Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1891-07-22
THE PIGGERY.
Pigs for Profit.

|
The most successful poultry raiser I
ever knew, a woman whose sales of poul-
try and eggs reached So, 900 a year, laid
| down as a rule never to be deviated from,
| to push all stock SO as to make the
growth as rapid as possible, and sell just
! as soon as marketable. A man who has
! for several years grown $50 pigs yearly,
and sold them at six months old, says no
! farmer can afford to feed pig longer
than this. / have attained q weight of
200 pounds at this age, and found the
cost per pound much less than when I
fed longer, and made weight of 300
pounds or more and the risk of loss from
disease is very much less than from older
hogs. If pigs are sold at this age the
spring filters need not be dropped till
cold weather is over, say April 1, and
will be marketed before winter weather
sets in, so that no feed will be wasted in
! maintaining vital heat. The fall filters
can be dropped in time TO get a good
start before the cold weather sets in, and
! in good hog house can be kept thrifty
all winter and sold IN early spring. [
find it profitable to keep the fall filters
till month or more older than the
spring filters, so as to finish them off for
market after the cold weather Is over. /
lind 1T prOhtab bic to raise two filters Il
year, for mature SOwS give the largest
and most vigorous pigs, and the cost Of
keeping full-grOWn sow is large, and
the second litter will add to the profit.
To make pig-growing profitable they
must be pushed from the start, and at
the same time good judgement must be
| exercised in feeding. Milk is the best
and corn the worst feed for pigs during
the first few months when they are form
ing bone and muscle. Yet can make
good thrifty pigs without milk, and can
raise fairly good pigs with corn as the
main food. Next to milk l prefer bran,
oats and oilmeal, and can make fairly
good and palatable slop from these, and
push rapid growth. The first thing to
be done is to get the pigs to eating before
they are weaned, so that their growth
will not be checked when taken from
the mother. Until four months old the
growth of frame should be pushed as
much as possible, but do not attempt to
fatten them, and for this reason the less
corn they eat the better. At four months
old begin to feed corn, moderately at
first, but in ten days you may give them
all they will eat, but you will get growth
as well as fat, and more lean meat, if
you keep up the bran-slop until they are
ready for market. [ believe in feeding
three times day just what they will eat
clean, and so they will always come with
a good appetite for the next meal, rather
than to keep food by them all the time,
as some do. | have for many years fat
tened my own meat from spring pigs fed
in this way, and | think [ have better
quality of pork than it would be possible
for me to buy.-NeaO York Tribune.
Notes.
DON'T breed more sows than you can
properly care for
IT is poor policy to keep pigs of all
ages and sizes together.
SEE that the sows about to farrow are
not left out some cold night, and a lot of
dead or dying pigs found in the morning.
Don't stint the young sows you intend
to breed soon. Oats, wheat middlings,
and little oil-cake will be much better
for them than heavy corn feeding.
AVOID too close in-breeding, keep in a
good healthy place, and do not feed too
much corn, and hog cholera will go by
your pens much quicker than it will go
by the pens where these rules are not
observed
IT is the feeling with breeders of pure
bred hogs that within the coming year
breeding stock will be in great demand
in many hog-growing sections. On ac-
count of the scarcity of corn farmers
have sold off their stock too close. Of
the extent of this error it is impossible to
judge. Under pressing necessity the
short supply of breeding stock retained
will repopulate the farms with wonder
full rapidity.