Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1902-10-23
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
s The Stocknaan's Column.
Influence Of Feed Upon Firmness O
Bacon,

- WI SP0st TItIIutCSS VI
Bacon.
Prof. e. G. Day of the Canadian sta.
tlon at Guelph, referring to an expert
ment carried on at the farm, says:
Hogs that have had plenty of exer.
else and mixed diet, or that have re.
ce1ved reasonable amount of dairy
by-products and a mixed grain ration
until they are 100 lbs. in live weight
can be finished on corn without injury
to the quality of bacon.
Close confinement in pens from birth
TO time of marketing has a tendency
10 nJure the quality of bacon, though
the effect is not always we'll marked.
me rational use of dairy by-products
tends to produce bacon of excellent
quality and seems to compensate
largely for lack of exercise.
unthrifty, unfinished hogs. or those
that have been kept on mere main.
tenance ration to keep them from be-
coming too heavy while holding for a
rise In prices or other reasons have a
marked tendency to softness. Exclus-
i've corn feeding during somewhat
extended period has given very unsat-
lsfactory gains and has produced ba--
con OF very soft, undesirable quality.
The mixing of middlings with corn to
the extent of two-thirds of the ration
at the commencement and one-third at
the close of the feeding has not been
successful in counteracting the bad ef--
fects of corn; the bacon thus produced
being soft and generally undesirable.
Barley, to the extent of at least half
the ration, seems to have an influence
IN mitigating the effect of corn. Bar
ley, either alone or in conjunction
with oats or middlings, has produced
bacon of first-class quality. Peas ap--
pear to have an influence similar to
barley. So far as our work has gone,
roots have had no injurious effects
upon the firmness of the bacon.
Feeding Corn to Advantage.
f. d. Coburn, secretary of the Kan
sas board of agriculture, says: Corn
thrown into well bred pig is cash.
Inc hog Is patented machine, fully
capable of taking care of all the raw
material set before it. 1t is self-reg--
ulating and self-oiling, never gives out
and is perfectly reliable. The machine
can take ten bushels of corn and put
them into the room that one bushel
Will require. Take a good hog and fill
him with corn and fatten him. Seven
pounds of corn will make one pound Of
fat, and that pound worth many times
seven pounds of corn The hog is a
condenser of freight rates. Ship him
to England and the freight on him
would be much less than the corn it
took to fatten him, and he will bring
several times the amount of money"
Take Care of Manure.
In hog raising, as in every other
branch of farming. DR.. Whitcomb en-
phasizes the need of returning to the
SOIL as large a proportion as possible
OF the waste products. One of the adj
vantage of pasturing hogs on leg,l.-
minous crops is that the manure is ev--
emily scattered over the ground. thus
cinching it and preparing it for the
production of grain crops In later
years, when hogs are kept in pens
while being fattened, the waste ma
terlals should not be allowed to accu.-
mulate in one place and lie unused
but should be scattered over the land
where most needed. Persistent effort
to keep up the productiveness of the
soil is essential to continued success.