The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1905-04-08
FARMER DPLANTER.
MISTAKES IN HOG RAISING.
1t Isn't Always the big Hog That
Figures Out the Most Profit
to the Raiser.

Why men persist N raising the eX-
ira large hogs, l can not see. Especial
ly bad is this in spring and summer.
Those very large hogs are not what is
wanted at the pens nor are they the
profitable hog for the producer. They
are too large. The young medium pork
er is the most profitable to feed and
the best seller. A recent stock report
quotes the sale il Cincinnati of ten
425 pound hogs at $500, (tops were
$500 S1.00 on the hundred less than
tops and the same amount less than
light shippers and medium hogs. Five
dollars and twenty cents was the low
est price quoted that day OF straight
fat hogs. Now those hogs evidently
were near two years old and at the
corresponding period last year would
probably have been light shippers
which were worth then $3.50; 200 to
275 is about the right weight for fall
and winter and 125 20 IT'S in spring
and summer for then light hogs are
wanted and are the highest price type
often by 25 cents on the 100 pounds.
Spring pigs should be fattened that
year for the %asOns that they will
then bring the best figure, that they
are less liable to get diseased and that
they are quicker and more prOfitably
turned into cash. Do not pen your
hogs but rather lot them. Give several
acres to fattening hogs, large range to
STOCK hogs. Change feeding place as
often as they get it 100 muddy or too
dusty, as the case may be. Some men
ar > SO thOughtless or careless as to pen
hogs, particularly those for their meat,
in q very small space for the whole
feeding period. This they soo work
up into a perfect loblolly of mud and
filth The scent of that pen can be
detected for nearly a quarter Of a mile
and is detrimental 10 the health of
nan and beast. I would not buy a
hog out Of such a place to feed and
would not buy it to ship unless I
could get it off right away, for there is
mos, likely disease in its system. 1t is
an ideal breeding place for cholera.
Another mistake is in feeding corn or
other feeds when hat feed is worth
more than the pork it will produce.
There were thousands Of hogs fed last
summer on corn worth nearly one cent
a pound and the hogs sold at Az to
81 cents per pound. Many expert
ments show that it takes 5 to Z pounds
of dry corn to produce a pound of
pork. Figuring On this basis it is
easy to see that th>re is not much
profit there. But others made pork
out of the cheaper feeds such as clover,
grasses, peas, grainfield pickings, etc.
Others feed too long-after they cease
to put on pounds ~prOftably. That
plan of making them extra tight does
not recommend itself to me as being
proper. That man who has a car or
even half a carload on feed has de-
cidedly the advantage of the one with
just a few, for he is in position to get
the last dollar by shipping for himself,
or If he prefers to sell at home the
trader can better afford to figure very
close with him on a car or half car
in n place. He is saved the time
and expense of buying and collecting
many small herds and can buy with
mere certainty of getting that DAVIS
figures. 1t certainly is a mistake to
hog down corn as some men do. The
hogs break dOwn the stalks, eat part
OF each ear, pas on to a new one and
so on leaving from One-third to one
half of the ear to spoil. This trouble
can be partly offset by allowing plen-
ty of shoats that are too small to
break down the stalks. These will
have to eat the down and partly eaten
ears. But is the fodder of no value?
l always thought the man who hogs
down his corn, did it not because he
thought it the wisest thing to do, but
because he was too lazy to cut and
feed in the regular way. The way
some men hog corn down results in the
wasting of about one-third the corn
and all the fodder. Hogs should not
be fed in the opposite end of a large
field. to the one with the water and
shade SO that they come up painting
and almost too tired to cat. Nor is hill
climbing profitable exercise fer fat
porkers. 1T takes Off the pounds that
you are striving to put on. It is better
to have a small lot or field with water
and shade for shelter in abundance.
Most farmers wait until late in the fall
to fatten their hogs as is evidenced by
the large receipts at the stockyards in
November and December. This is
probably to feed the corn when
cribbed. but the expense of cribbing
can be saved by early feeding, a bet
ter quality of fodder secured. higher
price for the product and a much dryer
and more pleasant season for feeding.
Then too no animal that is fed out-of-
doors. will put on a pound as fast as in
reasonably warm and dry weather such
as we have in September and October.
e. w. Jones, in Epitomist.
N0NsT NEGT ECT ODcuApn