The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1912-01-19


The feeding experiments given in
this bulletin were carried on between
December, 1910, and August, 1911 1t
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.
The first experiment was begun on
December Is, 1910, and lasted sixty
days. closing on February II, 1911. In
this experiment the pigs were divided
into five lots of five pigs each, as
nearly equal in quality and weight as
possible. The pigs in Lot were fed
velvet beans in the pod; Lot II were
fed equal parts by weight of velvet
beans in the pod and green Japanese
cane; Lot III were fed one part of vel
vet beans in the pod and two parts of
anese cane only; Lot V were fed
equal parts of velvet beans in the pod
and sweet potatoes. At the beginning
of the experiment the pigs in Lot I
weighed 230 pounds; Lot III weighed
230 pounds; Lot III weighed 235
pounds; Lot " weighed 215 pounds;
Lot v weighed 215 pounds. During
the sixty days, Lot I gained %
pounds; Lot II gained 43 pounds; Lot
III lost IT pounds! Lot w lost 81
pounds Lot v gained 1913 pounds.
1t will be seen from these weights
that none of the pigs made large
gains. The heaviest loss in weight
was with Lot w, which was fed JAP
anese 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 contains very small amount of
protein, only 1877 per cent Since
these pigs were quite small, averag-
ing about As pounds per head, and
since protein is indispensable for the
development and growth of young au-
imals, it will be seen that Japanese
cane does not supply sufficient bone
and muscle-producing 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 pro-
TEN, but apparently not sufficient for
the needs of the animals.
Experiment No. 2
The second experiment began on
March 21, 1911, and closed June 16,
1911, lasting ninety days The pigs
used in this experiment were divided
into four lots of five pigs each. The
pigs of Lot l were fed shelled corn
only; those, of Lot II were fed equal
parts of shelled corn and Gull velvet
beans; Lot II were fed shelled corn,
Gull velvet beans and shorts, equal
parts of each; Lot w were fed equal
parts of shelled corn and Gull velvet
beans, and all of the green sorghum
the pigs would eat The feeding with
green sorghum began on May 8, 1911.
The Gull velvet beans used in this ex-
pertinent were the refuse taken from
the seed velvet beans. These consist
ed of immature, shrivelled and broken
beans. After feeding in the morning,
the feeds for the evening meal were
weighed out and put in water to soak
until the night feeding, and so on.
At the beginning of this experiment
the pigs in Lot I weighed POI pounds;
Lot II weighed 1865 pounds; Lot III
weighed 274.6 pounds and Lot w
weighed 1855 pounds. During the
ninety days the pigs in Lot 1 gained
1855 pounds; Lot II, 1874 pounds; Lot
III, 116 pounds; Lot ", 10S pounds.