The Opelousas courier., 1895-12-28
AND PLANTER
BREEDING SWINE.
'o'sary In the Selection Of a
Proper TyEcS,

IA the Selection Of thu
Proper Types
IT has always been the cafe him,
Icy people pay Insufficient attention
~, ~ the selection Of their breeding hoos
,hfs applies to those who are breadinn
shoroughbreds to sell as breeders &c
wen as to those who are breeding fo,
Meae production only. The end ~ hna
70 pork, and no hog is too roud for evan
sne,sn iaia larfasr Who produces merely
enough fneat Tor home consumption
course there will always appear ami.
nl"s OF such outstanding individual
merit as to keep them from the butch,
ers block, but that is 70 reason why
s'-'nted thorouEhbreds and cthe,
scrubs need he considered ,,sbod
enongh for meat hogs
Inc lonsleRged, lank and thorouo,
ssSa OF grade is not the most profit.
aole hog for the purpose for which a
Nos is intended, viz, the production
OF pork; and if the farmer will count
'he cost of making a given amount OF
pork rom this sort OF an animal he
WIZ readily see that the increased cost
VIII o than balance any difference
"hieh EXISTED in the original cost of
IA breeding stock. Good thorough
oreos are neither too good nor too ex-
pehsive Tor meat hogs" This must
oe apparent, for the only use to which
u hog can be put is to produce pork,
therefore if the thoroughbred has
any superiority over the razor-back.
II must be in his greater value for
1eeaing purposes. A good pig at
nVe dollars when two months old is
cheaper for feeding purposes than is a
Scrub costing nothing, and any man
can fully demonstrate the fact by
counting the cost of feed in relation to
their respective values at slaughter
ing The idea that 'anything is
good enough for 4 meat hog" is cost
ing farmers thousands of dollars an.
nually.
The first thing to be done is to Sc.
lect some one of the improved breeds.
At Is not very important which, and
our ticket is anything to beat the
u Having selected the breed we
desire to raise, the next thing is t Sc
cure good representatives of that
breed. There are two things to
be considered in selecting an
animal for breeding purposes.
First, pedigree; and, second, individual
merit. 1t is generally thought that
the time which the farmer would spend
studying the pedigrees of a breed of
hogs would be lost, but 20 greater mis-
take could be made. Certain families
in all breeds have become fashionable
because they have shown superior
Qualities, and it is evident that, other
things being equal, the animal whose
ancestors have shown excellence will
be most likely to produce progeny of
excellence. Therefore any person who
is going to put money into any breed
OF hogs should know enough about
the families of that breed to select
those most likely to produce good off.
spring. To select au animal of high in
divldual merit requires a knowledge of
what constitutes the best type of the
breed. This knowledge can only be OBJ
tanned by study and inspecting good
specimens. Because one has a better
hog and a fincrIooking animal than a
razor-back Is no proof that it is not a
scrub. There are a number Of men
who offer for sale what they claim to
be the best strains of the different
breeds who do not know the strains of
their respective breeds. In honest
ignorance many of them are in1ic ting
on their equally-ignorant customers
animals just a little removed from the
razor-baclz. This is due to the fact
that they have bought their stock from
persons who, like themselves, had
never seen the best Of the breed,
or from breeders who, against
their W interest and the dictates Of
their consciences. soE them their
''cu1ls" because they were not willing
to pay more than ''cull" prices. Many
people place too small value on quail
ty in hog; with them one hog is as
good as another, and SO long as he is a
thoroughbred and eligible to regisitra
tion they are satisfied. Scrubs of the
thoroughbred class are numerous, and
therefore an animal must be some
thing more than a thoroughbred. He
is worth a good price and will bring
it. Most people in the south think $40
a big price for q boar pig three or four
months old, when ia truth, If he is
good enough to a as a breeder he
is worth many times that in one
year to almost any farmer. One
noted Berkshire breeder in Mis-
souri, sold nearly 200 head in
1894 at an average Of SIS each
Still / have known men to send him
with the request that he send them
in exchange q 'frst-class pig" and
when they failed to get such we're dis
Is it reasonable to suppose
a man would sell a frst-ciass pig for
about half the price he gets for his
average?
If the prospective purchaser has had
experience to know what con-
stitutes q frst-cIass animal, and can
the purchase after a personal in
.pection of the stock, he may find some
young and unknown breeder who will
sell him q frst-class animal in breeding
and quality for from $12. so to S25, but
II he has not had this requisite expe-
or must buy by mail order,
then the only safe plan is to buy OF
well-known breeder and pay a
good price, say from SIS to $50. At
present q great many in the south are
north for trst-ciass pigs, but
to the fact that they are not
to pay irst-class prices, are
scrubs at scrub prices. Our
a L