The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1897-07-27
Broome Co., N. Y.
WEEKLY DIGEST
Of Experiment Station Bulletins.
No 80.
z T.. VINCENT.
LIVE O AND DAIRY.

LII II N4OSN All OS4L
Bulletin 80, of Alabama..SEation, gives
an account of some tests of the relative
merits Of corn, COW peas and wheat
bran as economical rations for pro,
ducing pork.
During recent years the price Of cot
ton has ranged too low to justify it's
use for the purchase of bacon and other
home supplies. While the production
of corn, hay, and pork has largely in.
creased in Alabama, the home demand
is not yet more than half supplied by
home production.
Hog cholera and the high price of
corn are given by Alabama farmers as
reasons why they do not produce their
own pork. In the view of this bulletin,
neither is a good reason. Cholera is
not nearly so prevalent in Alabama as
in the great hog producing States Of
the Central West, and no State can pro,
duce corn more economically than can
Alabama, while only the Southern
States can equal her in the production
of such supplementary hog foods as
COW peas, peanuts, sweet p0tasoes, and
chufas, all of which may be harvested
without waste by the hogs themselves.
Yet the packery at Birmingham has to
purchase all of its supply Of hogs in
Tennessee.
The tests detailed in this bulletin
were TO determine the relative merits
Of an all corn ration, an all pea ration,
a mixed corn and bran ration, and a
mixed corn and pea ration, as regards
the amount of weight gained per 100
pounds Of food consumed, the cost per
pound of the increased weight, and the
quality of the pork produced by these
respective rations.
The pigs used in the test, two in each
lot, were. purebred E sex pigs of uni
form age, size, and condition. The
conditions under which the tests were
made were not calculated to secnre the
most economal results, the pens being
open, and it being necessary to catch
the pigs end remove them from the
pens for their weekly weighing, and
the UNMARRIED diet to which each lot
was confined did not produce as good
results as would an occasional change
of food. All feeds were ground and
given dry, in order to facilitate the
gathering and re-Weighing what was
left after each feed.
A mixture of 1 part copperas to 80
parts each of sulphur, charcoal, and
hardwood ashes was mixed in the food
at the rate Of a teacupful daily to each
lot of two pigs.
The local market prices of the food.
stufs used were as follows: Wheat
bran, $15 per ton, corn 40 cents, and
cow peas 30 cents per bushel.
The lot fed corn alone gained 100
pounds for each 487 pounds of food
consumed, the pork costing So 48 per
100 pounds. Those fed COW peas alone
gained 100 pounds for each 481 pounds
OF food eaten, the pork costing So 81
per 100 pounds. The lot fed a mixture
OF corn and wheat bran, halt and half,
gained 100 pounds for each 521 pounds
Oh 1000 eaten, at a cost of So 81 per 100
Pounos OF pork, and the lot fed a half
ana halt mixture Of corn and COW peas
gained 1OO pounds for each 433 pounds
Looo eaten, at a cost Of So 35 per 100
pounds of pork.
must be borne in mind that in this
SoSO Sne co" peas had been gathered by
aua threshed with a fail, both
"4o"s n expensive. It is custom
larry 70 have peas gathered by negro