The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1908-08-06
"Too FINE IN THE BONE"

Every year of the 25 in which we have
been engaged In agricultural journalism
and sometimes many times during the
year, we nave had complaints from
farmers that their hogs We're getting toe
fine IN the bone, says Wallace's Farmer
Sometimes farmers write us to know
where they can get a male with larger
bone. Other times they ask us what breed
they should cross with In order to in
crease the size of the bone.
They seldom realize that tina trouble
with hogs too fine in the bone is not in
the hogs primarily but in the farmer him
self. No matter what breed they are,
hogs will become too fine In the bone and
necessarily weak unless during the grow
ing period, when the entire skeleton Is be-
ing built VI, they have plenty Of bone
making material in their feed or other
wise accessible. Everything is added
to the hogs body from pighood up goes
In at the mouth, and everything in the
! pig when first born has gone into its
mothers mouth. If there is not suff-
cient bone-making material in the food to
build up a sufficient skeleton. then 1T will
not be built UP The brood sow may draw
build up the little pig, and as a result
build up the little pig, anr as a result
will be likely to break down when suck
ling these pigs, for the reason that her
bony system has been depleted by draw
ing on it for the support Of the young
sters.
We speak of this now because the time
to furnish bone material for hogs is in
the growing season; and If hogs are not
allowed plenty of other feed containing
proper b~one-making material, they are
certain to be too fine In the bone, and not
merely too fine. but too weak.
The great reason why hogs are too fine
In the bone is because they are fed too
much corn. Corn does not furnish a suf-
ficient amount Of bone-making material
f@~a IstN1n nt~ A I've %I4-- J--.- -
falfa or alfalfa meal with shorts, oat
meal or tankage. and there will be no
trouble with the bone, even If they come
from reasonably ~fine-boned ancestors Too
coarse a bone is not desirable; it Is gem
orally spongy. The medium sized solid
bone is the one that bears up the hog
and at the same time gives a perfection
of form that cannot be found in the
coarse-boned animals.
For example. we are told that the skele-
ton :of the trotting horse or the thorough
bred will weight quite as much as the
skeleton of the Shire or Clyde, although
the latter may be several hundred pounds
heavier than the former. The horse used
for speed, whether to trot or In the run
ming race, must have bone of such density
that 1t will be able to stand the impact of
the weight of the horse going at the rate
of 20 miles or more an hour. Compared
with this the toughest steel is exceedingly
brittle. This density, it will be seen at
once, can not be acquired by crossing a
coarse-boned animal on a %fne-boned one
for the purpose of increasing the size. It
must be fed into the animal.
Hence the farmer whose hogs are too
fine in the bone, and who wishes to in
crease it. need not expect to do so by
buying a coarse-boned animal OF the same
breed, or an animal of a coarser boned
breed, unless at the same time he inn
proves his method of feeding. Fineness
o~ n g G NJ tho hora n~A~l- -
large extent upon the gray matter In the
brain OF the man who feeds the hogs.