The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-07-12
Is 1T TRUE?

l saw in an article published few
days since that farmer in central
Illinois had fed his wheat to his hogs
and realized $1.40 per bushei as the re.
suit. If the article published in the
EAGLE Of the 7th inst. is a copy of the
above the printer made a mistake in the
figures or the story was too large for the
editor, for the price realized has been
reduced from 81 40 to ST. per bushel.
The dav read the first nemed article
the highest price paid in Chicago for
hogs was $685. per hundred. If he
got 81. 40 for his wheat he increased the
weight of his hogs twenty and forty
three hundredths pounds for every
bushel of wheat fed. The highest price
paid for hogs at the Wichita stock yards
on July 6 was s.. 60 per hundred, and the
Sedgwick county farmer to realize 81
for his wheat would be obliged to in
crease the weight of his hogs seventeen
and eighty-five one-hundredths pounds
for each bushel of wheat fed. Can this
result be obtained? | say 1t can. If
a bunch of hogs have been deprived
of food and drink for several days,
then weighed and fed all the wheat
and water they want, and weighed
again Immediately after feeding, | have
no doubt the result would equal the
above statements. But such statements
and such experiments have no value for
the practical farmer Many experiments
boy hoap trio hxr
and at the agricultural colleges, in feed
ing cattle, sheep aud hogs, for the pur-
pose of ascertaining the value of differ
ent grains for fattening purposes, and
also to ascertain the value of such grains
at various stages of growth and maturity
of the animals fed. In all these expert
ments corn has been acknowledged to be
the most valuable for fattening. The
buyer seldom asks or cares what kind of
grain the animal has been fed on if the
condition is good, and will pay no more
for a hog fed on wheat than for one fed
on corn.
| have been reading a number of
reports of experiments in feeding,
for the past twenty-five years and the
best result | ever saw reported was
eighteen pounds to the bushel The corn
was ground and cooked and fed to five
hogs IN close pen for a period of thirty
days. Most of the results reported
varied from nine to fourteen pounds for
the bushel fed. La no case were the re-
suits as good for wheat or rye as for
corn. Wheat must be ground to be fed
economically, for loss by indigestion is
greater than the cost of grinding. The
under which hogs are fed are
so varied that no safe conclusion can be
drawn unless an accurate account is
kept of all expenses. and full statement
Is made of the condition of the hogs,
ana the manner of feeding. TIE aver
age farmer keeps no account, but takes
his gross receipts, and figures backwards,
guessing at the amount of grain fed
and the expense of feeding. No ac-
count is made of the little expenses,
which, in addition to losses, add to the
cost of raising and feeding farm stock.
All the stock on the farm are fed from
the same crib without measuring or
the corn, and it is not often
chat the farmer can tell how much is
fed TO one kind of stock. The Kansas
farmer usually raises and natures his |
hogs, and if he makes ten pounds of |
pork from bushel of corn he is doing |
better than the average. This is at the |
rate of 90 cents per bushei, counting |
only the corn, with the price of pork at |
$3.50 per hundred. If he counts the |
cost of care and feeding, interest on IN
vestment III original stock and in feed, |
feed lots, average loss of hogs, medicine, |
salt, etc, he viii have to make quite a |
reduction from 56 cents to ascertain the |
net amount received for his corn.
My own experience of twelve years in |
raising and feeding hogs is confirmed by |
many reports which l have read, of ex- |
penments in feeding both corn and |
wheat. and | think | may safely say |
that the Kansas farmer who sells his |
wheat for 40 cents per busbel will re-
celve more net cash than the one who |
feeds 1t to hogs with the expectation of |
realizing 81. Theoretical farmers usually !
DO their farming on paper and if they |
attempt to put their theories into practice |
hey soon quit farming or change their |
Three or four years since [ |
saw in Il 81. LOUIS paper an account of a |
paper farmer, whose authorizations |
eqGalled, If they did not exceed. the |
most saRguine, which Colonel Sellers |
ever entertained. He proposed to rur-
chase several thousand acres of oak |
timber land in southern Missouri. fence |
it and stock it with 5000 breeding sows |
and at the end of Il year with what |
mast they could get and a little corn. ne |
to have 1000 hogs ready for |
market. The farmer who expects to |
realize S1.40 from his wheat by feeding |
il to hogs, belongs to the same list.
A FARMER.
Roth