Imperial Valley press., 1912-11-12

mind only one man in this country who
has ever devoted his life's work TO
raising hogs, and the son, after the
Great Britain you find this to be the
case pretty much all over, not only
in breeding hogs, but in all other kinds
of stock. This is the reason why Brit
ain is termed "the stud farm of the
world"
Location Important
When one starts out to establish b
herd of pure bred hogs, the location
should be taken into consideration. Ii
in the summer time the weather should
become very hot. abundance of shade
should be provided. The character ot
the soil should be taken int oconsid-
Grafton, because hogs need a variety
OF mineral substances for the normal
working of their digestion and assim-
ilation. also for the production of bone
II is true that these mineral sub
stances may be supplied artificially
but this is never quite as good a.
when they are found in the natural
state. The farm that is used for rails
ing a herd of hogs should be near
a shipping station, because both the
shipping facilities and the demand for
such hogs ought to be taken into con
sideration.
Selecting Hogs
The breed of hogs that the young
breeder determines 10 breed should be
of the kind that will sell in the locality
where he establishes his herd. If he
is breeding for pork, any of the Cali
fornia breeds, such as Berkshires, Po
land Chinas or Duroc Jersey will b,
all right.
Great care should be exercised in the
selection of the brood sows when one
determines to start a herd. Prolif
cacy is one of the foundation stone:
which should be used In starting a pure
bred herd. The. writer has in minf
one of the above breeds which has
been knocked considerably by the 9th
ers on account Of not being prolific
This is absolutely without foundation
The same trouble is found in all breeds
If care is not exercised to omit thi.
danger.
III SeltCltHS SOWS, OHt odS
always to buy pigs from large litters
and the boar should be selected from
ltters of the same kind. The old com
mon law stands good in this case
like gets like"
Size is another foundation stone
which should be used in establishing
a herd of hogs. and great care should
be exercised to know just exactly how
that size has been attained in the herds
of hogs you should visit when about
to purchase n foundation herd.
How Hogs should Grow
the growth of a hog. No hog can
show the best of which he Is capable
unless he is kept in uniformly good
condition throughout his entire exist
ence. He must be fed well from the
day he was dropped in order TO Sc
cure rapid healthy development at an
early age There must not be any set
back 20 growth or condition. otherwise
the loss will assuredly be greater than
the gain previously made. Therefore
the new breeder must be fully deter
mined that the sows he is purchasing
have the qualities Of what we have
above stated. or his sows will not have
the size which is so essential to the
developing of a first class herd.
Quality
This is another foundation stone
which must be used in building up a
herd of pure bred hogs. Quality in
hog should be considered just the same
as in a short-horn or in a Holstein
when the whole general appearance
Is that of smoothness and refinement,
you have then quality in a hog. When
you find a sow that is coarse and un-
calmly in her makeup, discard her, be-
cause il will take a generation to
breed her offspring up to smoothness
and refinement known as quality. When
we speak of a SOW being full of quail
ity, we mean her hair is fine, the skin
the bone is also smooth and
not too large, the flesh showing con-
siderable firmness and elastic to the
touch, indicating large proportion of
meat. If a young breeder starting out
in the hog business will look to these
three great essential points, size, pro-
Efficacy and quality, and will exercise
care in the developing and managing
of his herd, he will have started out
on the right road to breed hogs which
are in great demand today in Califor
MIA.
An Exemplary Instance
Another drawback to the producing
Of hogs in this state for the market is
he careless and slow way in which our
hog raisers carry on their business.
instead of having two crops year
hey seem to be thoroughly satisfied
with one, short vne at that, and
acking both quality and size. The
writer has in mind one hog plant in
his state which If the rest would
.nnv frnm would greatly mulfinly the