Durant weekly news. (Durant, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 190?-1944, 1914-10-09
Fnttening Rations for Hogs.


than usual in the Southwest, but this
is no excuse for wasting feed in fat
tening the porkers. Since feed. es-
pecially grain, such. for instance. as
corn, oats, wheat barley, Kafir, milo
and feterita, is marketable this year
at good prices, and since cotton is not
bringing its value at present because
of disturbed manufacturing and COM
merce, II may be advisable to sell
some of the feed crops and hold the
cotton. II this is desirable, care
should be taken to conserve the grain
in fattening the hogs.
Much will be saved If the swine are
in good flesh at the beginning of the
fattening period. 1T will take less
feed and better gains will be made if
the hogs can be pastured until they
are in good flesh before they are put
up and given the heavy grain ration.
This has been demonstrated so often
by feeders that It is not necessary to
argue the question.
The entire farm should be fenced
with hog-proof wire because the man
ager will desire to change the crops
in the rotation and Craze some of
these crops with swine. The pea
field, the oat field or the corn field
generally will furnish considerable
grazing. If peas were planted in
the corn at laying-by time the corn
field will afford excellent grazing
with the ears left in the field, per-
lhaps enough to fit the porkers for the
fattening ration.
For the finishing it is advisable
generally to put the hogs in clean
dry pen where they may have shelter
II is not necessary to let the animals
run in pasture during the finish
ing period. as they fatten faster when
confined in close pens. They will
need plenty OF water and clean.
wholesome surroundings.
On the basis of 1000 pounds live
weight the hog uses about 275 pounds
of dry food. the sheep 100, the steer
1875 per week. The hog will digest
about 230 pounds, the sheep 100 and
the steer but SS pounds. To secure
Il 100 pounds of increase. as a rule, it
requires 1000 pounds of dry feed for
the steer, $40 pounds for the sheep
and 420 pounds for the hog. From
this comparison it will be seen that
while the hog eats more heartily it
consumes more feed and produces
more gain from the feed than either
But we must remember that there
is economy in feeding hogs up to a
certain weight For instance, a pig
of the proper age and weighing 100
will require less than 500 pounds of
, feed to produce 100 pounds of in
crease, whereas hog Weighing 500
} pounds will require on the average
I 500 pounds of feed to- produce 100
pounds of gain The best range OF
economical feeding is between s175
and $50 pounds, depending of course
upon the price of hogs and the value
of feed.
One thing we should remember,
that is corn, Kafir. barley, milo
feterita and other grains do not af-
ford balanced ration. Corn alone
does not supply an economical fatten-
ing ration because 1t does not contain
enough protein. Even when the fat
tening period is short protein sup
plement such as tankage, cottonseed
meal, wheat shorts, rice polish. meat
meal. etc, should be given. One part
tankage to s or 10 parts corn, Kafir,
milo and feterita makes good ra-
tion. If cottonseed meal is used as
a supplement to the fattening ration
one part cottonseed meal mixed with
bran or shorts to about five or six
parts OF grain may be fed. After
/ about so days of successive feeding
coottonseed meal. change the ration
for awhile or reduce the cottonseed
meal Tor aWnlle.
: For good bocan 1t is highly desir-
able that the hogs be pastured pre-
: vious to fattening so that the animals
/ will be well developed. The legumes
! such as alfalfa, clover, peas, soy bean
} and peanuts are very fine grazing
| crops because they are rich in protein
[ which constituent must be available
5 to produce lean meat, Then when
: the hogs are being fattened for the
1 block they should have a sufficient
: quantity of such feeds as tankage
d cottonseed meal, shorts. rice polish
4 peanuts, etc.
d Care should be taken to feed all
e the animals will eat clean without
s leaving the feed. They should hav,
n just enough and no more. By using
/ care in feeding one can soon deter