Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1891-06-18
THE PIOOERY.
Pigs In Glover.

Pigs in clover, or those fed in clover
either in the field or in the pen, are the
best pork producers The old idea was
TO make pork from slop and dirty dish
water, and sole diet of corn, but now
that pork is made from good milk, clover
and grasses, IL is better, sweeter and
more commonly uSeu. orass-fvd- hoSs,
or those which are fed clover until
autumn, and then fattened on the new
corn, are nearly always exempt from hog
cholera and other swine diseases. Glover
and other sweet grasses are essentials in
the diet of pigs as well as In other ami
mails. The farmer that feeds his cows
and horses on an excellent diet OF corn,
and denies them clover and grass, would
be voted down as lunatic or fool. Yet
about the same sort Of system has hen''
applied TO the swine foI many years past,
anu growers as well as consumers are
awakening to the fact that sweeter and
more wholesome pork is being sent to
the markets. Germany and France COM
plain of our pork, and often with good
cause. No country in the world is so
well adapt to swine raising as this, and
more pork than can be consumed In the
States is grown every year. Foreign
markets are thus essential to the swine
raisers, but these cannot be opened and
kept supplied unless more pains are
taken in sending abroad good, sweet,
wholesome pork. American pork has
received bad name on the other side,
but with the improved method OF raising
swine on good sweet clover and grasses,
and fattcning them on new corn, there
is every possibility of greater success In
the business.
| AS 1t may not be practical always 10
pasture the swine out, IL is q good plan
to adopt system of soiling which will
keep the hogs supplied with green food
! in summer, and roots or silage in the
winter. If the hogs are given the run
of the hay stack they will subsist for
months with but very little grain. a
ration OF hay o. dry grass during the
! season when the pastures are covered
with snow will be very acceptable, and
greatly reduce the cost of winteTing the
| herd. Our pig money must now come
out of the pasture, the clover, the or
! chard, and other cheap foods. The old
demand may have been for pork in the
lard sense, but the coming demand is for
meat in the muscle sense, and good,
sweet, wholesome meat at that The
active hog, which has the range OF the
| fields, will produce this kind of meat
much faster and better than the inactive,
sluggish one, penned up and fed on an
exclusive diet of corn. The sluggish one
will fill up with fat, and the secretiOns
will be dried up and the blood will
thicken. The system of such an animal
is always more susceptible to disease,
! and besides 1t is always more costly ia
produce fat than good meat, and to-day
il Is the least value as food.
The old idea seems to have been TO be-
| gin 70 fatten the hogs as soon as born,
and as n result nothing but fat pork was
produced. People liked this less and
less, and then when the germs of dead
| ly disease were found in the great rolls
OF fat the consumers became frightened.
Pork was no longer the meat Of the peo-
pie. The hog that is brought up Ia
make muscle and lean meat, and then
when needed for the market fattened ON
corn, always pIeases the butcher and the
consumers. A complete change has thus
| been inaugurated in swine breeding, and
for the better. The result Is going TO be
more profitable for the breeders, and
more and superior pork for the eonsum.
ers. 1t will also blot out the bad name
which American pork has received
abroad quicker and more effectually than
all governmental interference. The
whole trouble and remcdy lies In the
hands OF the swine breeders. ". II.
Farmer. t1t American CaltiUdtor.
Keeping sows TO breeding.