The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1894-12-19
AGRICULTURAL.
Pig Pork.

Waldo F. Brown.
My neighbor has just sold lot OF 10
spring pigs, ~ months old, winch aver
aged 22o pounds each l have been inter
ested in watching this lot of pigs, because
they were fattened largely on wheat. Dur
ing the 10 weeks that they were In he
feed lot they ate 100 bushels of wheat,
ground and fed as slop, and 80 bushels OF
ear corn, and they well finished al
in prime condition, bringing the top price
on the market. While it requires good
feeding to make this weight at ~ months
old, it is not difficult to do better If one
mas well-bred hogs and the right Kind of
food; and l think 200 pounds easily attain
able at months old if one has milk, or
even at less, and I have known pigs fed
largely skim milk to reach this weight
at months old. The best substitute l
have found for milk is slop made with
wheat bran for the basis, and old process
oil meal, and either ground wheat or wheat
mddlings for filling. Use bran largely I'M
til within two months of the time you wish
10 sell the pigs, and them during the fin
lshang, increase the proportion of oil meal
and middlings, and in addition feed them
what corn they will eat. Feed them three
times a day at regular hours, and only
what they will eat up clean.
III any question is settled in feeding, it
Is that the cheapest meat is always made
from young animals. The man who feeds
pig nine months to attain a weight posi-
Die in six, not only loses the labor of the
extra three months of feeding, but also
quite an amount of food. Another fact
Is undisputed, which is that under this
plan the risk of loss by disease is greatly
reduced not only because the time of
feeding is Shortened, but also because
hog so fed and cared for to be kept
thrifty and gaining continually is much
less liable to disease than either over
or under fed. After an experience of over
40 years with hogs, in county in Ohio
tnat has suffered from chnlGra nf1)Da bly
as much as any other in the Union, l am
thoroughly convinced that pigs confined
to lot and fed wisely a varied diet,
are IN almost no danger at all from chol-
era. 1t is safer and cheaper to make pig
pork in this way, and the quality of the
product is superior to that of the hog fed
on an exclusive corn diet. The meat is
marbled with lean instead of being a blub-
per OF fat. and animals are in much better
health. For 10 years or more past l have
put up meat from April pigs slaughtered
IN November or early December following
and our meat is of the finest quality
In addition to the right kind of food and
care. to get the best results | want the
pigs to be the offspring of mature mothers
ana Young sireS. Nearly all my experience
mas been With the Poland-China breed and
think we now have as good a hog as the
word can show in this breed: but for nor,x
purposes a cross on large mature Poland
'hlna soWs. of Berkshire or Essex boar
slVes pig that cannot be excelled for
early maturity; but do not use those cross
breed pigs for breeders, or you will have
no fxed type of hogs
| usually keep nv brood sou,s until +ba,,
are hve or six years old. and I have never
yet sofa an old SOW because | thought her
past the age at which she would give pro-
H.apie iltters, but sow five or six years
oid Is likely to become breachy or get a
taste for chicken meat or some bad habit
Whlch makes one glad to get rid of her
Would rather try to fence against a 4-year-
ola bull than an old in heat The
treatment of the SOW during pregnancy has
much to do with the value of the pigs Her
1000 should be abundant so that she will
pc IN good condition at narrowing time but
IL should not be exclusively corn as If is
100 heating. If your SOW has been sucked
down thln. feed literally for a month after
the pigs are weaned. If the SOW is running
on clover. the food may be corn but if not.
substitute bran for the corn. and feed one
quart of oil meal to each bushel of the
bran. The only time that brood SOW
should be fed heavily on corn is when she
IS nursing her pigs. and then she ought to
be fed literally rich slop, in addition
to the corn. After the spring filters are
weaned and short period of heavy feed
ing has enabled the SOW to begin regain
ing her flesh, she will do well on good
clover pasture without other food for eight
or ten weeks, but I would bring her I'D to
the feed lot, and feed slep for two or
three weeks before narrowing time When
the object is to get the pigs to market as
soon as possible. you cannot push them
too fast. Five feeds a day for the first
month after weaving will pay and thew
should be fed three times a day until sold
Two years ago l fed % April pigs and sold
them at Az months old, and the last month
they ate 10 quarts each per day of slop.
as thick as would run in the trough This
slop was made with roller process bran
and oil meal and with this heavy feeding
not pig was off it's feed during the en-
tire period. I always breed my sows for
two filters year, and near as can ar
range it, have them come the first week
in April and October. If one has thor
oughly warm hog house, with sides double
boarded, with building paper between the
boards, and tight fitting doors and win
dOws, the pigs can be dropped safely in
March, and it will pay every swine breeder
to have such a house There is one point
which many farmers do not seem to under
stand, and that is, that young pigs must
have exercise by the time they are two
weeks old, or they certain to become
diseased, and the better the mother suckes
and the fatter the pigs get, the more i'm
perative the necessity of exercise. I have
known hundreds of pigs dwinde and die,
simply because they were confined to
close pen and the owner had NO idea what
the trouble was While there has been an
occasional year of low prices of pork, TAX
ing a series of years. no farm product
has paid better and the farmer who in
diligently masters the art of making pigs
ready for market at six months DID, and
persistently follows the business, will most
certainly OrOSOpr-Praptical