The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1869-12-28
agricultural department.
CONDUCTED BY ALBERT CHAPMAN.
The Profits of Pork Raising.

The Profits of Pork Raising.
That there is a great deal Of loose
writing about the profits of the different
branches of farming, any one must be
convinced who reads a number Of Agri-
cultural papers. What this great man
or extensive farmer thinks may be of
greater or less value, according to his
practical experience in the matter in
which he may be talking, or writing
about. Take for example the profits on
raising hogs and fattening pork, One
man thinks his pork cost him l6 cts. per
h., another go cts, while a third is fully
persuaded his cost him only 8 cts.
We think much depends upon the kind
Of pig a man may keep and fatten. Three
years since we had a small boned thrifty
pig, that at fourteen months old, dressed
a little over 400 lbs. 1t had the usual
waste from a family of FIVE persons in
Guiding the skinned milk of one COW
that was not a large mixer, and during
the winter so much milk was sold and
used in the family that the pig had but
little. In the fall or fatting season some
email potatoes and poor apples were boiled
the whole value of which could not ex-
coed $500. Except the above all the
feed or meal was purchased, and cost but
a few cents over $500. That was a very
profitable hog. The next year we had q
large framed hog that we kept about the
same except when fatning. This would
eat about twice as much rs the other, and
we paid out, tby actual account kept
twice as much for meal as we did for the
first named. When this hog was killed
at about the age Of the other, he dressed
but little over 200. Now if two men
had kept and fatted these two hogs, they
would probably have arrived at very diff
tcrent conclusions as to the profit to be
derived from raising pork, and each could
have proved the correctness Of their con-
illusions by actual figures as resulting
from their experiments, and yet the great
difference in the result could have been
owing to the difference in the individual
animals, and the owner of the former
would have thought pork raising very
profitable, while his neighbor with the
latter hog would have had a no less Wig
erous thinking that pork cost more than
it came to.
In the spring of 1868 a ncighbor Of
ours bought two pigs at five weeks old,
paying S. each. He had an excellent
COW, his family was small, with no child.
rem. The skinned milk and the waste
from the family, the small potatoes from
q patch Of less than 1-2 acre. He pur.
chased less than S25 worth Of feed and
meal, He sold one when slaughtered for
$3.50, and kept the best one for his own
use. With him pork raising was certain
ly profitable.
We have no doubt Of the profit Of pork
raising, where only so many are kept as
will get .. large proportion oftheir growth
from such wastes as would be lost usually
without the pig to eat it, and with care
and attention, regular feeding, .and with
sharp crowding with cooked meal the
last few weeks, provided, good, thrifty
small boned pigs, of a breed inclined to
fat and quiet are selected.
1.-THE waste from the family is moi
enough to keep the pig in a thrifty grow.
ing state, a mixture Of ground rye and
wheat middling or shorts is much better
to promote a profitable growth than in
dian meal. Where the latter is fed a
early age and continued until the pig is
fattened, We believe the owner will be in,
clined to think his pork will cost him {
pretty high figure.
On a farm, pigs should have the run o
Of small pasture or what is better fol
both, an orchard, and we do not believe
there is as much pork raised on our farm
as usually could be with profit. On
farm or smaller places, Or in the villag'
there are many weeds that may be de
stroyed while they would be of some u.s.
if fed to the pigs, probably enough t.
pay for the labor, at any rate, the pro
cess would convert a nuisance into excel
lent nur At the south and west tn
hogs are usually turned on clover througl
the summer, and a small piece used as
patch for soiling would undoubtedly prov
useful and profitable summer feed 70
pigs 10 this section