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5. 10 pounds clover hay, 8 pounds oats, 6 pounds corn, 2 pounds wheat bran.

6. 10 pounds alfalfa hay, 12 pounds barley. 7. 30 pounds alfalfa hay.

8. 8 pounds mixed hay, 6 pounds cornstalks, 6 pounds corn, 6 pounds wheat bran.

9. 10 pounds hay, 8 pounds oats, 4 pounds dried brewers' grains. 10. 10 pounds hay, 5 pounds corn, 5 pounds barley.

Feeding Mules.—“The work animal on the southern farm is the mule (Fig. 70). He it is that bears the brunt of the work of

. cultivating the growing crop, harvests it when mature, and hauls it

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to market. In the South the horses on the farm remain in field or stable until all the mules are harnessed, and are only called into use when the labor to be done is more than the mules can accomplish.

“The mule is the draft animal for the lumberman, the cotton and sugar planter, the contractor, and the miner.

“ The horse may be honored for his procreative ability; he may be kept on the best in the land because of his beauty and style, but the mule is fed that he may labor."22

It is commonly stated that mules make more economical use of the feed they eat than horses, and that their cost of keep is, therefore, smaller. Careful investigations have failed to show, however, that there is a sound basis for this claim. After a long experience with thousands of army mules, Riley maintains 23 that a mule requires just as much feed as a horse of similar dimensions ; in fact, at hard work, he says that the mule will eat more than a horse will or ever can. In general, an animal that eats little is a poor animal, regardless of its class or kind. The mule will manage to get along on poor feed given at irregular intervals, but this neglect is manifested by its condition and efficiency (Burkett).

A number of stations have conducted experiments with the two classes of animals which furnish data for a study of this question. The following summary figures were obtained at the Missouri and Ohio stations, the animals being fed oats and hay in one series of experiments, and corn and hay in another series, and the hay being figured at $10 a ton, oats at 40 cents a bushel, and shelled corn 50 cents a bushel.

Average

yearly cost

Average daily work Average for mules

4 hours 42 minutes. $58.11 Average for horses

4 hours 3412 minutes 58.01 Summarizing all available data on this point, the Breeders' Gazette 24 arrived at the average cost of feed for all the horses per 1000 pounds as $75.66 per year, and for the mules, $76.76. “ These figures indicate that the mule has no constitutional advantage over the horse in cheapness of maintenance. In fact, the horse has a slight lead in the data presented, but the difference is so small as to be negligible. In actual practice it is probable that the mule is maintained a little more cheaply than the horse, because oats are fed to horses more commonly than to mules. The practice of feeding oats to work horses, however, is largely a whim of the feeder, since numerous tests have shown that corn may be entirely substituted with satisfactory results. The difference between the two is thus largely a matter of custom, so far as light is shed on the problem by the tests mentioned.”

of feed

22 Kentucky Bulletin 176.
23 Burkett, “ Feeding Farm Animals," p. 170.

* Sept. 10, 1914, p. 390; Miss. Bul. 176; Carver, Principles Rural Econ., p. 262.

Mules may be fed the same feeds and similar amounts of these as horses, and what has been said in the preceding about feeding this class of animals applies, in general, also to mules.

QUESTIONS 1. State the general laws governing the use of feed by horses. 2. Give a common ration for horses in your locality, and show in how far it

approaches the Wolff-Lehmann and the Armsby standards. 3. How is the work done by horses measured ? 4. State the main principles of feeding (a) foal, (b) the mare, (c) work

horses. 5. When are horses preferably watered, and how many times fed daily! 6. Should horses receive all the hay they will eat? Why? 7. Discuss the value of different rough feeds for work horses, and the

necessary precautions in feeding same. 8. State briefly the value of silage and of roots for horses. 9. Give the main concentrates fed horses, and state briefly their relative

values. 10. Give the system of feeding farm horses during winter, when idle or

doing light work. 11. How are horses fattened for market ? 12. Which makes the more economical use of feed eaten, the horse or the

mule? 13. Is a small consumption of feed a desirable point in farm animals ?

References: Gay, " Productive Horse Husbandry,” Philadelphia, 1914. Farmers' Bul. 1030, “ Feeding Horses." 170, “ Principles of Horse Feeding.” 803, “Horse-breeding Suggestions for Farmers.” 619 and 952, Breeds of Horses." 667, “ Colts; Breaking and Training." 179, Horseshoeing."

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CHAPTER XXV

FEEDING SWINE

Feeding Standards for Swine.—Standards for feeding swine have been established by Wolff-Lehmann as given in the following table:

The Wolff-Lehmann Standards for Swine, per 1000 Pounds Live Weight

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Feed Requirements of Swine.- Next to the dairy cow, the hog is the most economical producer of human food materials among our farm animals, and it stands close to the cow in this respect. Jordan has shown that 100 pounds digestible organic nutrients in the ration produce the following amount of edible solids in the form of the various animal products: Milk

18 pounds Pork

15.6 pounds Veal

8.1 pounds Poultry or eggs

3.5 pounds to 5.1 pounds

2.75 pounds Mutton...

2.60 pounds: While these are only average figures, and may not hold true in individual cases, they show that the hog has a wonderful capacity

1“ The Feeding of Animals,” p. 423.

Beef ...

for converting feeding stuffs into human food, and he often does it under very adverse conditions as regards care and attention, and without being particular as to either the character of the feed or the quarters he occupies. No farm animal appreciates good feed and comfortable quarters, however, or responds more readily to good treatment, than do swine, but none are more abused in these respects. The pig is an omnivorous eater and can fatten on feed that other stock will not touch, but the best results in feeding pigs, as in the case of other farm animals, are secured when they receive good, wholesome feed and are given careful attention. Under these conditions, swine raising is especially profitable, and while it requires a smaller investment in animals and equipment, it will, as a rule, yield quicker and relatively larger results than any other branch of animal husbandry.

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Swine are remarkable producers of fat (Fig. 71). The composition of the increase in body weight in the case of fattening swine, as determined by Lawes and Gilbert, is as follows: Protein, 1.4 per cent; fat, 71.5 per cent; mineral matter, 0.1 per cent; water, 22.0 per cent, showing that the fattening process in the case of these animals, still more than with other fattening stock, consists largely of an accumulation of body fat (p. 20 and 257).

Birth Weight and Gains Made by Pigs.—Pigs, when farrowed, will weigh from about one and a half to three pounds each; two and a half pounds may be considered an average weight for our common, medium-sized breeds. The number of pigs in a litter will average about nine. Young pigs ordinarily gain more for every week as they grow older, but there is a gradual decrease in the rate of gain to body weight. The largest returns for the amount of feed

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