Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1902-01-13
Most Neglected of Farm Animals.

Most Neglected of Farm Animals.
A recent number of the New Eng
land Homestead contains an article
| by Frank HI. 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 we'll enough
alone" can be found than in the case of
the poor neglected pig. AS we all
know,the hog will live,and to a certain
extent thrive, under the most adverse
conditions. There are always a multi
tude Of things to be looked after on q
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
a pen scarce large enough for him to
turn about in, be made to pillow 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. GAS 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,
a few hours work would mean 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
Nthe influence of pure air and sunlight,
instead of being shut away from it by
a perpetual incrustation Of mud and
filth but enlightened customers are APP
to have peculiar views of their own or
the subject.
1t is rarely from any lack of knowl-
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 So 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 a
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, a little of the darkness could be
dispelled, so that the forms of the hogs
could be dimly seen. Then, also, it
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 70
fatten hogs. They were scarcely any
trouble. He poured their swill 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.
l 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 a 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 f1rmness and sweetness
of their pork I always feel like adding
a conditional perhaps" Now it
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