Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1871-08-23
Raising Pigs for Fresh Pork.


The author of " Walks and Talks - writes
The most profitable branch Of pig raising and
feeding is to get the pigs fat at from three to
four months old, and sell them for fresh pork
I If Of the right breed, and well iattened they
are as tender, juicy, and delicious as tur-
key. The most provoking thing about it is,
that the few consumers who know what choice
eating such a rig really is can not get II !;
and the few farmers who produce il can not
| get half what il is worth. IL is a fact almost
unknown in The American markets. Til it
is known, those Of US who raise the article in
perfection must content ourselves with such
prices as we can get, in hopes that when It
becomes known we shall get what it is actually
WORTH But even now, at the present low
price such pork brings, it will pay as well as
any other branch Of farming which, it must
be confessed is not very much. Take such
a pig as my young Essex sow that at little
over four months old weighs no lbs. She
will certainly dress over eighty lbs. Such a
pig would sell for at least 500, aud ought
to bring $1,000 or $1,000. \ sow should
average eight pigs at a litter twice year
say sixteen pigs, at 500 or Sll2. good
sow, weighing say 100 lbs, kept as She should
be-. in extra store condition, would eat food
equivalent to two tons of clover bag year
But much of il is food that she picks up, slop
from the house, etc and we will estimate it
at $500 a year which is certainly liberal
If it is not, how much profit do those farmers
realize who keep pig two years to make him
dress 400 lbs, and then sell him for seven
cents a pound.
/ Now what will il cost to feed the little
pigs ? Tin they are three weeks old, they
will get all their food from the SOW, and q
good portion Of it till they are from two
months to ten weeks old. Taking our data
/ from Dr. Miles experiments, and bearing in
mind that we must if possible induce our
pigs to eat more food than his did, we will
estimate the pig, the first month eat little or
nothing more than they get from the sow,
aud the second month that they eat half
pound each Of corn day, and the third
month one aud hall pound each day, aud the
fourth month three pounds a day, the litter Of
eight pigs would eat twenty bushels Of corn
or the two filters would eat forty bushels,
which we will estimate worth $40.
/ The keep of q SOW year Is SO
The keep Of the little pigs is Sl0--sGJ
The pigs sell for SIP
To pay for the trouble Of grind.
ing and cooking the food, etc,
we have s47.
And beside this we have the manure, and have
| disposed Of our corn at one dollar q bushel.
Tho figures would have more pleasing
aspect if we got fifteen cents a pound for the
pork. Instead Of getting SAT for our trouble,
we should then get sl27 and that, when the
article becomes known, such pork will aver
age fifteen cents by the carcass, ! have no
sort of doubt In London, large pork is
quoted at eleven cents pound, and small
pork sixteen cents in gold, By tho carcass.
And New York, Boston Philadelphia, and
other American cities, are better markets for
really choice meat and butter than London
| We can no more gut the market with
choice meat than we can with choice
fruit The greater the supply Of such an ar
ticle of fresh pork as have described, the
greater will be the demand for the simple
reason that it is intrinsically worth much
more than we ask for it, Let US study the
interests of the consumers, as well as our
own. They do not want bone or rind quar-
ter Of an inch thick, but sweet, tender, deli
cate, juicy meat and it costs no more to pro,
duce it than rhine and bristles