The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1884-05-17
Stone Coal For Swine.

Hogs that are kept in close quarters,
and fed about what they win eat of
corn, will show craving for other
articles of food. They will eat gravel.
CLAY, broken bricks, hard coal, soft
coal, charcoal, cinders, ashes, hen
manure, etc.
Because hogs confined to corn diet
will eat so readily of such articles as
are above named, that close observer,
l.. N. Bonham, thinks many men arc
led to conclude there is great feeding
value in such extras, or that they are
..good for hogs" That kind of reason
ing has never been entirely satisfactory
to another large class of observing men.
Simply because hogs eat such things
greedily, after confinement in a small
Enclosure, kept wholly on liberal diet
of corn, one may as naturally argue
that corn alone does not meet the wants
of the nature of the hog.
Few farmers would claim that gravel,
or coal, or cinders have feeding value,
or that the pig could thrive on them,
even though he had access to coal
mine, or gravel-pit, or brick-yard.
That corn alone does not meet all the
wants of nature is not questioned by
the best writer's on animal feeding. 1t
does not contain q sufficient proportion
of albuminoids to make perfect diet.
We need to add to q corn diet small
amount of heterogeneous food, or that
rich in albuminoids, such as oil cake,
meal or pea-meal. Skim milk, too, is
rich in true albuminoids, and when
added to corn ration, makes what ap-
a. nj
which will digest promptly, and %
which there will be the smallest pei
cent. of waste and the largest per cent
of assimilation.
An albumoid ratio of Ii is about the
perfect diet for the pig. Corn has a ratio
oils. How can this be improved o.
made to approximate 1:7p Not by feed
ing cinders, coal and brickbats, which
no doubt contain a trace of albumen
but by the addition of nearly pount
of milk for every pound of corn. whicl
will give the perfect ratio, III. Th.
few pigs on the board floor, whicl
get the milk and scraps from the kitchen
along with moderate corn-feeding tel
the story of successful assimilation O
feed. Their sleek pelts and rapid growt
tell that the diet suits them, and the
are assimilating the maximum per cent
of it, and making pork most rapidly
Let us remember that these pigs do nc
get any coal, cinders, gravel and tn
ike, nor do they root great holes in th
earth for that invisible something whic
the high corn feeder says is necessar
for the pig. The pig goes quarryin
for roots, worms, Larvae and the lik'
to make up the deficiency of his feed RI
ton. The corn diet alone does not me-
the wants of nature.
Another thing should here be notices
Corn is so rich in starch that ANNA
fed long on it alone become constip
ted. And every successful feeder
handler of animals knows that Il
keeping of the bowels regular is of FIR
Importance. The corrective is not ne
essarily physic. That may best
found in . simple addition to the fe'
of something not so rich in starch. o
cake as . corrective and condiment
feed, will prove most valuable, al
meet the wants of the animal nsuall
Bran. too. fed with corn will correct Il
iconsfipating tendency, and will he.p
more complete digestion of the cor
Hence, oil meal and bran are me
profitable articles of diet.-Cotnsa'
Rural World.