Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1883-06-08
Feeding and Care o, Swine.


More attention is now paid to the
raising oi cnolce breeds of swine than
ever before In this country. Our farm.
ers have only of late years thought il
worth whiie TO raise pure bred swine,
instead OF lntermixing the good and
bad; ana the result has been better
pork ana perhaps larger profits. But
there are many who, while very careful
IN selecung good animals for breeding
purposes, are very lax in taking propei
care oil them, and the result is. as we
all know. an increase of disease amono
swine. While the common scrub OF
half wild animals, allowed to roam at
will the greater part of their lives. nsr.
ally escape the various swine diseases.
the petted, pure-bred and highly fed.
are olten seriously afflicted with feyers
ana various Intestinal parasites. We
90 not peneVe, however, that pure-bred
animals are naturally any more subject
TO disease tnan the scrubs or mixed
races; put In consequence of being
placed under artificial conditions they
often become weakened and unable to
resist enemies which appear under the
form OF diseases Deprived of full lib.
erty, the animals take but little exer-
else, and while they may increase in
bulk, they will still be becoming weaker
every day, until disease steps in and
takes OFF what the owner considers very
healthy animals. Another cause of
weakness and disease is the almost en-
elusive feeding of Indian corn. a Grain
which farmers tell us is the hest and
most natural food for swine. we adj
I m
swine, especially for the closing weeks
OF their hyes. for it makes pure. sweet
pork; but 1t Is not the best food for the
young and growing animal, and while
IL may be employed sparingly for pigs
and shoats, 1t should never be the only
food, nor should it constitute the bulk
OF the food given. Where corn can be
raised cheaply, as in the Western States.
it is a handy food, and many farmers
employ it more on that account than
any other.
During the spring and summer months
the farmer has all he can attend TO in
putting in his crops and harvesting
them, and if the hogs are fed regularly
1t Is with the handiest kind of food
without much regard to the actual
wants of the animal, all thoughts of
proper diet being put off until some
later day. The seeds of disease are
often sown among the swine DURING n
few days of neglect, while an actnal
outbreak of disease, followed bv the
death of the animal, may not occur nm
til months afterward. Swine reouire a
variety of food. and while Young and
growing must have grass, clover. and
| similar substances in abundance.
If corn is to be fed at all. if
should be made soft by soaking a
few hours, and then be mixed with
Stops from the house or milk, and, in
addition, hogs should always have ac-
cess to pure water-not that to be
found in their wallowing places. but
that which is pure and wholesome.
Swine should always be kept out at
pasture during the summer, and never
shut up in small pens during hot wealth
er. Shelter should, of course. be pro-
Vlded, where the animals can rest in the
shade, but close quarters are unhealthy
| for swine, as well as other animals.
1t Is not necessary, nor is it advisable,
to keep hogs very fat during warm
weather. They should have just enough
food to keep them growing rapidly and
healthily, and no more; and if kept in
this condition they will go into the fat
tening pen in the fall with sound teeth.
| good appetites, and healthy digestive
organs. All kinds of inferior and
broken grain, such as barley, rye and
wheat, may be fed with benefit TO grow
ING hogs, and toward fall the quantity
may be increased with the addition of
pease and various kinds of roots. We
have known many good farmers who
never think of feeding pound of corn
to their hogs until the close of the sea-
son, or month or two before killing.
Bran. shorts, soaked pease and similar
| food are used instead, and the corn is
| given only toput on little extra weight
and give firmness and solidity to the
! pork. Our Eastern farmers can make
| pork cheaper on other kinds of food than
corn, and we will venture to say il is as
| good an article, and the animals are less
liable to disease than when the pork is
produced exclusively from corn, as is
done in many of the Western States.
In keeping over store hogs or pigs, as
they are usually called, the green.
tibrous food should not be withheld.
even in the winter, and if nothing bet
ter can be had, hay, especially clover
hay, should be cut up fine, soaked in
hot water, and then added to the other
kinds of food. Experiments in feeding
have shown that gain of from twenty
to thirty per cent. may be obtained by
merely adding steamed clover hay to
the usual feed of corn or corn meal. II
the farmer has stock of roots, these
may be cut up and mixed in instead OF
hay, but green food of some kind is
necessary to keep the hogs in good
health.
Brood sows should be in good condi-
ton, but never very fat. While suck
ling their young they should receive
food that will increase the flow of milk,
such as wheat bran, shorts, cooked bar
ley or wheat, with plenty of pure water
in trough by itself. Corn at such
times is too heating; but little corn
meal may be added to the bran or
other feed when the pigs are a week OF
two old. Shelter from storm, pure
water, clean yards and variety OF
good and easily digested food are the
principal requisites in successful swine
husbandry.- y. San.
The OriOle and the Catbird's Return.
Promptly to their accustomed date