The Magnolia gazette., 1883-11-01
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Market Weight for Pigs.


The style of market pig has under.
gone a great change within few years.
The large 400 TO 500-pound hog is now
seldom found. The overgrown hog Is
no longer sought after, and pig-feeding
has been more carefully studied of late
years. Shrewd feeders have found that
the older the hog, the more its carcass
costs per pound. 1t is also found that
the flesh of the large hog is coarser and
stronger, and not as sweet and fine-1a-
vOred, as a ten to twelve months pig
1t is true, the. older and overwhelmed
hog yields more lard, but this does not
carry profit with t, rs lard often brings
no higher price than the side pork The
inducement, therefore. to grow these
large hogs no longer exists and the 500
pound pig has displaced the 500-pound
hog.
The time was when pigs were raised
by slow growth, TO be fattened after
ward. Farmers often kept a lot Of
shoats over winter, without expecting
them to increase in weight much, so
that he might have them ready tof fatten
the following fall. These were pastured
and given house slops through the SUM
mer, making a growth during the eight
to ten months of forty to sixty pounds.
This was what was called healthy
growth! 1t was healthy for the pig. 1t
was very unhealthy for the farmers
pocket, as the amount of gain was not
one-half the cost Of keep.
But the farmer did not then figure the
cost of keep as closely as he does now
in fact, he probably never took an ac-
curate account of the cost of winterng
q pig without any material gain in
weight. But when he examines the
question he finds that the store pig has
often cost more than he need to have
cost, to have weighed 800 pounds, by
proper system of feeding. He finds that
to Keep the balance ON the right side OF
the ledger the pig must always be Kept
gaining, for it is only out Of gain IN
weight that he gets pay for his feed, and
when the pig stops gaining them the loss
begins.
"But," saws one, ''why not let the
pig keep on gaining till he is two years
Old, when he will weigh 500or more
pounds, and bring price worth hay.
ingp" This is Just the question that
should be asked and answered, and
every feeder should fully comprehend
the answer. The answer is, that i
takes less food to put pound growth
upon fifteen or twenty pound pig,
four weeks old, than upon atifty pound
pig, two months old, and less to putt Q
pound on fifty pound pig than, on 3
| 100-pound pig; or, in other words, tne
younger the animal, the less it costs IN
food to add pound to its weight AS
a general proposition, it takes more
and more food 10 add a pound, i've
weight, to an animal, the Older II pg'
comes, until it reaches maturity y
takes from thirty to forty per cent more
food to full-feed pig the second yeaE
than the first, and the gain Is only
about two-thirds as much as the hisl
year. This shows clearly that It cosIs
double to grow 100 pounds Of pork o. o.
the pig the second year that it does tne
first-a pretty good reason why the PIE
should be sold at the end of the year
Besides, the market, as a general RUE,
offers no inducement for keepingbeyono
| the first year. a well-fed pig, tnal
weighs 800 pounds, will bring as goou
price per pound as when Kept Longer
so there is nothing to be gained IN prlc'
but much, if not all, the profit is lost pl
keeping the second year. The marke
has fixed upon 800 pounds as pron1
able weight, and the farmers intereS
WHOLLY agrees with this.
Ten months good feeding will oitel
reach that weight Skillful feeding
consists in growing the largest amour fI
lofneatat a given cost, andsuch atee,d.e
is not afraid Of throwing away food 3
giving pigs all they will eat with 2 gogS' s Z
appetite, He thoroughly undersla,n!e
| the element of time in the feeqlnI
problem, and that, when he can shorter nsI
the time for the pig to reach Su y.
pounds. he has Increased the prom
| Our system Of pig-feeding is not torcs,'g.
but judiciously giving the pig what
can digest and yet keep good apps