FIG. 84. Interior arrangement of hog-houses at Illinois Station. Sanitary and practical. Note feeding troughs can be filled from the outside without entering the pens.

а

not apparently gain further in weight. They are then taken out and finished on a ration of corn and tankage, cotton-seed meal, peas, shorts, or gluten feed, in the proportion of seven parts of corn to one of tankage, or of three parts of corn to two parts of either of the other feeds. The fattening period ordinarily lasts about sixty days, at the end of which time the hogs will generally weigh about 200 pounds.

In other sections of the country hogs are either fattened on different kinds of pasture and fed grain in addition, or are fed in a dry lot until ready for the market. The latter 'method is less satisfactory for summer and fall feeding than pasturage, as it increases the cost of production, the hogs are less thrifty, and a larger amount of grain is required per 100 pounds gain. It is essential to furnish some green feed, as clover, alfalf and corn. The kind of grain fed with it will vary according to the character of the available green feed; with leguminous crops the grain may consist of corn or barley, preferably soaked or ground, with a little tankage. If green corn, rape, or sorghum forage is fed, more nitrogenous feed mixtures must be supplied ; skim milk and tankage are the best supplementary feeds with the cereals and mill feeds. Cotton-seed meal is fed considerably in the South to fattening hogs with corn or other grain, but fatal results often follow on account of the poisonous principles found therein (p. 200). If the animals are to be fed not more than twenty-one days in the finishing period after pasturage or running with steers, one-third of the total grain ration may be made up of cotton-seed meal; if it is likely to extend beyond twenty-one days, the proportion of cotton-seed meal must be reduced to one-fifth or one-sixth of the whole ration and the finishing period be limited to five weeks in all.19

The Use of Self-feeder.—The self-feeder (Figs. 85 and 86) has been used more and more during late years in feeding fattening swine, for feeding either grain feeds, or grain and cut hay, or salt, charcoal, etc., and has given similar results, as in the case of steers (p. 268).20 The self-feeder or “free-choice” system has proved of

“” special value for fattening swine, when rapid gains are wanted. It saves considerable labor and insures a maximum consumption of feed and correspondingly large gains in body weight. It should not be used where it is intended to feed only a limited amount of grain, to pigs on pasture, or to pregnant sows or breeding stock,

19 Farmers' Bulletin 411.

Maryland Bul. 150; Ore. Bul. 127; Wis. Cir. 119; Ills. Cir. 218; Maine Ext. Bul. 117; Mo. Bul. 144; N. J. Rept. 36, p. 85; Farmers' Bul. 906; Wisconsin Agriculturist, Sept. 17, 1914.

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unless considerable ground or fine-cut alfalfa or other bulky feed is mixed with the grain.

A mixture of shelled corn, wheat middlings, and tankage placed in a self-feeder, or preferably in separate self-feeders, will produce excellent results with growing or fattening pigs fed either in a dry-lot or on pasture. If left a free choice the pigs will eat a smaller proportion of tankage as the feeding period progresses, the ration thus gradually changing to a wide nutritive ratio with the increasing age of the animals, as is provided for in the feeding. standards for growing or fattening swine (p. 294).20a

A patented "hog motor grinder," by which the pigs grind their own corn as wanted, is a special form of self-feeder. In two trials at the Maryland station 21 it produced good results, but not quite as economical grains as hopper feeding.

According to the forage conditions in different parts of the

FIG. 85-The self-feeder saves labor in feeding pigs and other farm animals. The large self-feeder is used for different grain feeds, and the small one for feeding charcoal, ashes, and lime.

country, great variations in the methods of feeding fattening hogs, as well as swine in general, are possible. The preceding suggestions will, however, indicate in general the plan of feeding that will be likely to give best results in special cases.

Summer vs. Winter Feeding.-By far the greater proportion of the pigs in this country are fitted for the market in the summer and early fall, and depend on the summer pasturage, supplemented by grain, for cheap and rapid gains. Hogs fattened during winter, as a rule, require somewhat more feed for making a certain gain in weight than during the summer, at least in the North. No exact information in regard to this point is available for this coun

20a Proc. Amer. Soc. Animal Prod., 1914 and 1916; Corn-Belt Meat Producers' Asso., Report, 1914; Proc. Iowa Acad. of Sc., 1915, Breeders' Gaz., 1915, p. 156.

