Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 38, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 December 1905 — Too Much Corn For Swine. [ARTICLE]

Too Much Corn For Swine.

Every winter or rather at the end of every winter we hear tales of rheumatism in swine. Intense indigestion, bowel trouble and all sorts of diseases for which no cause can be found, yet in the majority of cases it is plainly too much corn. It is, of course, quite natural to feed heavily of corn, because It is the cheapest thing we have to feed swine, but what profit is there in it when It is overdone? We had some fine half-grown pigs who had several attacks of severe indigestion, and we cut out the corn for a week. In its place we fed bran, mixed w-lth chopped vegetables, and fed warm; this was given morning and night, and at noon the animals were given a lot of second-grade hay and a few sweet potatoes. Not a full ration by any means, and the pigs fell off In w-eight, but at the end of the week the trouble was gone and they would eat anything offered them. From then on the corn ration was cut down so that it was about one-half a full ration, and we used more bran, skim milk, root crops and roughage, and we cannot sec but what the animals are all that any ration would have made them, and they are certainly in excellent condition to be corn-fattened when the time comes.

Food For Fattening; PlK*. When they reach a weight of about one hundred pounds the amount of exercise allowed should be curtailed, and the food then given should consist of boiled potatoes, well broken and mixed, when hot, with a quantity of raw Indian meal. After the pigs have eaten as much as they appear to require, a small quantity of buttermilk, sklmmllk, or kitchen refuse, if available, may be added to Induce them to clean up all the food given. The quantity of food which a pig should receive is just what the animal will eat up clean. Turnips and mangels are sometimes given, but potatoes are to be preferred. Pigs being fattened should be fed three times a day. This is a point which may be regarded as very simple, yet it is one of grett ‘importance. It is most essential that pigs should be fed regularly, and whether the food Is given twice or three times a day, it should be given invariably at the same hours. The food ought to be brought to a temperature of ninety degrees by direct heating or by the aid of hot water, for when this Is done much of the heat-giving matter of the food is saved for the production of fat The amount of food required to produce a certain Increase tn weight at different ages varies. Carefully conducted experiments have clearly proved that as the weight of the pig increases the amount of food required to produce a given increase become* larger.