The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1906-05-03
THE HOG PAYS.
With the Cow and Hen 1t Makes Valu-
able Adjunct to the Dairy.

The dairy heifer calf, the full blood
laying hen and the full blood hog
make three cornered combination
that a Minnesota, Iowa or Dakota
farmer can tie to. The calves and
pigs can be raised on the skim milk
from the dairy, and the hen will use a
large proportion of this kind of by
product to the very best advantage
while she is laying eggs.
In touching upon the subject of pig
raising we shall give our methods for
the benefit of those who are interested.
A person can start very cheaply in
the hog business, and the returns will
come much quicker than in many
other branches of stock raising. The
buildings can be cheaply constructed,
and the purchase price of the founda
ton animals will not be great, but we
would advise, by all means, that ma
ture animals of both sexes be mated
to produce the litters, and to keep
both the sows and the boar as long as
they produce large filters of strong
pigs. Some reader may say now:
why would you use mature animals
for breeding purposes? Simply be-
cause you want produced a strong,
healthy, vigorous pig, a pig that is
large when it comes, and one that will
be fighting for his nurse in less than
five minutes after he comes. With
such pig you have start for big,
strong, healthy, big boned hog that
can withstand the hardships of life
and possibly not take disease as
rapidly as pig from immature stock.
~ Now, let us use our thinking facul-
ties for few moments and see what
the situation is in this country, where
we are raising the lard hog. We find
that nine farmers out of ten keep for
breeding purposes immature stock,
selling off the old sows each year and
keeping the young ones to raise the
next years litter from. These young
sows can not be served handily by the
old large boar, consequently he too is
sold at a sacrifice price and young
one is bought, and the consequence is
that, year after year, we breed young
sows to immature sires, and we have
been doing this so long that we have
gotten a class of hogs that can with
stand neither hardships nor disease,
and if the hog cholera comes they are
sure to be the first to take it. Sup
pose we should treat our cattle or
horses or any other class of live stock
on the farm in the same way, how
long would it be before our COWS
would be no larger than sheep, and
how esaily we could breed our Clydes
down to little ponies. We would not
think of using this kind Of breeding
with any other class of animals, but
we say, it is only hog, and he will
be all right.
We want to raise but one litter a
year, and we want them to come from
about the fifteenth of April until the
first of May.
The litters should all come as
nearly as possible together, SO that
there will be little stealing by the
larger pigs. The sows should be fed
on a feed that is largely heterogeneous,
such as milk, oats, wheat, bran,
shorts, oil cake meal with but little
corn both before and after narrowing.
If this is done, they will do but little
roofing, and the danger of their eat
ing the pigs will be avoided. For a
few days after narrowing give the SOW
but little to eat in the shape of grain
and give her clear water to drink.
The little V-shaped pen makes
very good narrowing place for the
SOW. These pens can be cheaply built
and placed around in the hog lot.
They can be made 6xS feet with a 2x4
at the bottom and one at the peak,
leaving one end partially OPEN. Put
some dry straw or chaff in the pen,
and each SOW will choose her own
house. They should be put on an
elevation of ground or in such
location that the pigs will be kept dry.
These little pens are light and can be
turned in any direction in case of
storm.
The principal object in having the
sows farrow so late in the season is
that, this being the case, the pens can
be used. This gives the little pigs
chance to get out as soon as they will
need to and get exercise, the want of
which has been the cause of the death
of a great many pigs. Want of exer-
else makes them too fat. fat forms
around the heart and the lungs of the
pig; it gets the thumps and in short
time it dies.
Sows should have a good pasture to
range on during the summer season,
and we think good seeding of peas,
oats and rape is very good unless