The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1873-09-13
ENING PIGS in Warm
weather..

The too common practice of keeping
pigs upon spare diet of thin Stops
from the house, with little grass, and
freqently without the grass, through the
warm weather, and then doing all the
fattening in the Fall and early Winter,
results in much loss of food and poor
returns to the feeder The cost of keep
ing pigs in this slow-growing condition
is but little less than generous feeding,
which will produce twice the growth in
the same time. We do not disapprove
putting pigs upon good grass, for this
is not only good for their health and
thrift, but is the cheapest food as far as
it goes What we wish strongly to
enforce is the economy of full feeding
during warm weather. A little addi-
ton of grain to Summer pasture will
produce twice the additional growth as
will the same amount of grain fed in
cold weather There is very little ex
penditure of food in keeping up animal
heat at this season, and the grain will
all go to the extra flesh.
A March pig may fatten as great
weight on the lst of September by good
feeding as on the 1st of December by
the common system, and the expense
will be much less. An experiment,
several years since, with four March
pigs of the same litter, each of nearly
equal weight, all fed upon grass, but
two of them having in addition fine
wheat middlings and corn-meal mixed
in equal parts and soaked in cold water
twelve to twenty-four hours, all they
could eat, showing the decided advan-
tage of full feeding. The other two had
the same grass, with the thin slops from
the house for drink, and weig hed, on the
1st of September, when five and half
months old, 24S pounds, while the two
with meal and bran, ad libitum, weighed
$50. They ate 500 pounds Of the mid
dlings and meal in 1913 days, from the
time they were weaned at six weeks old
to the lst of September, and gained 202
pounds by this additional feed, or one
pound for two and one-half pounds Of
middlings and meal.
The experiment was continued three
months longer, to the lst of December
all four pigs being fed alike what they
would eat of three parts corn-mcal and
one part fine middlings, with grass dur
ing September and October, and pump
kins in November, and weighed, the two
former, 440 pounds, and the latter $50
pounds live weight The former lost
twenty per cent. in dressing, and the
latter only sixteen per cent. They con-
sumed of the meal and middlings 500
pounds, or four pounds of feed to make
one pound live weight, besides the grass
and pumpkins.
Here it takes sixty per cent. more
grain to produce pound live weight in
the Fall than in the Summer. But this
result is caused, first, by the greater age
and weight of the pigs, and second, by
the cold weather. The two pigs that
were fulfilled during the Summer still
gain more pounds in the Fall than the
others, and show their better condition
in the end by losing less in dressing
There is only one point of Importance
left out in the experiment-the separate
quantity consumed by each two pigs
after the lst of September 1t is highly
probable, however, that the two heaviest
consumed the most food to make one of
live weight after that period, as the full
fed animal constantly eats more as its
weight increases, for each pound of
gain. From other experiments tried by
US, we found that it cost forty per cent
more food to produce pound live
wei ght in November than in July, Au-
gust or September. These experiments
were tried in ordinary pens, not warmed
or constructed with view of keeping
up Summer temperature, which might
proitably be done for Winter feeding.
But as few farmers are prepared to
keep their pig-pens Of an even tempera-
ture at all seasons of the year, economy
requires them to feed when the greatest
amount of pork can be made from a
given amount of feed
EFFECT OF EXTRA FEED.
The principle illustrated in the above
experiment is most important. During
the warm weather two and one-half
pounds of extra food produced one
pounl live weight This would be a
most extraordinary result if applied to
all the food taken by the pigs, but it
must be remembered that they had all
the good grass they could eat, and that
this food supplied the waste of the sys-
tenn, the animal heat, and kept the pig
growing moderately, and this extra
food was used solely to lay on flesh
Here is the secret of high feeding. The