(d) Garbage from the kitchen is usually valuable for hogs. The value depends largely upon the amount and kind of solid material which it contains. Where it is thin enough to pour readily from the bucket, but not watery, it may be fed in about the same proportion with corn as was recommended for milk.
(e) To furnish minerals as recommended for the sow, keep the following before the pigs at all times:
| Slack coal or coal screenings | 2 parts | by weight |
| Air-slacked lime | 1 part | by weight |
| Salt | 1 part | by weight |
(f) A good pasture is always an excellent supplement to any ration and lessens the amount of other feeds required. Pasture-fed pigs are thriftier and make cheaper gains than those fed in dry lots. In general feed from 3 to 5 pounds of concentrates,[2] such as corn, other grains, meals, tankage, etc., per 100 pounds live weight, according to age. For pigs in a dry lot at weaning time (weighing about 40 pounds) feed 5 pounds concentrates per 100 pounds live weight, or 4 pounds concentrates per day per 100 pounds live weight in access to forage or pasture. No two herds of hogs feed just alike; therefore it is the problem of the feeder to study the needs of his hogs and try to supply them. Regularity in time of feeding, dry, comfortable quarters, and sanitary conditions in pen and lot are necessary to secure satisfactory gains.
3. Housing the pigs. Perhaps the main reason for housing the pigs is to furnish a dry bed, and since hogs do not shed their hair for warmer coats or thicken it up as horses do, provision should be made to shelter the hogs from the cold of winter as well as from the extreme heat of summer. Reference has already been made to the house for the sow and her litter of pigs. It is not necessary to have expensive buildings, especially in the beginning. Even a pen covered with boards and fresh straw may meet all the requirements.
For the pig club boys and girls starting in to raise two litters in a year, a good, cheap and easily constructed pen is described as follows in Lippincott’s “Productive Swine Husbandry”;
“The pen is sixteen feet long and eight feet wide. It is seven feet high in front and three and one-half feet high at the rear. It is boarded with cheap lumber, but all cracks are securely battened. It should be practically wind and rain proof. The opening should be a small door in the southeast corner, as the house faces the south. Plenty of bedding should be supplied, and the pen should be banked up outside with fresh horse manure to a depth of about two feet in order to prevent drafts about the floor.”
4. Records. During the winter months do not fail to make all records and keep all accounts of operations, work, expenses, results, etc., that are called for on the record pages of this book.
5. Reference reading and study. Read your texts, the farm papers, and any reference books available on the problems of feeding, housing, care and management of growing pigs. Consult experienced swine breeders and feeders and learn all you can from them that will help you to succeed with your pigs.