The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-11-14
Good Feeding-Pens,

NOGQlQR Is more COMMON Undu 10 near
the remark that the hogs have cost too
much-that, considering the value of
the corn which they consumed, the
price they have brought in the market
has left no margin to remunerate the
farmer for his labor and risk, and give
him the profit to which he felt himself
entitled. 1t is a common complaint,
this, and in a majority of cases it is
sustained by the facts, for the farmer
has emptied his GO cribs" at considerable
labor, watered and sailed his hogs early
and late, taken considerable risk of loss
by "cholera" and other diseases, ETC.,
and when his hogs were marketed re-
ceived sum scarcely equal to what his
corn would have brought him if it had
been sold in the crib or in his own
fields. We are aware that it often re-
quires considerable skill and Judgment
to secure very large returns over and
above the value of the corn and cost of
labor incidental to feeding swine, but
we nevertheless believe that where the
feeding operations are conducted with
proper care, they can be depended upon
to yield something in the way of profit.
One of the most fruitful causes of the
failure of some farmers to realize such
a result is their neglect to provide suit
able feeding-pens. We presume no
reader of this journal pursues the prac-
tice himself, but we dare say every one
of them can name some neighbor who
turns his fattening hogs into small in
closure of two to three acres, which the
combined influence of the fall rains and
the nasal appendages of the swine
transforms into an unbroken mortar
bed. Perhaps some attempt at rude
shelter for the animals is found On one
side of the Enclosure, but generally
they are left to follow "their own sweet
will" in the selection of a sleeping
place in the shallowest or deepest mire.
Into this slough their food is thrown. A
portion is eaten at once the remainder
is tramped out of sight. Of course a
large portion of this is wasted direct,
for it is never brought to the surface,
where it can be appropriated by the
animals for which is was intended. At
any hour of the day the swine may be
seen dragging their unwieldy bodies
with great labor and difficulty from one
side of the inclosure to the other and
back again. And at night, when per-
chance the "hired hand" is a little
tardy in throwing fresh supplies of
food, a half-hundred shouts are indus
triously engaged in turning over and
over the miry clay, in search of the food
which the instinct of their owners tells
them is buried somewhere beneath the
surface. One-half the corn is wasted
in the first place 10y being buried ire
trievably in the mud, and the portion
that is eaten is appropriated not to lay
on fat, but to sustain it's strength while
the animal is burrowing after more, and
foundering through the mire. Of
course, under such circumstances, the
gain of the animal is ridiculous when
compared with the value of the food
which has been provided. Neither do
we suppose that any reader of this jour
nal has such poor accommodations but
we dare say every one of them can
name some neighbor who provides no
farther shelter than the corner of a
stake and ridered fence to protect his
hogs from the vicissitudes of the wealth
err. Here they receive the cold fall
rains, and here, too, they take the sleet
and the snow, and the fierce winds which
come before the CHARS are let down."
and the occupants of the yard turned
over to the drover. When the farmer
has so little consideration for his real
interests as to provide such accommo-
dations for his swine while they are
Transforming his corn into pork, he has
no business to anticipate successful re-
suits. Any animal, to fatten readily,
should be maintained under conditions
favorable to its comfort and quiet. If
confined to a muddy inclosure, where
the discomfort of one situation keeps it
perpetually on the tramp, in search of
one more favorable, or where it IS OBJ
liged to turn over tons of earth every
dav in search of food, it will not fatten
kindly. Every one understands the i'm
possibility of fattening an OK while
severe labor is enforced, and should
likewise understand that a hog when
compelled to labor from morning till
night, cannot be any more successfully
fattened. Where good comfortable. dry
quarters are provided, which protect
the animal from the inclemencies of the
weather, which conduce to its quiet re-
pose, which prevent the possibility of
food being wasted, and remove the ne:
cessity of exertion when the animal de-
sires to eat, the farmer can expect his
feeding operations, other things being
attended to with equal judgment, to
result satisfactorily.