Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1873-01-16
NUMBER 40.


lbp Hogs designed for slaughter ought
not to be kept longer than to the age
Of ten or twelve months-there is no
! profit in keeping pigs of any eonsid-
cradle size through the winter. Where
but small number are handled, say
from ten to twenty, they may be
proftably, disposed Of at a Younger
age, say eight or ten months. We
were shown half dozen pigs the
other day at Judge Avery's that
would weigh two hundred and forty
pounds, at the age Of seven months.
These pigs have never been out OF the
pen; have been fed corn and swill
from the house, with salt twice a
week, and considerable ashes. Judge
Avery never keeps his pigs longer
than to the age Of niue months, and
makes them average from two hun
dred and seventy-fiye to three hundred
pound net, and some times even lara-
er weights.
This management requires that the
pigs should be farrowed as early as the
latter part of February or the first of
March, as il is not profitable to make
pork in cold weather. When hogs are
kept in large numbers and cannot be
prepared for market, at quite 50 yonng
an age, the pigs may be farrowed late
in the fall. When they are allowed
to run out the small pigs will be less
troublesome in the winter than al any
other period.
We have advocated feeding cattle in
the fields rather than in the barn
yards IN the mud, and ii il ineon-
venient feeding corn-foddcr to herd
of cattle of any size in the barnyard ut
all. We therefore advised feeding in
pasture lots, and when dry or the
ground frozen, to feed on the mea dows.
Every farmer knows that when The
ground is soft the tramping of mead
ows with cattle is injurious. But
when meadows are getting old and the
grass light. will do good even when
the ground is little soft: and an old
blue grass pasture is hardly ever too
soft 10 feed on. OF course ii will be
understood that we are speaking OF
outdoor feeding during the day: as
suming that most people have barns
in which their cattle are shelteted at
night, they will be fed there night and
morning, and little fodder will be
put out for them to pick at through
the day. t
Many people are in the habit OF
throwing their corn in the shock over
the fence, and leaving II there III large
bunches just where the manure is not
wanted, and where fodder is not eaten
half as well as when scattered about
over the field. Others haul all their
fodder and stack il up near cattle
yard--sOmetimes away from the barn
lin which they have also their straw
stack, and thus through the winter
are kept on straw and fodder alone,
their cattle and sheep.
On this management stock never
does well-by spring they are very
poor. The manure Is also poor. and
yet from the large bulk piled up Of
corn stalks and straw, it requires a
great deal Of work to get it out. In
deed we frequently see this straw
manure neglected and left in this con-
dition for years and no use made OF it.
The straw onght TO be used for bed
ding in the barn. Here, and for this
purpose, it will pay--pay in the saw
Ing Of liquid man,lre--a most impor-
tant consideration, for these liquids
are valuable as plant iood, aud in de-
composing and rendering available for
the same purpose the straw itself, and
all other ingredients Of the manure
heap. t.s, 4 ,
We would therefore feed little HAY
with grain in the barn, and bed liber-
ally with straw, thus adding To the
comfort us well az the thrift OF the
stock: turn out fol water and exercise
every day, and unless the weather il
too severe. leave them out TO eat rough
food till evening.
/. II il Is not convenient to grind the
corn (Which is always recommended
when mill is near) it may be shelled,
especially for calves. which will eat ii
readily and do well on it, But the
hest feed for calves is mixture of
ground oats, corn and bran. Farmers
should always aim to have all their
wheat ground, and sell the flonr. so as
TO save the bran and shorts. $50
The feeding should begin before tile
grass is all gone--the farmer bearing
in mind that the object il not merely
TO "keep his stock over" as ii +
termed, but TO put them ahead-keep
them going. AZ we'll in winter US in
summer. The grain added for this pur-
pose will not increase the expense
more thnn % to 40 per cent. while it
will make the entire winter keeping
yield handsome profit, instead of be-
ing. as Is too often the case under the
pincling system, 4 dead loss. Della
sr0re, Ohio, Gazetfe