The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-12-21
DOES TT PAY TO WINTER SWINE:
Il Is Profitable and Desirable 10 Do
SO if They Are Provided With
Warm. Dry shelter.

Py J.. ". Ingham. Sugar Ran. p.
Of course the boar and brood SONS
must be wintered. and according to
m~y-eNperience Il pays u winter shoteS
and fall pigs. II provided with warm.
comfortable winter quarter they viii
grow as fast IN the winter - in the
ummer and With rs littl" expensive
food.
Instead Of grass. which they can
not have. they viii eot considerable
clover or alfalfa hay. pumpkins. boiled
potatoes. turnips and r~utabaeaS.
The potatoes may he those too
small for market. BY forethought
cheap feeds e3n b provided and
hogs kept as cheaply in the winter IS
in the summer, bat they must not SUI
/ fer from the cold.
Hogs need comfortable quarters in
cold weather more than do horses
II cattle, because their hair is
cuarscr and thinner.
our best breeds Of hogs have hut
little hair. Animals that were de-
signed 10 endure the rigorS Of winter
without protection are covered with u
coat OF warm. thick wool or fur.
The Mid hog has long, thick hair.
with q finer furry covering under il
next the skin.
The man who has his horse clipped
must keep him well blanketed in cold
weather. So the men who have bred
off the hSir from their hogs should
have warm pens for keeping them
comfortable in frieid weather.
In Chambers Information for he
People" it is said: swine in a do
INVESTIGATED state require to he kept
very dry and warm, otherwise they
Will not thrive"
Formerly our pens had two apart
nentS-the one open and uncovered,
where the feeding was done; the other
inclosed texce~t the door,. havin" Il
right roof and a floor raised higher
than the floor Of the feeding apart
:nent TO prevent the water from run
ming in from thence and wetting the
bedding.
\ piece Of old carpet was tackled up
over the doorway, and hung down. The
hogs could push this aside when going
in and out. [ usually kept the door
of IL feeding apartment open 50 that
the hogs could have free range of an
orcahr for exercise in mild weather.
but found that when there was snow
on the ground, especially when it was
thawing. the hogs would wade around
) in the snow until their legs were wet
and cold. Then they would go in at
!, night and lie down until their legs
, We're nearly frozen and bring on the
rheumatism. sometimes so badly that
they could hardly walk.
The mthods | have described as my
CORNER practices are about the methods
Of swine keeping still practiced in this
q locality and in other places [ have yie-
tied.
e In 1884. after our new basement
barn was built. | bought four pigs OF
e the same litter, sex and size. and as my
t pens were full Of fattening hogs /
made a temporary pen in the base
ment Of the barn.
When the hogs in one pen were
q killed 1 took.two OF the pigs from the
2 barn and put them in the empty pen,
leaving the other two in the barn.
4 They were all fed and cared for by
myself, and fed and cared for exactly
= alike. When killed in the spring nc
person would have believed they ner.
Of the same litter.
Those kept in the barn were a third
heavier than those kept in the pen,
and had not devoured as much feed.
> Animals kept in cold quarters have
to consume more grain IN order tc
maintain the warmth Of their bodies
and in severely cold weather, if cx-
posed. will not fa.tcn at all.
Having accidentally learned a valua
bic fact, for twenty years after that
l kept our hogs. whether young or old
in he easement OF the barn during
thc Indictment season, and know or q
certainty that it pays TO winter swine
when they are kept in 4 warm place.
: Some people may object to having q
hogpen in the barn on the supposition
that the foul smell would nauseate thu
horses: sicken the COWS Or contaminat7
4 the milk. The answer IS that if hogs
are encouraged, there are 10 cleaner
y animals in the world.
5 There were TO more foul odors in
our barn than ii no hogs had been
kept there. and no stranger coming il
would know there was hos in it un-
less he happened to see them.
. Western farmers who constantly
:, keep hundreds of hogs should build
: warm pens for Winteriug them. tt
winter them in sheds in the field. OF
: beside the straWstack, is rot only crue,
llt unDTOtta bic.