SUPPLEMENTARY PLANE OF NUTRITION FOR SOWS FED CORN SILAGE

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Abstract
During the 1930’s Iowa swine producers reported feeding a limited amount of corn silage to pregnant sows. Terrill et al. 1953 reported that grass-legume silage preserved with sodium bisulfite was not palatable, but that grass legume silage preserved with ground shelled corn was platable and produced satisfactory farrowing results when adequately supplemented. Conrad and Beeson (1954) fed grass-legume or corn silage to sows during gestation and reported that either silage, when adequately supplemented with protein, vitamins and minerals, produced satisfactory farrowing results. Later work by Conrad and Beeson (1955) showed that sows fed corn silage during gestation farrowed 1.4 to 2.1 more pigs per litter than sows on the basal ration. Johnson (1956) observed that a daily ration of 12 lb. of corn silage and 2 lb. of a 35% protein supplement did not provide adequate energy to maintain body weight in pregnant sows and gilts; however, supplementing corn silage with 3 or 3.5 lb. daily of a 20% protein corn silage balancer produced an average daily gain during gestation of 0.8 lb. per day and satisfactory farrowing results. Mitchell et al. 1931 demonstrated that the food demands of the pregnant sow, so far as the products of embryonic growth and other products of conception are concerned, are largely protein and mineral matter. They also observed that the extra food demands for fetal growth are confined largely to the last half, or even last third, of the gestation period. This experiment was designed to study the effect of different planes