Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1885-09-26
Hints on Fattening Pork.
Western Plowman.

Some farmers, and ! think / might
safely say most farmers, have an idea
that pork can only be made with
corn. Load after load is dumped
over into the yards, as though the
cost of its production was an item of
no importance to the farmer, and the
sole object in feeding to dispose of the
greatest possible amount of corn in
the shortest possible space Of time.
Half eaten ears are tread into the
mud, and the pigs SO surfeited with
the over supply of unaccustomed and
strong heating food that they hardly
consume half rations. The appetite
of an animal may be so clOgged in
this manner that growth and thrift
are rendered almost impossible.
The wastes of such system offeed-
ing are enormous. Half the feed
properly prepared and dealt outwould
accomplish far more. believe in
liberal feeding, but liberal feeding
and over feeding are two entirely
different things. The appetite of an
animal must be maintained, or his
rations will do him but little good.
He must have little craving for his
regular meal times. There is limit
even to the capacity of hog, and his
digestive organs are not yet cast-iron,
and capable Of perpetual motion.
Who would think of shutting up
horse or any other animal, except a
hog and feeding in this way? In the
first place a sole diet of such condens-
ed, heating food is bad for any ami
NAL and in the next place it is alto
gether too expensive feed. And
last, but not least, the common
method of feeding in the ear is much
too wasteful for the farmer to long
follow. On strong, virgin soils, and
when prices of pork were high, large
profits were undoubtedly realized
from this method of feeding; but
with the present prices Of pork and
the natural fertility sapped from the
soil by this and other wasteful prac-
tees, it is a question whether he can
longer afford to feed in this way. The
near future will certainly decide the
matter in favor of more economical
feeding. All forms Of agriculture
must be based on strictly economical
principles in order to be perpetuated,
as they must necessarily be, indefi-
nitely.
We must provides partial diet OF
less concentrated food for swine, as
we do for other animals when fatten-
ing. In summer and autumn it is
not hard matter to determine what
this lighter and more bulky feed
should be. The clover field and green
pasture have solved theproblem here
for us, and we have only to avail our.
selves of the aid thus offered. The
Old-time notion that pigs cannot fat.
ten unless confined to a stuffy little
pen and board floor has long since
been exploded.
But most of the pork fattening i:
done after the frost has destroyed al
green food in the field. What we
want at this time is something to &C
along with the corn and take the
place, as far as possible, of the clover
patch. Beets, carrots, potatoes, cab
bages, squashes and the like will an
swer this purpose. Even second
growth clover, cut young and wei
cured, will be relished at such times
by the pigs, and will keep them in
thrifty condition. Cooked food lift
vast load from the digestive organs
of the pig, and of course accelerate
the fattening process proportionately
Boiled vegetable, with corn mea
mixed in, and the whole soured 81
that it will not ferment in the stom
ach, will lay on fat about as fast a
anything l know of.