The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1883-10-26
How to Make Cheap Pork.

thousands OF farmers fail to make
any money from hogs because they I'M
dertake to make pork their leading
product when their farms are not suited
to corn growing, for cheap corn is the
basis of cheap pork. Others fail be-
cause they do not recognize the fact
that the hog is grazing animal, and
keep their hogs on an exclusively corn
diet, by which means they not only add
largely to the cost of keeping, but also
prevent a healthy development and in
cur much greater risk of loss by disease.
A hog that has been four months on
clover and the first of September weighs
two hundred pounds, will be likely in
two months feeding to be heavier than
one which is two hundred and fifty
pounds at the same date, if the latter
has been fed on corn through the sum-
mer The length of time in which any
animal can be probably fed to its full
capacity on corn is limited, and if we
expect a rapid gain and profitable de-
yelopment in our hogs when we fatten
them, they must be prepared for it by
being previously kept on a diet which
will develop bone and muscle rather
than fat, and which also will leave that
healthy condition of stomach and
bowels so essential to profitable pork
making. Green food during the sum-
mer gives the best possible condition of
system, and | have often known marvel
Gus gains when hogs were fed what
corn they would eat after summer on
clover. A neighbor of mine this season
put up a lot of hogs for feeding, and
made gain of over four pounds each
per day for forty-two days. Thesehogs
averaged one hundred and ninety
pounds when feeding on corn was begun.
The longer hogs can be kept on green
food the better condition they will be in
TO fatten, and the less corn it will take
to fatten them. | would recommend,
therefore, on every farm, where hogs
are the leading interest, that o field of
rye be sown for early spring pasture.
More than a month can be gained in
this way, for the rye comes ON very
early, while clover is slow to start, and
should not be turned On until in bios
som. have known hogs that were
coughing and making no gain at all
from the corn fed them, to become
thrifty, and all signs of disease disap-
pear in q few days when turned on rye
pasture. A second point would make
is this: To make cheap pork you must
feed early. 1t viii as arule take double
the food to make a pound of pork in
December that it will in September, and
unless sure of an advance in price there
is little profit in feeding more than two
months. Begin feeding cut-up corn as
soon as it is fit for roasting ears. At
this stage of growth the stalk is sweet
and palatable, and the husk and cob are
sweet, tender and nutritious, and the
hog will eat the larger part Of it, and
believe that it is worth more for feed
than the ear alone will be when fully
matured. Besides, this gives q gradual
change from clover to corn, and, by
the time the corn is so dry that
the hogs refuse the stalk, they are
prepared for full corn diet.
Some bulky food is of advantage
during the entire period of fattening,
and | have found nothing as cheap as
pumpkins, or better; a little pains will
be necessary to teach hogs to eat them,
but if for few days pumpkins are fed |
instead Of corn once a day, the animals
win soon acquire a taste for them, anG
will eat them readily. There is one
other point in the production Of cheap
pork which / wonder farmers do not
understand better, and that is the econ
omy in wintering hogs and cattle to-
gether. If steer or cow is shut up in
a yard with two stock hogs, and fed a
peck of corn day, the hogs will do bet
ter, if fed one ear of corn each morning
and night, than they would with three |
ears each without it, or, in other words,
two hogs will get two-thirds of their
living following well-fed beef. This
has been proved over and over again,
and | have put the number of hogs
much less than is the general practice,
the rule among the great cattle feeders
of Illinois being, I think, two hogs to
each steer, with no other feed On q
visit to Mr.. P. T. Jones, of Franklin
County, Indiana, some years since, |
found him wintering fifty stock hogs on
one ear of corn each twice day, and
feeding five bushels of corn to the
cattle with which the hogs were. He
told me that marked improvement in
his hogs was at once noticeable when |
he changed from feeding heavily on dry
corn to this plan.
Perhaps some Of my readers will |
think if say nothing about cooking
food for hogs, am emitting one of the
important points in making cheap
pork To such l will say that after
many experiments with cookers of vari- |
Gus patterns, and careful investigation
among farmers who have tried it, [ am
convinced that it does not pay to cook |
food for hogs. consider food slightly |
soured just as good as that which is
cooked, and when meal or bran is fed, |
there is little trouble or expense to sour
it. In summer you must guard against |
getting it too sour, and in winter you
will need to protect the barrels with |
sionally use kettle of boiling water to
raise the temperature. There is one
article of bulky food which is highly |
recommended, and that is artichokes. |
[ have had but little experience with
them, but would not advise any one to
plant them, unless it is in lot where
the hogs can be turned. If you start
them in a field they are very difficult to
eradicate, and will give trouble in
growing future crops. In looking over
this article / see l omitted to caution
the farmer about allowing cattle to run
in the field with hogs when feeding cut
up corn. The hogs will chew up the
husks and fiber of the stalks to get the
sweet, and drop the cuds of FIBER and
cattle eating them can not digest them,
and a disease is produced called mad
itch," which is often fatal. Rural Neao
Yorker.
Little Freaks Of Fashion.