Experiments in swine feeding. The value of corn and supplementary feeds for pork production.

Abstract

<p>Corn must necessarily be more freely used than any other concentrated feed for pigs in the Corn Belt, because if properly used it is especially well adapted to pig feeding and can usually be marketed in this way to the very best advantage. But it is generally coming to be recognized that so far as health, thrift and rapidity of gains are concerned, corn alone, at least in dry lot feeding, does not give as satisfactory results, especially for growing pigs, as a combination of corn and some feed adding protein to the ration. Wheat shorts is very commonly considered as the best feed to use with corn for young pigs, but other feeds are. upon the market which contain still larger quantities of protein and their merits for pig feeding deserve investigation. If a small reduction in the cost of feeding each- hog in Iowa can be effected by the judicious uses of these feeds, the aggregate for the state will be enormous. Iowa has 7,947,000 hogs, which, with the exception of Illinois with her 4,684,000, is more than twice as many as any other state and about one-sixth the total number in the United States. During the past season Iowa raised more corn than any other state, the crop being about 388,000,000 bushels. With feeds at the usual prices, it is an easy matter by their judicious selection to so supplement com as to add five to fifteen cents per bushel to the profit from feeding corn, thus effecting a reduction of 50 cents to $1.00 on each 100 lbs. gain in weight by the pigs. In the aggregate, if these modest profits are realized they will amount to millions of dollars to Iowa farmers.</p>