Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1903-01-21
Hog Raising.

The hog is often regarded as filthy
animal that does not need any special
attention until fattening time and then
he is penned up in close rail pen with
out shelter. Many farmers seem to think
that the hog enjoys mud and filth. If
such persons would carefully note the
habits of hogs they would see that they
do everything in their power to keep
themselves free from all filth when PEN
ned up. The excrement is all deposited
in the fsrthest corner of their pen and
when it gets muddy they root great
holes in the ground to get pure fresh
earth and to get away from filth. 1t is
often the case that the hog raiser does
not pay any attention to these things so
the hog is left in his own helpless con-
dition and expected to yield profit to
his owner. 1t is no wonder that such
farmers declare that their pork costs
them from fifteen to twenty cents per
pound. There is nc other farm animal
that would live under such circum-
stances let alone growing and fatten-
ing.
In order that we make profit from
raising hogs some good breed must be
selected. The Poland China, Berkshire,
Chester White or the Duroc Jersey are
all good breeds and from carefully con-
Quoted experiments with these breeds it
seems that there Is little difference In
their pork producing qualities. The
breed that will produce the greatest
number of strong, healthy pigs from
the fewest number of brood sows and
care for them the best is generally the
most economical breed to select. My
experience is that the Chester White is
an excellent breed in this respect. tits
the equal If not the superior of any
other. The peronal preference of the
breeder should have some influence in
selection. A person is likely to take
better care of his fsvorite breed than he
would of one that he does not think SO
much of, and care is one of the essen.
tisl element of successful hog raising.
l raise Chester Whites and find them 10
be quite different hog from the Chester
White that person who has never tried
them usually describes. Many persons
think that the Chester White is tend
j er-skinned. lazy hog that cannot stand
the sunshine. They say that they are
especially liable to skin diseases. This
is no doubt due to the. fact that any
thing wrong with the skin is more easily
discovered on a white hog than on q
black one. I have never had any trou,
BILE with skin diseases among my Ches
ters.
/ have the pigs come early in the
spring and make killing hogs of them
the next fall. With reasonably good
care they can be made to weigh from
two to three hundred pounds at from
eight to nine months old.
There are many hog raisers who ar.
not satisfied with any of the STANDARD
breeds and want crosses. regard thi.
as mistake, as crosses are not usual,
as good as either pure bred or grade an
imals. If farmer cannot keep pure
bred hogs it is best to select male o.
some good standard breed and produce
grades, they are almost as good as full
bloods for feeding purposes and ar,
much more uniform than cross bred an
imals. In this case full blood NAL,
should always be used. raised grader
for number of years and found then
to be very good animal,.but l like tn,
pure breeds better. II pure breeds ar,
raised l often have chance to sell then
as breeders at q better. If pure breed
are raised | often have a chance to sci
them as breeders at better price thar
grades would sell.-A. J. Legg in Farm
lers' Tribune.