Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1860-11-25
HOW 70 Fatten Hogs.


cold weather sets in. The pigs run in the woods,
the road or the pasture, picking up scanty living,
and come to the pens lean and hungry, when they
ought to be fattened. In our practice, we keep pigs
in the sly the year round. We ind them quite too
valuable cO-labOrers in the manufacture of manure
TO allow them to waste their sweetness upon the
desert air. A pig is worth $40 year for this
purpose alone, if you will give him the material to
work with and plenty of food. But possibly it may
paw for little time in the summer to keep the sow
and pigs in a good clover pasture, where grass is
more plenty than corn upon the farm. If this be
done all OF them intended for the butcher by Christ
mas should be shut up Immediately, and be fed with
all they can eat
A squealing pig is worse for the owners pocket
than for his ears. 1t is much easier to make pork
in September and October than in December and
January. No extra amount of food is wasted in
keeping up the animal heat. 1t all goes to fat and
muscle. Variety of food is matter of much I'M
portance in fattening swine. At this seasOna great
er variety is easily commanded. The garden if it
be a good one yields great many refuse articles,
sQuashes beets, carrots, apples, melons, tomatoes,
and corn. which will find good market in the sty.
One of the best articles of food for them, Is sweet
corn. cut up by the roots and fed whole. They are
very fond of it. and it makes them thrive very fast
A half acre the sty may be proftably cultiva-
ted every year expressly for this purpose. If this
be not on hand, corn from the field may be fed IN
the same way once day, But swine need some
thing more than green stuff, however nutritious, to
make them fatten rapidly.
The cooking of food is much more economical
than is generally supposed especially upon the farm
where fuel costs little but the labor Of preparing it.
We think about one-third of the value Of all the
Grains usually fed TO swine. is saved by cooking.
4 boiler or box for steaming is indispensable
in every well arranged swill-house. In this
the meal may be cooked and thoroughly
mixed with the roots and other vegetables. The
meal absorbs large quantities of water is more
highly relished by the pigs, and Is more perfectly
digested Numerous experiments fully prove the
economy of cooking the food under the ordinary
circumstances Some claim that they can make
pork for less than three cents pound IN this way.
4 dairy farmer Of this State made one year 4,Z2'
pounds of pork The feed with which he did It was
4I27 pounds of corn and oatmeal at 81 90 hun
dred 40 pounds of shorts at IS cents, l4I bushels
OF potatoes at l6 cents, all of which are cooked.
and half acre of green peas, with SO, making
the total cost of feed SlO3 IS, not quite two and
half cents per pound for the pork The value OF
the Whey and sour milk was not reckoned. This
and the labor of feeding, with the fuel for cooking
are very properly balanced against the manure they
made. There can be no doubt that cooking the food
pays well.
\ dry warm place. for sleeping is another i'm
portant item IN keeping swine thrifty They should
have good sy with rocf and board floor. and plenty
Of straw, so that they keep themselves Clean
With these conditions pork can be made very fast
and the sly will be found pay well any part
OF the farm arrangements.-AmeTicdn AgicWHtgtSt