Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1902-02-27
Facts for Our Farmers.
How to Have Good Pics.


raiser, and in order to keep these in
mind without fail he must have a
liking for the business. Neither
will it do in starting out to think that
any kind of SOW is good enough to be-
gin with. What the farmer wants to-
day is not the razorback or back
woods hog, but an animal that will
produce the greatest number Of
pounds of the best pork at the least
cost a pound He should therefore
select his sows with care, and choose
only such as are best suited to his
wants. He should certainly see
that they are in good, strong, healthy
condition at breeding time-not too
fat, but, on the other hand, not too
thin in flesh, since to starve brood
sows means, positively, starvation to
ones pocketbook.
The male, of course, should be pure
bred and it is better to have the sows
bred so as to farrow in March and
April for spring filters, and in Septem-
Der and October for fall litetrs. March
filters are preferable for the spring
ones, but in order to have them a sue
cess the narrowing pens must be good
and warm. With early spring filters
one can grow and sell his pigs before
the poultry market has full sway,
and it also enables him to have his
SOws farrow earlier in the fall, which,
n turn, gives the pigs a chance to
set a good start before winter sets in.
During the period of CESSATION with
sows they should be fed, not corn
exclusively, but some bone and muscle
forming food. They should have
plenty of range, too, that they may
take proper amount Of exercise. PO-
tatoes, boiled and mashed, mixed with
ground oats and corn, and a small pOr
ton Of bran added, make a good feed
for brood sows during this period.
AS potatoes are too high priced to be
fed very much to hogs this winter,
however, one may substitute, if he has
them. clover heads that have been
rubbed off in the feeding of the barn
stock. They should be gathered up,
and, having been boiled with oats, a
small portion of bran added to them.
! If little whole corn is fed, this con
| stitutes a good ration, indeed.
1t is desirable to have the sows at
| narrowing time not helplessly porky
| fat, but broad, strong, active and
muscular About week before the
! little ones are to appear place the SOW
| that is to farrOw by herself, and pro-
vide everything for her comfort and
| Hn Of Nffc inc
! After narrowing feed the SOW lightly
at first with sIOp of dishwater and a
handful or two of bran added, warming
it if the weather is cold. Increase
and enrich the feed gradually, and
when the little porkers are seven or
eight days old add some bran shorts
and middlings; sweet milk, if it is
obtainable, should also be fed, and
with it, sparingly, some oats and corn.
When the pigs are two weeks old
the SOW may be put on full feed, pro
vided the former are watched care
fully to see that they take sufficient
exercise At about three weeks old
| they will begin to eat, and should the
SOW knock them out of the trough, as
she may, the only way to do is to place
a trough for them where they will be
out of her reach. Sweet milk should
be given them, if possible, while, after
a little, brown shorts, ground oats and
corn may be mixed in.
After they are about five weeks old
nearly all danger in this line will be
passed. and better feeding in this line
can take place. When they are from
seven to eight weeks old they should
be weaned by taking the SOW away;
they will not fret much at this age
and by careful feeding one can sooT
have them again growing nicely
Frederick o. Sibley, Milford, N. Y.
Prospects for Dairy Farming.
Taking the country in general, the
field of dairy farming never held forth
better promises than it does at pres
ent. During the last year the price
of butter and cheese has been uniform
ly high, especially that of cheese. An(
there is no reason for believing tha
the active condition of the market is
not to continue In fact we have
reason for anticipating better prices
for butter and cheese the coming
year than we have had the last.
In the Department of Agriculture a
Washington vigorous efforts have
been made in catering to foreign trade
for butter. The efforts of the depart
ment have been quite successful. Witt
a larger expectation of butter we are
assured of better prices at home.
The impending doom of the coloreC
oleomargarine interests also gives
great hope to the dairyman. Thu
victory of the dairymen of this coun
try over the manufacturers Of col
ored cleo is simply question Of time
1t seems, however, that this victor,
can be gained by other than lega
measures. though perhaps very mucl
more slowly. The decadence OF tn
cleo interests is assured by improving
our genuine butter. What we wan
is more and better creamery butte
and less poor dairy butter.-Johl
Michels, in Michigan Farmer.
Feeding Horses.
The ordinary horse has a stomach
with a capacity of somewhere betweel
three and four gallons, and yet l hav
frequently seen men give their horse
regularly hay enough to fill from tw'
TO three. times his capacity. Such
course is entirely wrong, and tn
feeder has but to make few com
PARSONS in order to come to such