The Russellville Democrat., 1884-04-03
Market Weight for Pigs. .

ne style or market pig haS under gone great change within a few years The large 400 to 5O0-pound hog is now seldom found. The oyergrown hog is no longer sought after, and pig-fecding has been more carefully studied of late years. Shrewd feeders have found that the older the hog, the more its 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 fla- vored, as ten to twelve months pig. 1t is true, the older and oyerfattened hog yields more 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 0o-pound hog.
 The time was when pigs were raised by slow growth, 10 be fattened after ward. Farmers often kept lot of shoats 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 slops through the sum mer, making q growth during the elG5it to ten months of forty to sixty pounds. fhis was what was called healthy growth! It 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 ac- o.rata aoonnnt nf fba ooct ,.f xy;x,ta,.;, ., .- 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 we ghed 800 pounds, by a 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 then the loss begins.
 But says one, ''why not let the pig keep on gaining til he is two years old, when he will weigh 500 or more pounds, and bring price worth hay ngp" This is jest 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 fifteen or twenty pound pig, four weeks old, than upon fifty pound pig, two months old, and less to put a pound on n fifty pound pig than on lo0-pound pig; or, in other words, the younger the animal, the less it costs in food to add pound to its weight. As q general proposition. it takes more and more food to add pound, live weight, to an animal, the older it be- comes, until it reaches maturity. It takes from thirty to forty per cent more food to full-teed a pig the second year than the first, and the gain is only about two-thirds as much as 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 pretty good reason why the pic should be sold at the end of the year. Besides, the market, as general rule. offers no inducement for keeping'beyond the first year. A well-fed pig, that weighs 300 pounds, will bring as good price per pound as when kept longer; SO there is nothing to he gained in price but much, if not all, the profit Is lost by keeping the second year. The market has fixed upon 800 pounds as profit able weight. and the farmers interest wholly agrees with this.
 Ten months good feeding will often reach that weight. Skillful feeding consists in growing the largest amount ofmeat at q given cost, and such feeder is not afraid of throwing away food by giving pigs all they will eat with q 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. Our system of pig feeding Is not torciag. but iudicously giving the pig what 1t ean digest and yet keep Q good appe- ute. - Liue Stock Journal
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