The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1895-02-20
HORSES FED TO SWINE
Thu Latest Scheme Of the Montana
Hog RaiSerS.
WILD HORSES IN THOUSANDS
A Condition Brought About by the
Depreciation of the quines'
value-Cayuses Displaced
by Electricity.

"I saw in the Times n few days ago
where a gentleman from New York. pass
ing through Sioux City, stated TO re-
porter that tho stock men in certain parts
of Montana wore buying horses To
feed to hogs" said John Renner, who re-
Gently came from Great Falls, in that
state, to a Sioux City Times reporter.
"well, sir, that gentleman evidently
knew what he was talking about" con-
tinued Mr.. Renner, "ior he stated the
truth. Now, have lived out in Montana
a long time and am personally ac-
quainted with the men who are doing TINS
feeding. They live in Cascade and
Choteau counties, and are, by all odds,
the heaviest shippers in the state. The
conditions which have brought about the
existing state of afr airs, making it profit
able to kill horses by the hundreds and
feed them to hogs, are remarkable and
without q parallel.
"For q long time horses were raised in
Montana almost for the sole purpose of
shipping them TO the eastern markets,
where they were sold to operators of street
railways and owners of transfer and dray
lines. The very general adoption OF cleo
tricIty as n means of street car locomotlon
in the past few years has entirely knocked
the bottom out OF the horse business in
Montana. In these counties in which L
have named there were enormous herds
of horses running wild. They multiply
very fast, and IL is not an infrequent sight
to see thousands of horses in one band on
a hillside. When the shipments east
dropped down to zero the horse, as far as
his marketable value was concerned, be-
came a despised animal. This was so
much the case that owners ceased to
n -. l. Nnl
roundup and branding bee lapsed into a
simple matter OF tradition. Men became
horse poor in the sense that men are de-
scribed here as being land poor.
"They were situated just this way when
the feeding season opened this year, with
no corn to feed and lot of hogs on hand.
1t was very easy TO experiment in feeding
horse flesh to the swine, and n few days
were sufficient TO prove the profit of it.
At first there some little hesltancy
among the feeders themselves as to On.
tering into the business on large scale.
Some looked upon the idea of killing good
blooded horses and feeding them to hogs
as nothing short of brutal, and heard
Chotcau man say one day that il was cam
nibalistic. But their prejudces finally
were overcome by tho argument that
nearly always wins when the pockctbook
il touched.
There was big money in the scheme.
When bought in lots of, say 1000, the
horses could be purchased for 50 n head.
have been out at tho hog yards and seen
them prepare the meat. The horses are
shot and then skinned. Tho hides bring
ono dollar apiece, and that amounts to con
siderable revenue. The carcasscs then
are quartered and boiled in callrons. The
hogs will cat all of the meat that is given
to them, they fatten rapidly on the feed
and il is the kind of flesh that weigh,
heavy.
"There might be some reluctance on tho
part of certain people to ca, pork which
comes from such hogs, but in nine case'
out OF ten ignorance will be bliss. Aftel
all, horses are the cleancst of all animals
and it is only the old-timo prejudice tina
makes the difference. However, as there
is no law prob biting the killing and feed
ing of mans best friend to hogs. and a
the feeders of Montana have found i
profitable to do SO, he industry will likel!
continue TO thrive