Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1902-01-16
@@ricultural lore
Most Neglected of Farm Animals.

land Homestead contains an article
by Frank H. Sweet which is of inter
est to every raiser Of hogs. 1t may al
so serve as a warning to the thousands
who buy and eat pork with no thought
as to the conditions under which it is
raised. Mr. Sweet says: Perhaps in
the whole range Of farm life, no better,
or worse, example of let well enough
| alone can be found than in the case OF
the poor neglected pig. AS we all
know the hog will Iiyea to a certain
extent thrive, under the most adverse
! conditions. There are always multi
| tude Of things to be looked after on 3
farm, and some of them must be
| looked after promptly and thoroughly,
or they will be complete losses; others
can be somewhat neglected and still
counted to yield a fair return. The
! hog, Of all farm animals, Of all farm
work, is the most accommodating, the
most patient Of neglect, hence is the
most neglected. He may be put into
pen scarce large enough for him to
turn about in, be made to plOw his way
| through half his depth of mud and
| filth, be without shelter from the rain
and without straw for a bed, and yet
| he will grow and add his full share to
the farm profits. AS a pig, clean,
keen and healthy, he is put into his
narrow quarters, perhaps into four or
| five inches Of OoZy mud left by his
| predecessors, and from then to the
time when he, too, is ready for the
pork barrel there is but one thought
regarding him, to feed him to his full
est capacity.
| The farmer is not so much to blame
as might appear at first thought. He
| is very busy, the pig is very accOmmO-
dating, the results fairly sure. True,
few hours work would mean a good
| pen, with sufficient shelter and clean
| ground and straw for bedding, but
! there are fields to be made ready,
seeds to be planted, crops to be looked
after. and all impatient of delay, SO
| as the pig grows and grunts on con
tentedly he is passed over and the
other things attended to. His pork
may look all right and sell for just as
much as though it had been exposed to
the influence of pure air and sunlight,
instead of being shut away from it by
a perpetual incrustation Of mud ard
filth but enlightened customers are apt
to have peculiar views of their own on
the subject.
1t is rarely from any lack of knCwl
edge on the farmers part that the
hogs life is not clean one Even the
most conservative will admit that
other things being equal, the hog will
thrive better in clean quarters than in
filthy ones, that he would like to have
his in a better place and would attend
to it if things were not quite so
crowding." He is of the opinion that
clean hogs will eat better, fatten bet
ter and be Healthier all the way
through" and still 50 long as the hogs
are doing fairly we'll as it is the desir-
able cleaning up process is rarely at
tended to.
However, there are some who will
not admit this. | was shown about 40
hogs that were being fattened under
large stone barn. There were holes in
the floor of the barn through which the
litter Of the horse and COW stalls was
raked down. The basement had no
windows, and on first peering into it
everything seemed inky black. The
presence of the hogs down there could
only be known by their granting and
squealing BY persistent looking, how
ever little of the darkness could be
dispelled, so that the forms CT the hogs
could be dimly seen. Then, also, ii
could be seen that they were in an
oOzy lake of mud and stall litter. From
the time the young pigs were placed
in this basement until they were taken
out to be killed they never saw day
light And yet their owner assured
me with considerable pride that he
had the finest place in the world 20
fatten hogs. They were scarcely any
trouble He poured their swiH through
one hole in the floor and raked the lit
ter of the stalls through other holes
and that was all. He put in the pigs
and took out the hogs to be killed, and
the basement made an easy, conven-
lent place to stow the barn manure.
made no comments, for he was a man
on whom comments would have been
wasted. He knew the very best way
to do everything, and that was just the
way he did it. And as matter of
course, his pork was as delicious as it
was perfect. He assured me of this
fact, as he assured everyone else who
would listen.
This is not an extreme case. There
are many hogs kept in easements. in
pens under buildings away from light.
living in filth. And when their owners
boast of the firmness and sweetness
OF their pork l always feel like adding
a conditional perhaps" Now it
seems to me that there is sufficient
room on our farms, and that enough
time could be saved from our other
work to enable us to extend a share OF
the COUntry's boasted cleanliness TO
our hogs. Let us give them commod-
ious quarters on high, dry ground with
plenty of sunlight and shelter from the
rain, and good bedding. Straw is
cheap. We can spare time to coddle
our turkeys, to look after the wants of
our colts and calves, and yet they are
no more profitable to the farm than its
hogs. Besides. we are to eat the hogs.
and if for no other reason it seems to
me that what we are to eat should be
kept clean. Imagine a pig put into q