The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1908-07-23
PIGS NEED PROTEIN.
Professor Vim. Dietrich Tells What
Feeds Are Best for Growing

1874. ..a'
Professor VIM. Dietrich Tells What
Feeds Are Best for Growing
Swine.
In ansaddress before the Illinois farm
ers' institNte Professor William Diet
rich. OF the Illinois college OF agricul-
tupe. gave some very practical lessons
in pig feeding. Professor Dietrich de.
votes HIS whole time to he study ana
teaching OF swine h~usbandry.
The average market hog should weigh
300 pounds ut eight months OF age. For
the pig two to six months old protein
is the most important feed. WHhou
protein 1t cannot build up the lean meat
! or grow to n size
Protein In found in skimmilk, clover
and alfalfa. Corn is nine-tenths carbo-
hydrates. Oats have a little more pro-
tein than corn, but not sufficient Tor the
pig. Rye contains q little more pro-
tein than does corn. Barley Is n OF
the best feeds on the farm; 1T contains
more protein than does rye. In clover
and alfalfa there Is q large oulk TOT
the required nutrients and Figs cannot
| get enough for a maximum growth.
Even IL you have corn and clover 1t Is
still necessary for the young pig to
have some protein food-cowpeas, soy
beans or Canada field peas. There is
nothing better grown on the farm to
! DalaIlCG uD the TdliOtls u. =. .' .....E..#-
Rape is a bulky feed Tor fattening
and 1t is necessary to use some nitro
! genous feed with it. IL you feed clover
! hay in racks the pigs Will not eat as
much OF It as IL 1t were chopped up as
finely as possible, scalded with steam
and mixed with slop. You q buy mid
dlirgs dow grade -FOUR; it has protein,
but not enough. Tankage, meat meal
and blood meal are very much richer
than shorts. Perhaps the most concen-
trated nitrogenous feed we have is
! tankage. 1t was found by test that so
per cent tankage contained about 40 per
cent of digestible protein. There Is
danger in feeding too much protein;
IL Is worse than feeding too little.
During the last two months OF the
! feeding period carbohydrates or fatten-
ing feeds are Of greater Importance.
we must use feeds that are digestible
like corn, wheat, flour or middlings. but
bran is practically indigestible for the
pig. Oil AXE ontains as much protein
as middlngs and ranks with meat meal,
blood meal or oil meal; the last is per-
haps better because it contains much
ether extract. .u#r Ha ~
IT is much better to mix the feeds
| than to feed corn at one time and some
thing else at another time. Otherwise
the pigs are liable to get too much
of the protein feed, lose their appetite
for corn and become stunted for their
lives. .
Professor Dietrich's experiments n he
gradually reduced the feed of two lots
of young pigs until he had away
lust half the ration n then they
were making twice the gain they did
before. Lots 5 and 6, which were fed
according to the old scientific feeding
standard, weighed go pounds at nine
months, while the two lots fed by Pro-
lessor Dietrich's method averaged 298
and 3O5 pounds, respectively. How was
this done? BY holding the pigs down
at the beginning, by feeding less pro-
tetn. The gains were not only larger
bur the gain at the close was made off
of cornIneaL, which is a cheaper feed.
II allowed to do so pigs will eat too
much protein at first and that will keep
their weight down forever afterward.
(This is a valuable result, but one
must be careful not TO misinterpret it.
The more common error Is to feed too
little protein han to- feed too much.
Professor Dtetrich's statement gives no
sanction whatever to the attempt to
raise hogs on corn and water.)
The pigs in lot l started in the expert
ment when they were 5 months old,
weighing so pounds, and were fed until
they were 8 months old, making a gain
Of 20 pounds; they had carbohydrates.
The pigs in lot 2 were fed the same as
In lot / on carbohydrates in the form
OF corn and had mineral matter in the
form of air-slaked lime, charcoal, ashes
and a few loads of dirt. They gained
40 pounds. The pigs in the remaining
lots had protein in addition to the min
eral matter. The pigs in lot 3 weighed
$40 pounds. This bunch were fed
straight corn on clover pasture and
they made a gain of two and q half
times that Of lot 2. s.
Pigs can be overfed on skimmilk. In
an experiment last year pigs which
were fed three times a day made much
larger and more economical gains than
pigs that were fed twice, butithe former
were not given all they would eat each
time.
A 2-%month-old pig will not weigh
much over 80 pounds; at 3 months, so
to so pounds. At 5 months the pig has
gained so. pounds in about three weeks.
At z months he weighs about $50 pounds
and has put on $50 pounds OF pork in
three months. 1t takes two months to
put on the next so pounds. and the pig
gains only so pounds from 8 to IL
months.
When the pig Tin a certain expert
ment) is. 3 months old 1t eats % pounds
of food per day: when Z months old
he weighs five times as much, but eats
only three times as much. Between 4
and 5 months of g the pig makes 80
pounds gain In 80 days from 100 pounds
OF feed. But after the pig Is 8 months
old 1t takes three months to put on so
pounds OF pork from $50 pounds of feed.
Which is the more economical? The
only way to figure feed is in -roportion
to the live weight.