21 Bulletin 150; Day, "Productive Swine Husbandry," p. 208.

try, but records obtained in Danish pig-feeding trials with about 2500 summer- and winter-fed pigs have a direct bearing on this question. The following summary table 22 shows the amount of feed eaten, reduced to a grain equivalent according to the feed-unit system, and the feed requirements for 100 pounds gain in weight and for each of three groups of pigs—35 to 75 pounds, 75 to 115 pounds, and 115 to 155 pounds—with averages :

Feed Required to Fatten Pigs in Winter and in Summer

a

While the pigs ate practically the same amounts of feed in summer and winter, it required 400 pounds to make 100 pounds of gain in summer, against 444 pounds in winter, an increase of 11 per cent. The larger feed requirements in winter are explained by the fact that more body heat is lost by radiation on account of the lower air temperature. The same result was obtained in comparing the feed required by pigs weighing about 70 pounds each, kept in a wellbuilt piggery and in individual hog-houses (Fig. 83), at the Ottawa station.23 The trial was conducted during 60 days in winter time. In the open winter quarters the pigs ate 526 pounds grain per 100 pounds gain, against 366 pounds for those in the piggery, a difference of 44 per cent in favor of the latter quarters. Brood sows in similar colony houses required only 25 per cent more, a figure which corresponds closely to that obtained in trials at the Kansas Agricultural College 24 (Fig. 8+).

Feeding for Bacon Production.--Bacon hogs are kept only to a relatively small extent in the United States, but the raising of such hogs and the production of a high quality of bacon are important special industries in Canada and northern Europe, especially in Ireland and Denmark. The bacon found on the market in this country is largely the sides of lard hogs and has an inferior grade of meat. The special breeds of bacon hogs are best adapted to the production of good bacon, having a larger body and legs, less

Copenhagen Station Report 30, 1895; Exp. Sta. Record 7, p. 246. * Report, 1904. ** Report Prof. Agr., 1883.

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thickness and depth of body, and being lighter in shoulder, neck and jowl. There is less accumulation of fat and more lean and firm meat than on the lard hog. While the latter hog is essentially a product of corn, the bacon hog is produced where dairy products, small grains, and leguminous feeds are readily available; hence we find some hogs of this type in eastern and northern States where favorable feeding conditions exist for bacon production, and there is apparently an increasing home demand for all bacon that is

Fig. 86.- A convenient self-feeder for supplying charcoal and mineral matter to pigs on

pasture. (Breeders' Gazette.) produced in this country. Bacon hogs are marketed at about 200 pounds live weight; they should be only moderately fat, and a firm quality of fat is essential in a first-grade article. Soft bacon is a serious defect and is produced by a variety of causes. These have been summarized as follows by Day:25

“1. Lack of Maturity.—Generally speaking, the more immature a hog is, the greater the tendency to be soft. Almost invariably the largest percentage of softness occurs among the light sides of bacon.

" 2. Lack of Finish.—Thin hogs have a marked tendency to produce soft bacon. Marketing hogs before they are finished is, no doubt, responsible for a great deal of softness.

“ 3. Unthriftiness in hogs, no matter what the cause may be, almost invariably produces soft bacon.

“4. Lack of exercise has a tendency to produce softness, but this tendency can be largely overcome by judicious feeding.

* 5. Exclusive meal feeding is perhaps one of the most common causes of softness, especially when hogs are not given exercise. Some kinds of meal are more injurious than others, but wherever exclusive meal feeding is practised and the exercise is limited, more or less softness is always sure to result.

“6. Corn.—Of the grains in common use, corn has the greatest tendency to produce softness. Its injurious tendency can be modified by mixing it largely with other meal or by feeding skim milk, green feed, and roots, but its tendency to produce softness is so strong that it must be regarded as an undesirable food for bacon hogs.

25 « Productive Swine Husbandry,” p.134.