Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1889-03-07
MANAGEMENT or HOGS.
dow to Produce the Greatest Amount
Pork at the Least Expense.

VT t1OSSs
dow to Produce the Greatest Amount of
Pork at the Least Expense.
As the hog seems to be indispensa-
BILE to the American people, the object
Of the farmer should be to produce the
greatest amount of good pork at the
least expense. The question then is,
how can this be done? will endeavor
to answer this knotty question. First
procure some pure bred sows of some
well established black breed. and mate
them with males not too closely con-
nected, but of pure stock. Have the
sows farrow in September or October.
Feed them literally On slop from the
kitchen, with all the milk in it you
can spare; have your troughs made
shallow, so the pigs can get taste.
and they will soon learn to drink I'M
til full. When cold weather comes,
enrich your slop by adding bran and
boiled potatoes. The small and de-
fective ones, which you sort out at
digging time, will pay a good profit if
fed in this way to your pigs. If you
have apples to spare. or those which
are beginning to decay, put them into
your slop, with turnip Feelings, cab
bage refuse. or any thing hog will
relish; he likes a variety.
As the cold increases. the slop should
have some scalded meal in it. If fed
in this way until clover is ready to
turn in on, the shoats will be growing
finely. Let them remain in the clover
until harvest. If you have an orchard
(the larger the better) SOW it to oats,
when the grain is ripe turn your shoats
in, and you will see that this feed
will develop their bone and muscle.
BY the time the oats are disposed of
your early apples should be ready;
then your summer and fall varieties
will follow, and if you have plenty
of sweet apples (Which you shouldD,
in your orchard, you will be astonished
to see how your shoats will thrive on
them.
l have come to the conclusion that
apples Especially sweet ones), with a
little corn meal and potato slop, is the
cheapest and best feed for preparing a
hog for the slaughter house. By the
y
months old they should be ready for
the market. and their weight should
be satisfactory.
The reason why | prefer to have the
pigs come in the fall rather than in
the spring, is, that during winter the
farmer has more leisure time to get
his pigs up fir5t-class boarding house,
with extra inexpensive rations, and he
has longer time to change sucking
pig into three hundred-pound porker.
and so is not compelled to resort to the
forcing system at busy time OF the
year, as he is when he makes an April
pig weigh three hundred pounds by
Thanksgiving. Another advantage in
having hos year old, when
called upon 80 Idle for his
country" is, that during the last six
weeks of his life he takes on fat more
readily, and waen slaughtered his
yield of lard is satisfactory. Whereas
at six months old, although fa.. ma
ture is still striving to produce more
bone and muscle instead of fat, be-
cause the pig has not yet come to ma
Iuflty. L he reason why L prefer d
black or dark spotted hog to a white
one is, that when pigs they seem to be
less liable to have the mango in win
ter. Pigs are very social creatures,
and they will pile up when cold, and
so get dirty and hot Too much filth
and heat is, l think, the cause of
mango, and when white pig gets
rusty and his hair stands erect. his
progress toward development is slow,
and often his end is near at hand.
Whereas, his more swarthy brother
seems to grow Notwithstanding his I'M
favorable surroundings.
Corn cob ashes mixed with salt
should be given to hogs to keep them
healthy.
To sum up. feed slop and cooked po-
tatoes in winter and early spring, then
clover, oats and apples, the more
sweet apples the better, giving the fin
ishing touch to his hogship with few
bushels of corn meal mixed with but
termilk. If he does not then make
good pork l will agree to eat him if
you will give me time enough.-Cor.
Farm. Field and Stockman.