The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1874-09-30
Preceding swine.

The numerous Shows, now soon to
be held in all parts of the country,
give farmers an opportunity Of COM
pairing the different breeds of hogs.
In most neighborhoods, the introduce
ion of one or more ~thoroughbr as
would add materially to the value Of
the hog product in that locality.
Just what breed would be most pro-
Gtable must be decided by the breed
ers Of each locality; but in order to
assist any of our readers who may
be in some doubt, we eondense the
following advice from the american
Rural Home.
at does not pay to breeder to feed
poor hogs. The hog is q v~oracious
animal, and unless his voracity can
be turned to profitable account it is
better to have nothing to do with
him. The great majority of farmers
who breed pigs do so without definite
aim towards producing a profitable
animal. Most Of them have got q
nondescript sort Of stock Of no par
~ticular breed, and remarkable only
for combining as many Of the bad
qualities and as few Of the good
points as it is possible a hog can have.
Having come to them as it were as a
legacy. they look upon it as being a
bounden duty to perpetuate the race.
Yet as bad as these hogs are they
have two redeeming points. In the
first place they are hardy, and have
good constitutions; and in the second
place they are capable Of being rapid
iy improved at small cost, by cross
ing them with the modern improved
breeds Of pure-blooded sorts. Use
what breed you viii to begin the i'm
provement, if it is only persevered in
by those who understand the business,
it must result proftably. A good
thoroughbred boar costs money. We
viii say twenty-five to City dollars
for a really first class young one.
three to six months old. But one
1 is enough for a whole neigborhood,
and if several will club together 10
purchase and keep one among them,
or agree to pay a moderate sum for
each SOW they may get served, the
cost will be small to each.n
AS to what breed is best to origin
ate the Improvement from, much will
depend upon circumstances. If medi-
um-sized hogs, ready to fatten al
eight or twelve months old, are de-
sired, use the Suffolk and Essex
Those who have the so-called Chester
Whites, or perfer white pigs, car
greatly improve them by crossing
with the Suffolk. Those who do not
object to black or spotted pigs will
find most profit in crossing with the
Essex. The genuine Suffolk, in its
purity, is however scarce and great
care must be taken to secure a boar
only from a known and reliable
breeder. The same may be said o.
the Essex; but it is so marked q
breed, from being uniqe in its color.
a rich black, inclining sometimes &c
blush, without white hair about it,
that it is difficult TO substitute any
other kind in its place"
For those who want large hogs,
giving from three to six hundred
pounds when fattened, and are vii
ling to keep their stock till over a
year old, there is nothing equal to
the Berkshire, either as a pure breed,
or as an improver Of the common
sort. Berk- hires have been largly i'm
ported and bred Of late, and
they are becoming plentiful enough
TO cease to be olassed as fancy stock.
The rage among breeders Of this
variety is running so much in the d.
rection o partieular fancy points as
regards hair and markings, that there
is great dagger Of the more impor-
tant ones of early maturity
and aptness to fatten becoming over
looked or thrown in the shade. We
consider color a very secondary con-
sideration in a Berkshire so long Al
there is no question Of the blood. We
have bred and fed them for years.
and could not tell that those with
white spots on their bodies were any
way inferior as regards feeding pro-
perties to those having the new es-
tablished regulation marks about
them, and what is more, we have
rarely seen a sow of that breed, how
ever well marked, bring a litter that
would show the same markings.
These fancy markings will doubtless
in time be so impressed upon the
breed as to become typical, but at
present those animals without them
can be purchased at low prices from
f~rst-class breeders. and will answer
the purpose Of improving the common
stock equally as well,
zone great source of loss to farm
ers on their hog production is that
they keep the animels they breed too
long, and feed them too little II
they were better fed they would come
to maturity earlier, and produce bet
ter pork at a less cost. An animal
kept in full flesh from its earliest day
is ready to ~fatten, and does so quickly
at small cost, and at an early age
and will have fair proportion Of
well mixed fat and lean. An animal
put up to fatten from a starvation
point viii take q long time to get fat
and when it does so, most Of the fat
viii be laid on specifically, much of
It in the hog going into lard rather
than pork"