The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1912-01-12

possible to raise hogs, and produce
pork In this intermountain country al
profit. Some, and perhaps the ma
5orfty of them, believe that. hogs car
not be grown and fattened al
profit in any country where
corn cannot be abundantly and
cheapy grown; in fact, they are
/ not backward in expressing their con
viction that hogs cannot be grown and
fattened without corn. After some
years experience in hog growing and
fattening in this western country, we
are convinced that these men are
greatly mistaken, and we believe that
| this section offers many advantages
for pork production that are not to be
| found in any other section of the
| United States.
1t may be said that there are five
prime factors that have to do with
profitable pork production in any coun-
try; these are, first, the ability, ex-
| perience and taste of the farmer; Sec
| ond, the nature of the climate; third,
the character of the soil, and its ca
pac1ty to produce an abundance of
suitable feed products cheaply; fourth,
the prevalence of disease and fifth and
most important, the demand for pork
products or the availability of a good
market. Let us consider briefly these
five factors, and apply them to our
conditions, and see how nearly we fill
the bill in this section. In the first in
stance, we have as progressive lot of
farmers as may be found in any sec
ton of the country. 1t is true that
in fart nf thnro hoy ~
that knowledge and skill in the bust
ness of rearing and feeding swine that
insures success, but this skill and
knowledge can be secured in a very
short time with a little practical ex-
perience and careful study. 1t can,
therefore, be said that in so far as the
first factor is concerned that our con-
ditions are favorable ~
AS regards the climate, this section
cannot be excelled in any other part
OF this continent for hog raising. This
is a broad statement, but l believe the
facts substantiate it. The weather is
uniformly dry, the seasons are moder-
ate, the air pure and invigorating and
the sunshine abundant and strong.
There is only one serious objection to
our climate from the hogs standpoint
and that is our extreme variation of
temperature in each twenty-four hours;
and this objection, while very serious
one, if not guarded against, is very
readily overcome. The hog is by ma
ture a semi-tropicaI animal, he has a
light coat of very coarse hair at best,
and is consequently very susceptible
to cold or chills. Again, the hog has
no perspiration or sweat glands in his
skin, and though he be a semi-tropical
animal naturally, is very easily over
come with heat. Most other animals,
Including man, are providentially
equipped with a means of cooling the
surface of their bodies through the
evaporation of the Precipitation which
exudes from the open pores of their
skin whenever the temperature of the
body rises abnormally This mer-l
c1ful provision of nature has
been denied the hog, consequent
ly, when he is exposed to the |
burning hot sun during the middle of
the day, and his body becomes over
heated, he should be provided with
some kind of shelter or shade: and |
with some means of supplying mois- |
ture for evaporation from the surface
OF his body. On the other hand, when
the sun goes down, and the chill air
from the mountains descends into
the valleys in the evening, or during
the night, the hog having no ade-
quate covering of hair is very readily
chilled. The result of which is very
apt to be a serious loss from pneu-
monia and other pulmonary troubles,
in the case of young pigs
and very fat animals. In summer, it +
is important, therefore. that hogs
should be furnished with some shell
ter in the fields. We provide SMALL
'A"-shaped, eight-foot square hog
houses. These are cheap, easily
moved from place to place and an y,
swer every purpose, both for shelter
from the sun and from the cool night
air, providing, they are we'll venti-
lated. In addition to adequate shell
ter all pasture lots for hogs in sum-
mer should be provided with bath"
in which the animals can go at will
not so much to clean their bodies as Ii
to cool themselves. Hogs should not
be forced to make wallow in some &
1lrty, filthy, stagnant pool of water {
N order to cool themselves. Provide
each pasture lot with small tank I
slght by eight feet square and ten /,
inches deep, made of plank or con- 4
crete, set into the ground, and have I
ms SoppdSu Win ITeSli, Clean water I
)nce or twice week, which will not
rold to exceed two or three barrels. i
Ind to this bath, each week. you b
should add about two quarts of some {
good coal tar disinfectant. 1t will be {
ound an excellent precaution against !
disease, and, particularly, those of a q
nature. and is the most eff i
ective method that / know of for 6
Keeping the animals free from lice |
md vermin. With these minor pro- q
ections against sudden extremes in q
emperature, this climate is certainly v
deal for hogs of all ages. i
Concerning the soil, little need be q
aid for it is such in almost every Nv
ection that it will produce a maxi b
mum yield of all kinds of cereal d
rains, as well as peas, beans and g