The Effect of Place of Feeding Ear Corn to Hogs on their Consumption of Supplemental Minerals

Abstract

The common custom of feeding ear corn to hogs in lots which are often muddy and of dumping feed along the edge of ponds, has raised the question of the economy of such practice. Also, whether the mineral requirments would be greater under the above conditions than with cleaner feeding places. To determine what effect place of feeding has on the economy of gain and on the requirement for minerals, a test was conducted in the fall of 1928 and repeated with an additional lot in the summer of 1929. The first trial included three lots of 10 hogs each. In Lot 1 ear corn was fed on a wooden platform which had board-tight sides 32 inches high with a two-foot opening at one corner. In Lot 2 the ear corn was fed in a self-feeder constructed for this purpose and in Lot 3 the ears were thrown into an artificial mud hole which was unshaded.