Purdue University	Mimeo. A. H.-152
Agricultural Experiment Station	September 16, 1955
Lafayette, Indiana
SELF-FEEDING RATIONS CONTAINING GROUND CORN COES FOR BRED GILTS
Jo H. Conrad and W. M. Beeson Department of Animal Husbandry
Swine growers are interested in self-feeding bred sows and gilts if a cheap, bulky feed can be used which will limit the energy intake and prevent self-fed animals from becoming too fat. In the past a ration of 30$ ground corn, 30$ ground oats, 30$ ground alfalfa and 10$ protein supplement has proven to be a good ration for self-feeding. However, this ration is sometimes expensive when alfalfa meal is used, and it also contains a high percentage of oats which is not available in this large a quantity on many Midwestern farms.
Ear corn contains 20$ of cobs by weight and extra cobs are readily available and cheap where large quantities of corn are grown. Therefore, it would seem that cobs are bulky and fibrous enough to regulate the energy intake, and a self-fed ration composed primarily of ground corn and cobs would result in a cheap self-fed ration.
Purpose
The purpose of this experiment was:
1.	To test the advisability of self-feeding a gestation ration containing 35$ ground corn cobs.
2.	To study various nutrients which are known to influence reproductive performance in swine.
Experimental Plan
Duroc gilts that had been confined to drylot since they weighed 70 pounds were used in this experiment. All gilts were hand-fed the following growing ration until they weighed 240 pounds.
Experimental Rations
Four weeks before the 56 gilts were bred, they were allotted equally into 4 lots of 14 gilts each, on the basis of liveweight and litter. Devils of the basal ration fed are given in Table 1. The gestation treat-nents were as follows:
Lot 1. Basal Ration
Lot 2. Basal / 10 micrograms of vitamin B-j^ per pound
Lot 3. Basal / B19 / 0.5 milligram of riboflavin and 2.0 milligrams of pantothenic* acid per pound
Lot 4. Basal / B^2 / riboflavin and pantothenic acid as in Lot 3 t 2% condensed fish solubles