Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1908-07-24
PIGS NEED
Professor VIM. Dietrich Tells Wha'
Feeds Are Best for Growing
C,Atna

Professor VIM. Dietrich Tells What
Feeds Are Best for Growing
Swine.
In an address before the Illinois farm
ers' institute Professor William Diet
rich. of the Illinois college or asrlcui-
ture. gave some very practical iessoiIS
in mig feeding. Professor Dietrich ue-
votes his whole time to the study ana
teaching OF swine husbandry.
The average market hog shouid weigh
300 pounds at eight months of age. for
the MIC two TO six months old protein
IS the most important feed. without
protein it cannot build up the lean meat
or grow to any size.
Protein is found in skimmtlk, clover
and alfalfa. Corn is nine-tentns caFpo-
hydrates. Oats have a little more pro-
TEN than corn, but not sufflclent ior the
pig. Rye contains a little more pros
tein thar does corn. Barley is one OF
| the best feeds on the farm; II contains
| more protein than does rye. In clover
! and alfalfa there is a large ulk Tor
the required nutrients ana pigs cannot
get enough for a maximum grown
Even II you lave corn n clover 1T 10
still necessary for the young pig 10
have some protein food-coWpeas, soy
beans or Canada field peas. There Is
nothing better grown on the larin 70
balance up the ration.
Rape is a bulky feed for fattenlng
and il Is necessary to use some nltro-
cenous feed with il. II you iced clover
hay in racks the pigs Will not eat as
much of it as If it were chopped up as
finely as possible, scalded with steam
and mixed with slop. You can buy mid
dlings dow grade -FOUR; it mas protein,
hut not enough. Tankage, meat meal
and blood meal are very much richer
than shorts. Perhaps the most concen-
trated nitrogenouS feed we nave is
ankag 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 or the
feeding period carbohydrates or fatten-
ing feeds are of greater Importance.
We must use feeds that are digest1ble
like corn. wheat, flour or middlings, but
bran Is practically indigesttble for the
pig. Oil cake contains as much protein
as middlings and ranks with meat meal.
blood meal or oil meal; the last Is per-
haps better because 1t contains much
ether extract.
It ia 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.
Nine lots of pigs were fed in one of
Professor Dietrich's experiments INK he
gradually reduced the feed of two lots
of young pigs until he had taken away
lust half the ration and then they
were making twice the gain they did
before. Lots 5 and 8, which were fed
according TO the old scientific feeding
standard, weighed 270 pounds at nine
months, while the two lots fed by Pro-
lessor Dietrich's method averaged 29S
and 305 pounds, respectively. How vas
this done? By holding the pigs down
at the beginning, by feeding less pro-
tein. The gains were not only larger
but the gain at the close was made off
of cornmeal, which is a cheaper feed.
If 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, out one
must be careful not to misinterpret it.
The more common error is to feed too
little protein than to feed too much.
Professor Dietrich'S statement gives no
sanction whatever to the attempt to
raise hogs on corn and water.)
The pigs in lot / started in the expert
ment when they were ) 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 . were fed the same as
in lot 1 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
20 pounds. The pigs in the remaining
lots had protein in addition to the min
eral matter. The pigs in lot 8 weighed
240 pounds. This bunch We're fed
straight corn on clover pasture and
they made a gain of two m a half
times hat of lot 2.
Pigs can be oyerfed 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, but the 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 50 pounds in about three weeks.
At : months he weighs about $50 pounds
and has put on 100 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 9 to IL
months.
When the pig I'm a certain expert
ment) is 3 months old IL 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 s months of age, the pig makes so
pounds gain in 80 days from 120 pounds
1 of feed. But after the pig is 9 months
old il 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.