The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1883-01-25
Buying Corn for Hogs.


them to run on in summer, access to the
milk of neighboring creamery free of
charge, but being under the necessity of
buying all his corn, the price Of corn
being there at the present time forty
cents. 1t will pay, we would say in
reply, an excellent profit to fat
ten hogs, even it ali tho food
that is used for that purpose must be
bought. The estimated value of corn
when converted into pork is as follows:
When pork is worth five cents per
pound, it gives fifty cents per bushel for
the corn fed; when pork is worth six
cents per pound gross, it gives sixty
cents per bushel for the corn fed, and 30
on. we think that we can do better
! than this, but this is the rule. Some
| might not do so well, as much must nee.
cSsarily depend upon knowledgo of the
business and intelligent general man
aSement. In this country we feed corn
as general thing, and ns q fat-produc
ing food, ii is superior to any other one
thlng. Our correspondent, evidently
lacklhg experience, naturally falls into
me too common error of supposing that
his entire dependence must be upon
corn, which is higher in price than some
other foods which will answer as well,
taking tho lower price at which thew
lHay be had into consideration.
In the summer time he has plenty of
pasture. That is cheap, and furnishes
an excellent food for hogs. Every
swine breeder should have plenty of
pasture. The milk from the creamery
spoken Of will be good as far as it goes.
SWINE breeders will never lose anything
by 1eedlng milk. But when we come to
corn, excellent as it is, az O. fat-pro-
1npInOr
TO 1t. 1t must not be forgotten that IT,
is one-sided food. Its Office is to pro-
duce fat, and it will not furnish the
elements TO produce bone and muscle
in the growing hog, or TO repair the
waste OF these in the fattening hog; and
we have not tho slightest doubt what
| ever that much Of our hog cholera, So
called, is the result OF this one-sided
development of feeding for fat alone-of
feeding corn week in and week ont and
month in and month out. The health
of the hog, therefore, demands change
or mixture of foods, to the end that #
may not fall to pieces in one part of the
system, while it is being built up in
another. Another objection 10 fattenipg
upon corn exclusively is tho cost. Is
there anything else that is cheaper and
that will at least partially take the place
OF cornP is question which the inteli.
gent feeder should always be ash
teeds mtemgenrGy, ne must seek for
something that is heterogeneous, even if
he have good supply of non-nitrogen-
ous food, like corn and while doing
this, the question of comparative cost
will necessarily present itself. Differ
"nt locations and tho state of the
Itarkets will have much to do with tho
solution of this question.
In order to enable the reader to arrive
at something like correct conclusion
as TO the profit of substituting some-
thing else for corn, or partially doing
so, it may be we'll to state the estimate
OF the relative value of some Of the
foods as fat producers. A hundred
pounds Of corn is intended to be equal
TO o hundred and three pounds OF
barley; hundred and seventeen pounds
OF rye hundred and eighteen Of oats;
hundred and twenty-five of buck
wheat; hundred and nineteen of
linsccd cake, and six hundred and sixty-
five OF mangolds. Now with such an
estimate feeder oan sit down, and with
The market reports before him, easily
decide which he can feed mos. profta-
bly,. But there are still other things
which are generally comparatively
cheap, and which serve o most excellent
purpose when fed to hogs in connection
with corn. We refor to bran, midd,;ngs,
shorts and screenings. The most sue
ccSsful feeder will not neglect to con-
slider such foods, and no will not dcspse
the still cheaper roots. He will never
lose sight of the fact either that the hog
will utilize anything that is at all eata-
bic, and will consequently not only sec
that nothing about the premises Of that
character is wasted, but can afford to
purchase almost anything Lhatis offered
cheap.
| The general proper management of
hogs will include comfortable quarters
and care not to be oVercrowded In
summer they should have plenty of
range. In winter their enclosures should
be such as to shield thom from storm
and cold, for there is no uso trying to
make pork production profitable until
this is done. II we are content to feed
grain for tho purpose of keeping up III
unnecessary waste Of heat, Wo must bo
satisfied TO see our profits vanish. Our
correspondent in this instance partcu-
larly states that his piggcry will be
"frost proof and have every oonyen-
icncc." That is correct, but it will do
|
what We have several times said be-
fore, that a hog docs not require high
temperature. They will got along all
right in temperature of forty-fve de-
grccs, and Wo think better than In a
higher temperature. Their feeding pen
should be clean, for while the hog will
eat food that is thrown into tho midst
of filth, if it can got no other, it prefers
to be fed on clean floor, and It need
not be stated that pork thus made Is in
every way better Western RurGI
Twenty six years ago, according tc
tho Pee Dee HcrnLd, it rained 80 hare
that a pot eighteen inches deep wa,
filed and ran over between Sunda,
night and Monday morning, and
string Of perch was found hanging to 1t
canoes were padded up and down hi
on the country highways; the sheep an
hogs were caught in tic forks OF tn
roads the fish were stuck on bambo