El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-08-06
Hog Raising In Irrigated Regions
By III. H. Schultz

sows are good mothers, and originally
| the Berkshire was very prolific, but
due to breeding for prize-winning some
families have become shy breeders.
Therefore in selecting animals for
breeding, care should be taken to Sc
cure those from prolific ancestors
The Berkshire has fat and lean web
distributed in the meat, has short head,
nose and legs making waste 1t has
black and white on the face, feet and
tips of tails and is an attractive hog
generally
DurOc-Jerseys.
The Duroc-Jersey is a red. smooth,
thtck-meated hog and typicauy of the
lard kind. 1t is active. hardy. good
feeder and grazer and when we'll fed
it natures early and becomes very
heavy when full grown. 1t is a prolific
breed, averaging nine pigs to the litter
In Colorado, mature sows are managed
to produce two filters a year The
carcass often has more bone than either
the Berkshire or PoIand-China, with
meat often not so fine grained Coarse
ness of bone and hair, particularly Of
the hair along the back, should be
avoided. Breeding animals should have
strong pastures; Duroc-J Jerseys are apt
to be weak in this respect
POlau0-Ch1na8.
Mr. CottrelI describes the Poland
China as an almost perfect meat max
ing machine not excelled by any breed
of any kind Of live stock for convert
ing feed into flesh. 1t has a great ap-
petite, good digestion and is lazy. With
proper treatment il can be marketed
any time after six months old Typical
ly a lard hog. 1t has a thick, short,
massive body, fine bone, hair and skin,
small head and short legs. 1t has thick
flesh and heavy shoulders and hams,
and broad, thick loins, but matured ami
mails have too large a proportion of fat.
Overlooking of corn has a tendency to
make the Poland-China poor breeder,
a good feeder giving birth to but one
to four pigs in a litter in such cases.
If they are selected from good pro-
life strains and fed muscle and bone
making feeds, they are as prolific as
any breed, averaging z 1-2 pigs to the
litter.
A Bacon Hog.
The Tamworth IS a bacon hog and
looks like a razor back" 1t has a
smooth, long, deep, thin body and has
been bred to yield as large a weight
as possible of choice bacon On the Col
oradO Agricultural College farm, the
Tamworth sows average ten live pigs
per ntIeE. a lWO-ySdr-OlQ SOW weigh
ing $50 pounds had Is live pigs OF one
narrowing. one fully matured SOW can
produce two filters a year. At the Iowa
Agricultural College, a SOW of this
breed raised SO pigs in one year. The
TamwOrth IS solid red in color, hardy,
active. good on pasture, has a large
proportion of lean meat and produces
large filters. The lard hog can stand
a period of neglect, but the Tamworth
hasn't the fat 10 carry him over, Is
apt TO be stunted if not properly cared
for.
Clean Water Needed.
Feeding hogs with rations that are
rich in protein. as are the staples Of the
irrigated regions, causes them to drink
larger quantities of water than when
fed on starchy feeds like corn. They
should therefore have access to clean
water. Irrigation bitches or streams
are great carriers of disease and hogs
should be kept away from them It is
convenient where water is not handy
in pastures to mount a barrel upon a
small sled and carry it this way to
the hogs waterer. When a hog has to
travel some distance to water, he is
apt to overload himself instead Of
drinking small qua antilles often
Rolled Grain Best.
The grain in semi-arid regions is
harder than that grown in humid parts.
and 1T is therefore not economical to
feed it dry and whole. Rolled grain is
better than the ground kind AT the
Colorado station it was found that
ground barley was one-half better than
whole bald barley; that ground feed
barley was one-twelfth better than
whole-fed barley, and that ground corn
was one-fifth better than whole corn.
Soaking grain "a to As hours gives the
effect of grinding. but in hot weather
the grain may sour or freeze in cold
weather before II is eaten. Cooking
grain reduces the food value.