Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1903-10-22

Food For Pigs.
s

Food requirements of pigs from
birth to maturity has been 80 sub
Ject of investigation and e1 syeri. aent
at the agricultural station of the uni
versity. Professor w. L. Carlyle is
the author of carefully prepared bull
letin mo. 104) issued on the result
of his experiments.
The bulletin reads in part as fol-
lows
"A great many experiments in the
feeding OF pigs have been undertaken
at the various state experiment sta
tons to determine the amounts of the
various kinds of feed required for a
given amount Of gain and the effect
upon the dressed carcass of the diff
ferent rations fed. None of the work
SO far reported is as complete or as
reliable as it might be owing to the
TACT that each experiment deals with
but portion of the animals life. 1t
Is with regret that circumstances ne
cessltated the publication of this re-
port without having the experiments
repeated several times. Otherwise.
with a sufficiently large number of
crood sows and pigs, the individual
pecullarltieS of the animals and the
various disturbing influences, always
to be considered in experiments with
1--we stock, could be so largely over
come that the conclusions drawn from
the results might be considered alb
solutely reliable. In planning the
experiment here reported it was de-
cided to determine the actual amount
OF feed consumed and gains made by
lot of pigs, representing different
breeds and types, from the day of
their birth until they were slaugh-
tered, and at the same time to secure,
If possible, some reliable data con-
corning the amount and quality of
milk given by SOW while sucking
her pigs. The difficulty surrounding
the latter proposition must be expert
enced to be fully appreciated. Twelve
brood sows, due to farrow in the
spring of 1903, were available for this
experiment. They had been liberal
ly, though judiciously, fed throughout
the winter on a ration made up of
shorts and little oil meal made into
slop with skim milk, fed warm
morning and evening. Each SOW was
also given few ears of corn every
day in the yards, and about twice each
week some fresh clover hay, cut fine,
was mixed with the shorts and oil
meal, thoroughly steamed for some
hours and allowed to cool before feed
ing.
Experience having taught us the
Importance of exercise for pregnant
sows during winter months, our sows
We're driven each day into large
feeding yard and thereby encouraged
to take liberal amount of exercise
by roofing and moving about.
An accompanying table gives the
data concerning the breeding, age and
weight of the sows in the different
groups into which they were divided,
as well as the number and weight of
live pigs in each litter at narrowing
time The Berkshire, Poland China
and Razorback sows were all very
typical representatives of their
breeds. The Razorbacks were of the
same type and breeding as those de-
scribed in the 18th annual report of
this station and represented the wild
or feral hogs found in Texas and
many of the southern states. The
cross-bred sows were excellent types
of breeding animals. The two having
only onequarter of Razorback blood
and three-quarters each of Poland