Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1910-07-20
HOW TO MAKE A BALANCED
RATION FOR THE HOGS

HAllUH. lON III Neuo
In a preceding article the writer
tried to show that pork cannot be
made ~proftably in the South when
nothing but corn is used: Corn alone
was seen to be a very poor feed for
the animal; 1t makes very slow gains
and very high priced ones. When
corn alone is fed it is seldom that
more than one-half a pound daily gaiu
can be secured. When some other
feed is used along with the corn it is
no trouble to secure n pound daily
gain and more.
Well, If corn cannot be used at a
profit when used alone, what is the
farmer to do? Must he stop trying
to make pork and buy 1t at from
fourteen to twenty-five cents a
pound? No, he will not have to stop
making it. The only thing he will
have to do will be to use something
along with the corn. Corn alone is
about as poor a feed as can be found
for a hog; but corr used in combina-
ton with other feeds is about the
best feed that exists. One thing the
farmer can do is to use other concen-
trated feeds; the-South has an
abundance of them. The only thing
against them from the farmers
standpoint of view when he comes to
feeding hogs, is that they are all
high-priced. Notwithstanding the
fact that they are all high-priced,
almost any Of them can be used along
with corn and cheaper the ration
very materially.
A few years ago cowpeas were
cheap aud many farmers began to
use them literally as q feed for hogs.
But recently they have advanced in
price and, If they are to be used at all
now, they must be used as all high
1 priced feeds are used-with care and
intelligence. When they are valued
at $50 a bushel they cannot make
up one-half of,the total ration.
Some of the stations have had ex-
perience in feeding soy bean meal to
hogs. 1t has proven to be more val
liable than the cowpeas, not so much
probably because of being actually a
better feed than the cowpeas, as to
the fact that the soy bean meal has
been used in smaller amounts than
the cowpeas. The soy beans are a
richer feed than the cowpeas, SO the
feeders have not tried to use them
in large amounts. In a test at Kan
sas, where corn alone was compared
to a ration made up Of two-thirds
corn plus one-third SOL bean meal,
the soy beans proved to be worth
S1.44 o bushel. In Indiana, where
the same kind of a test was made, the
soy beans returned a value of S2.54 a
bushel, or, 1t cost $3.50 to make one
hundred pounds of pork when corn
alone was used, and but s5.18 to
make the same pork when one-third
of the ration was composed Of soy
bean meal.
In some sections Of the South rice
I by-products can be used either to
take the place of corn or to go along
with il. Where rice polish has been
compared directly with corn 1t has
proven Il be superior toethe corn
pound for4pound. tits cheaper than
corn, pound or pound, too: InAlaf
sbamss wheret the two were compared,
4a4ponEds Of corn were required to
make hundred pounds of meat,
while but 3TS pounds Of the rice
polish were required to make the.
same gaiEs. In South Carolina the
rice polish and corr were compared
when skim milk was fed along with
each one. TIE rice meal proved to
be superior to the corn. as but 248
pounds of the rice meal and 991
pounds skim milk were required to
make one hundred pounds gain, while
257 pounds of corn, and 1923 pounds
of skim milk were used to make the
same number of pounds of. pork. At
Massachusetts, the corn ard the rice
meal proved 20 be practically equal
in feeding value.
Alabama Station has tried rice
bran, but it's not a good feed for
hogs. It is too bulky and not pal
-atable.
sEhe packing house by-products
have not generally been introduced
to the South. But there is at least
one of the products that should be
used here, and that is tankage. AS
a result OF its use along with corn,
pork will be made cheaper and the
value of the corn will be increased.
It can be laid down in the South al
most anywhere for not more than $40
q ton. It is a very rich feed and
should be used in very small amounts.
It should not make up more than one
tenth Of the whole days feed. But
when that small amount is used the
gains are made very much cheaper
than when corn is used alone. In
some experiments at the Alabama
station So were saved on every 100
pounds of pork made by the introduce
ton of a little tankage in the feed.
The tankage balances up the corn,
and renders the feed exceedingly pal
atable. The writer has used this feed
for several years, and the longer he
uses it the more he thinks of it.
From the tests that have been pre-
scented it is seen that money Is almost