pigs, FIVE in number, were from the
same litter, and were the produce of a good
common sow, crossed with a Berkshire boar
In each case the food was given them as
fast as consumed, and all possible care taken
to avoid any waste, or irregularity of fed
ing in every case CT a change of food, three
DAYS was allowed before the weighing for the
experiment in order that the effect of a sud
den and entire change Of the diet might not
affect the result.
[ found that five bushels of whole corn
made At "a pounds of pork. Five bushels
(less miller's toll Of corn, ground and made
into thick Stop with cold water, made 81 10
pounds of pork. The same amount of meal,
well boiled and fed cold, made 80 3 4 pounds
of pork.
With the whole corn, the pigs had the
Stops from the kitchen-no milk and for
drink with the boiled mush, one or two quartz
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 $3.50 per
bushel, and you will notice 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 econo-
my of profitable feeding consists in bursting
off or breaking the indisgestible hull which
~incloses the minute particles of the food?
In 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 exclusively
with new corn, in two forms, namely, on the
ear, and shelled and ground before boiling,
and all in such case was what we know as
snubbins," or soft corn. The best of this
class corn was reserved for the pigs, and the
worst fed to the cattle. Ten bushels on the
cob made 90 IL pounds of pork, fed in the
usual way, on the ground The same amount
shelled, ground by horse power and boiled
made GA pounds of pork. Of course, a por-
ton of that fed on the ear was wasted but
it is the common plan, and forms but a fair
test of the comparative merits of cooked food
l have made no experiment with sound new
corn, yet may have favorable opportunity
before the season is past, but would suppose
that my experiment with old corn would
form a good criterion to judge by.
l have found that there is economy in al
lowing the food to become thoroughly cold
before it is fed that in this state a larger
amount will be eaten. with more apparent
good appetite; that while scalding is beneficial,
thorough and prolonged cooking, under pres
sure, is more economical. In more than one
case, l fastened 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 into the condition of the
food convinced me that its globules were
thoroughly bursted, and it was all, or nearly
all, rendered available. During a given
time, the same pigs will consume rather more
corn cooked than uncoOked.
Having eaten various portions Of one of
the above pigs, fed almost entirely on cooked
food-fed cold-and having assisted in kill
ing all of them, L must say that the preva-
lent idea that the meat of such pigs is not
as firm as if fed on uncooked food, has pro-
ven, in my case, to be erroneous-thou Oh l
am not prepared to say what the result would
have been had the food been used while warm.