The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1912-01-03
PIG-FEEDING EXPERIMENTS. :
BY John NJ Scott.


The feeding experiments given in
this bulletin were carried on between
| December, 1910, and August, 1911. II
would not be correct, however, to COM
pare the results obtained from a feed
| ing test carried on during the winter
with one conducted during the sum-
/ mer season.
| Experiment No. 1.
| The first experiment was begun on
| December IS. 1910, and lasted sixty
| days, closing on February II, 1911. n
| this experiment the pigs were divided
| into FIVE lots of five pigs each q
nearly equal in quality and weight "a
possible. The pigs in Lot I ware fed
velvet beans in the pod; Lot II weg@
! fed equal parts by weight OF velvet
beans in the pod and two parts -
! Japanese cane; Lot " We're fed jap
i anese cane only; Lot were fed equal
parts of velvet beans in thu pod and
| sweet potatoes. At the beginning e
| the experiment the Figs IN Lot
weighed $50 pounds; Let II weighed
| 23O pounds; lot III weighed rs
pounds: Lot ~ weighed 2t5 pounds.
and Lot Y weighed rs pounds. Dur
| ing the sixty days, Lot ] gained -
!
III lost II pounds; Lot " lost 81
pounds, and Lot V gained 1913 pounds.
| 1t will be sen from these weights
that none of the pigs made large
| gains The heaviest loss in weight was
with Lot ", which was fed Japanese
| cane only. We need not be surprised
| that the pigs did not make a gain
! during this feeding test. The analysis
| of japanese cane shows that it con-
! tains a very small amount of protein,
| only 1877 per cent. Since these PIGS
were quite small, averaging about a
pounds per head, and since protein is
| Indispensable for the development and
! growth Of young animals, 1t VIII be
| seen that Japanese cane does not sup
/ ply sufficient bone and muscle-pro-
| ducing material to make the necessary
growth. Even Lot III. which was fed
one part velvet beans and two parts
japanese cane, lost in weight during
the sixty days, but the loss was not so
great as with the Japanese cane only.
The velvet beans in this case, supplied
some protein. but apparently not suf-
ficient for the needs of the animals.
| Experiment No. 2.
| The second experiment began on
March p, 1911, and closed June 16,
l.
used in this experiment were divided
into four lots of five pigs each. The
pigs of Lot I were fed shelled corn
only; those of Lot II were fed equal
parts of shelled corn and Gull velvet
beans; Lot III were fed shelled corn,
Gull velvet beans and shorts. equal
parts of each; Lot " were fed equa!
| parts of shelled corn and Gull velvet
! beans, and all the green sorghum the
pigs would eat The feeding with
green sorghum began on May ., 1911.
The Gull velvet beans used in this eX-
pertinent were the refuse taken from
the seed velvet bans. The beans were
| first run through q bean huller to re-
move the hulls, they were then run
| through a screen of 3-S inch mesh.
The beans that passed through the
| screen were considered as culls. These
consisted of immature, shriVeled and
! broken beans. After feeding in the
morning, the feeds for the evening
meal were weighed out and put in wa
ter to soak until the night feeding, and
so on.
At the beginning of this experiment,
the pigs in Lot I weighed 291 pounds:
Lot II weighed 1865 pounds; Lot III
weighed 2T4.6 pounds; and Lot ~
| WelStlGu 4-oO.p POhAA'AI'
ninety days the pigs in Lot gained
1855 pounds; Lot II, 7S.4 pounds; Lot
III. 116 pounds, and Lot " los pounds.
Experiment No. 8.
| This was carried on with II head or
pigs. At the beginning of this expert
ment the pigs were about three months
of age. The II pigs weighed $50
pounds, the average weight being 34.7
The feeds were equal parts of shelled
corn and shorts by weight, and about
pounds of milk per day per head. to-
gether with all the green sorghum
they would eat. The experiment closed
September %, 1911, after lasting ia
DAYS, at which time the pigs weighed
1852 pounds, making total gain of l.
s72 pounds. or an average daily gain Of
nearly one pound.
Experiment No. 4.
) This began July IS, 1871. and closed
| August SO, 1911, lasting 43 days. The
10 pigs at the beginning of the expert
ment weighed $50 pounds, averaging
, 90 pounds per head. The total weight
at the close of the experiment was l.
929 pounds. making a total gain OF 539
} pounds. or an average daily gain per
| head in 43 days of nearly eight-tenths
of a pound. The feeds given were
, shelled corn and all the green sorghum
; the pigs would eat.
| rri+. What do Won think of this