St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-02-20
WARNING FOR HOGS.
Notes Gathered by Thomas ID.
Baird, Kentucky Farmer.


A neigbbor Of mine, having no hogs,
bought in the fall ten nice, thrifty pigs.
lie paid $40 for sow and pigs, took them
nome, pat them where they would get
all he gave them, and then measured, or
weighed. all their feed. charging them
market price for it. He said cornmeal
was little higher than an average
price that fall and winter. When the
hog market opened the following sum-
mel the best price he could get was &c
gross, which fell short of expense 81
per head, exclusive of the purchase
price. This is not all; we sometimes
have cho era or some other disease that
will sweep away whole herd. These
things are grievOus. but there is balm
in Gilead. Our farmers still run too
much in the ruts of their fathers. They
accept pigs whenever they can get
them, and in this way half of the pigs
come in the fall and have to be wintered.
There is seldom any shelter for hogs in
these "ruts," consequently the wintry
storm has to be counterbalanced with
feed. As soon as the pig can crack corn
it is fed to it until sold or killed. This
is not only injurious, as it retards
growth, but the feed is the costliest OBJ
tanned, and fed in this way hogs will
not take on fat as rapidly or as cheaply
as when properly fed.
Our best farmers manage to have
their pigs come In March or early April
and dispose of them before winter. All
our farmers could do the same. To
make hog raising profitable, the pig
should be fed and managed with regard
to rapid and continual growth. For
this purpose there seems no better way
than tn tho foil for porIty
spring pasture. More than month can
be gained in this way, for the rye comes
on early, ready for the pigs as soon as
they are large enough to eat it, while
clover is slow to start and should not be
pastured until in blossom. After this
it would be well to turn them in clover
field where there is plenty of pure,
fresh water, and give additional feed of
sweet milk. wheat bran and cornmeal.
Pigs managed in this way have cost
but little compared to their value.
Fed SO they have their bone
and muscular frame we'll built
health vigorous, their digestive powers
active, with ability to assimiate all they
eat. Now the pig is in good condition
for forcing in the fattening process, and
can be sold at profit at less figures
than at present prices. The profits of
raising and fattening hogs are
best realized when the hogs are
regularly fed from day to day with
neither too Scant nor too heavy ra-
tons. The farmer should remember
that when putting on fat under any and
all circumstances hogs or any other ami
mails need to be kept healthy and
thrifty, and must have a variety of food.
Under certain conditions we crowd them
with all they can consume. This
is wrong, wasteful, expensive
and calculated to impair vital
ity. 1t is claimed that if one
half the corn usually fed to hogs were
fully digested and appropriated, it
would make, with the assistance of
roots and vegetables, or other watery
food. much more meat, though perhaps
less lard, and save rs per cent of the
losses sustained in maturing and mar
keting, We must make a change in the
business, or it will soon be thing Of
the past.