The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1860-11-29
Hints ON Fattsning PORK.


It is usual with many farmers to put
this off until cold weather sets In. The
pigs run in the woods, the road or the
pastures, picking mp scanty living,
and come to the pens lean and hungry,
when they ought to be fattened. In
our practice we keep pigs in the sty
the year round. We find them quite
too valuable co-laborers in the manu-
facture of manure to allow them to
waste their Sweetness on the desert
air." A pig is worth ten dollars year
for this purpose alone, if you will give
him the material to work with and plen
ty of food. But possibly it may be best
for little while in the summer, to keep
the sow and pigs in a good clover pas
ture where grass is more plenty than
corn upon the farm. If this is done,
all Of them intended for the butcher
by Christmas, should be shut up imme-
diately, and be fed all they can eat. A
squealing pic 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 Janu-
airy. No extra amount of food is vast
ed In keeping up the animal heat. 1t
all goes to fat and muscle. Variety of
food is matter Of much Importance in
fattening swine. At this season
greater variety is easily commanded.
The garden, if it is good one, yields
great many refuse articles, squasheS,
beets, carrots, apples, melons, tomatoes
and corn, which will find good mar
market in the sly. One of the best
articles of food fer 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
near the sty may be proftably cnltiva-
ted every year expressly for this pur-
pose. Ii this be not on hand, corn from
the field may be fed in the same way
once day. But swine need something
more than green stuff, however nutri-
tious, 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 grain fed to swine, is
saved by cooking. A boiler or box
for steaming is indispensable in every
well arranged house. In this the meal
may be cooked and thoroughly mixed
with roots and other vegetables. The
meal absorbs large quantities of water,
is more highly relished by the pigs,
and is more perfectly digested. Mum
srous experiments fully prove the econ
omy of cooking the food under ordin-
airy circumstances. Some claim they
can make pork for less than three cents
pound in this way. A dairy farmer
of this State made one year, 1927
pounds of pork. This feed with which
he did il was 1927 pounds of corn and
oat meal at 81 50 hundred, 40
pounds of shorts at 75 cents, 147 bush
els of potatoes at 16 cents, all of which
were cooked, and half an acre of
green peas worth say SIG, making
total cost of feed s1O3 %, or not quite
two and n 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.
A dry, warm place for sleeping is
another important item in keeping
swine thrifty. The should have good
sty with roof and board floor, and
plenty of straw SO that they can keep
themselves clean. With these condi-
tons pork can be made very fat, and
the sty will be found to pay as well as
any part of the farm arrangements
american Iricultur0list.