The Lafayette gazette. [volume] (Lafayette, La.) 1893-1921, 1896-01-18
FARMER AND PLANTER
bhEEDieeo SWINE.

DNEeOlee0 SWINE.
CaFe Necessary IN ths osleesioa % The
Rropoe 1ypss.
It has always l,een the cas4 that
many people pay insn@cient attention
to the ssleetloh II their bteeSin9 horH
This applies 10 those who sfs breed In
thoro1ga,bfeds ~ sell ~ breeders, a
well - to tl,ose Who Ake breeding fof
meat production only. The end Of hog
y pork. and NO hog is too good fof even
tho small farmer who produces merely
enough meat Tor home consumption.
% course there will always appear ami
mails OF such outstanding individual
merit AS to keep them from the butch.
er's block. but that IL no reason why
stunted thcrouehbreds and other
scruba need be considefed good
enotaRls for meat hogs"
The long -lcgEed. iank and thoroiR h-
| bred or grade is not the most profit.
able hog for the purpose for which /
hog IL intended, viz. the production
OF pork: and IL the farmer will count
the cost OF making a given amount of
pork from this sort of an animal he
Will readily see that the increased cost
will moro than balance any difference
which eAtsted iii the original cost Of
the breeding stock. Good thorough
BREEDS are neither too good nor too ex-
Pensive for meat hogs This must
be apparent. for the only use to which
i
therefore If the thoroughbred has
any superiority over the ranor< bacl<s
1T must be In his greater value fof
feeding 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 time The idea that ''nny thing is
good enough for meat hog" is cost
ing farmers thousands OF dollars an
nually.
The first thing to he done is to Sc
leet some one of the improved breeds.
IL Is not very important which, aud
our ticket is anything to beat the
scrub" Having selected the breed we
desire to raise the next thing is to Sc
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
ho2s would be lost, but NO greater miss
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 |
be most likely to produce progeny of |
excellence. Therefore any person who |
is going to put money into euy l,reed |!
Of hogs ehoald lsn6w enough about |
The families of that breed to select |
tfose most likely to produce good Off
spring. 10 select an animal Of high i'm
dividual merit requires g knowledge of
what euhst;tates the Best type of the |
bleed. This knowledge can only be OBJ
tanned by study and inspecting good
specimens. Because one has u bettct
hog and = ahsf-1ooking animal than a
ra zor- back is no proof that it is not
scrub There are a number of men
who offer for sale what they slairn TO
be the b.ss stfaiiis 81 the different
breeds who do not know the strains of
their respective breeds. In honest
ignorance many of them are in1lic ting
ansmeas just little removed from the
ia Tor back. This is due to the fact
that they have bought their stock from
persons wb6a lsls the1a selves, had
aever seen the best of the breed,
Of from breeders who. against
their own interest and the dictates Of
their conscienccs. soka them their
'culls" because they tvsre hat willing
% pay more than '.eull'' prices: Many
,eople place too amail value on duali=
y ia hogi With them One hog is as
rood rs another, and SO long as he is a
HOrougn Ored aud eligible to rcRisitra |
ion they are satisfied. Scrubs of the
thoroughbred class are numerous, and
therefore, an animal must be some
hing more than a thoroughbred. He {
8 worth good price and will bring s
{. Most people in the south think $40 i
big price for a boar pig three OF four /
nonths old, when in trta tn; If hs is I
God enough to SAFE as breeder he
worth many times that in one 7
ear to almost any farmer. One :
oted Berkshire breeder in Mis-
ouri sold nearly 600 head in /
800 at an average of S45 each t
till 1 have known men to send him
e5 with the request that h. send them
I exchange sRrst-class pig" and
hen they failed to get such were dis
ppointcd. Is it reasonable to suppose
man would sell hrst-class pig for y
bout half the price he gets for his =
q
II the prospective purchaser has had
imcient experience to know Whist con- q
flutes a f3rstsc1asa animal, and tHri !;
AXE the purchase after a personal in
'ection of the stock, he may find some u
Dung and unknown breeder who will L
III him 6rst-class animal in BREEDING II
I'D quality for from S12 so to se5, but
he has not had this requisite expe- Ii
once, or must buy by mail order, 81
len the only safe plan Is to buy of I:
me well-known breeder aud paw a II
BOD price. say from $25 to $50 At 81