St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1888-02-04
FATTENlNG HOGS.
sTseful Suggestions tor Farmers Engaged
i'll Pork Raising.


i'll Pork Raising.
Pork has been an important pro-
luction of the farm in the past, and
is likely to be in the future, although
a speaker at the NEE ting of the Con-
necticut State Board of Agriculture
hoped the day would come when pork
would cease to be produced and cease
10 be an article of diet. Upon the
farm other matters are to be consld-
cred than prejudice, and the direct
and indirect profit coming from pork
raising will be likely to exert an in
ifuence for some time in the future.
In the raising of pork there are sew
eral points that have an important ill.,
fluence. Hogs or pigs will consume
for food, and thrive thereon, waste
material that would hardly be turned
to any other purpose, and which is an
important help in promoting the
growth and development of the animal,
especially while young and before the
time for fattening arrives 1t is not
an uncommon thing for farmer hay
ing an average family, and we'll pro-
vided with mich cows. to secure the
early growth and development of sew
eral pigs upon waste material alone.
There is nothing better for pigs
than skim milk, and this, when supple
mented by scraps of stale bread and
other refuse from the table, will cause
rapid growth. While it is true in case
of farmers in the vicinity of cities. viii
lagos or near shipping stations that
skim milk represents commercial
value, comparatively few farmers SO
consider it, and hence it is classed as
waste product, although some recent
trials point to its profitable use as a
feeding product for other ANIMALS.
Again. hogs are proitably en-
| ployed in orchards IN devour-
ing insect-infected fruit. and so
render important and valuable aid in
| the prevention. to some extent, of
some of the pests that threaten to
| overrun the farmer So, during the
summer and early fall, quite num-
Der of hogs may be very cheaply kept.
And SO long as they serve so useful
a purpose as that of turning to some
| profit the waste substances of the
farm, and with the remembrance of
| delicious sausages. nice pork-chop, the
juicy spare-rib and the much-sought
pork ham, together with the demand
that arises for lard in the culinary de-
partment, as we'll as the piece of nice
pork with which to season the pot OF
baked beans, or of corn and beans,
the vision of the time when pork
raising will cease will grow dim and
fade away.
Another important consideration,
and one which has much weight with
intelligent farmers. is the ability .'of
hogs or pigs to convert refuse mate
rial into a most valuable fertilizer,
especially when confined, as it is the
more general custom of the present
day. With pen well supplied with
turf, leaves, weeds, and in fact almost
any thing that has fertilizing elements
in It's composition, large amount of
manure will be made which for some
crops possesses a peculiar beneficial
effect.
For home use q pig that can be made
to weigh say three hundred pounds
when eight or nine months old, fur
nishes the most desirable pork, and if
fat is all objection, the experiments Of
Prof Henry, of Wisconsin, go to sho W
that it can be diminished to consid-
cradle extent and lean meat supplied
in its place by a change in the mode
of feeding; that instead of supplying
large amount of fat-producing food,
such as corn OF corn meal, the food
contains muscle and producing
elements-more protein material is
fed. So if fat meat, which in the eyes
of some is SO obj ectionable, can be
replaced by large proportion of lean
meat or is well marbled with it, pork
may still be received with good
degree of favor. There is also much
less liability of disease where animals
are fed protein food, than where fed
exclusively on fat.producing food.
In the general process of fattening
the animal should be fed all the food
that it can assimilate, and sufficient
to keep it quiet, since exercise tends
to waste of so much material as
may be necessary to restore the waste
occasioned by muscular effort. So,
too, if the temperature is growing
cold the animal should be kept warm
for the same reason, that while it is
necessary that every animal should
maintain normal temperature, If this
must be supplied by food it occasions
an unnecessary waste. To avoid this
condition many prefer to complete
their feeding before the approach of
very cold weather. and think they
make saving thereby. A hog should
occasionally be fed small quantity Of
sulphur and some charcoal to insure
it's health.-Wna H Keonaaass. IN N 7.
Observer.
I'm fhnen Sorp,c yuhapa ouci1aoeo IS