Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-11-10
Market Weight for Pigs.

The style OF market pig has under
gone a great change within a 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 it's carcass
costs per pound. It is also found that
the flesh of the large hog is coarser and
stronger, and not as sweet and fine-fa-
vored, as a ten to twelve months pig.
1t is true, the older and overwhelmed
hog yields mor lard, but this does not
carry profit with it, as lard often brings
no higher price than the side pork. The
inducement, therefore. to grow these
large hogs no longer exists and the 300
pound pig has displaced the 5O0-pound
hog.
The time was when pigs were raised
by a slow growth, to be fattened after
ward. Farmers often kept a lot of
%Eshoats over winter, without expecting
them to increase in weight much, so
THAT he might have them ready to fatten
the following fall. These were pastured
and given house Stops through the sum-
mcr, making a growth during the eight
to ten months Of forty to sixty pounds.
This was what was called a healthy
growth! 1t was healthy for the pig. It
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 &C
curate account of the cost of wintering
a 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 300 pounds, by a
proper system of feeding. He finds that
to keep the balance on the right side q
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 then the loss
begins.
"But," says one, ''why not let the
old, when he will weigh 500 OF more
pounds, and bring a price worth hav-
ing?" This is just the question that
should be asked and answered, and
every feeder should fully comprehend
the answer. The answer is, that it
takes less food to put a pound growth
upon a fifteen or twenty pound pig,
four weeks old, than upon a fifty pound
pig, two months old, and less to put a
pound on a fifty pound pig than on q
l%OO-pound pig; or, in other words, the
Younger the animal, the less it costs in
food to add a pound to its weight. As
a general proposition, it takes more
and more food to add a pound, live.
weight, to an animal, the older it be-
comes, until it reaches maturity. 1t
takes from thirty to forty per cent. more
food to full-feed a pig the second year
than the first, and the gain is only
about two-thirds as much Us the first
year. This shows clearly that it costs
double to grow 100 pounds of pork on
the pig the second year that it does the
first-a pretty good reason why the pig
should be sold at the end of the year.
Besides, the market, as a general rule,
offers no Inducements for keeping beyond
the first year. A well-fed pig, that
weighs 800 pounds, will bring as good
a pricc per pound as when kept longer;
so there is nothing to be gained in price
put much, if not all, the profit is lost by
Keeping the second year. The market
has fixed upon 800 pounds as a profit
able weight, and the farmers interest
Wholly agrees with this.
len months good feeding will often
reach that weight. Skillful feeding
consists in growing the largest amount
ofmeatat a given cost, andsuch afeeder
is not afraid of throwing away food by
giving pigs all they will eat with a good
appetite. He thoroughly understands
The element of time in the feeding
problem, and that, when he can shorten
the time for the pig to reach 800
pounds, he has increased the profit.
pur system of pig-feeding is not tores1H?,
,"as ]udiciously giving the pig what 1t
tan digest and yet keep a good appc-
oe.-Live Stock Journal.