The Twin Falls times. [volume] (Twin Falls, Idaho) 1905-1916, 1912-01-19

Wnen i speak OF early maturity
mean hog that will attain a weight
OF ESQ pounds at eight and half to nine
months of age. Now, II / were buying
feeders, which Is an uncommon prac-
, tise in the hog business, fguratively
; speaking l would go into hog lot
: and whenever a pig, upon being
, scratched, would lie down on its side
and "whoof, whoof," that's the one ]
would be inclined to select as it's dis
! position would be favorable to quick
fattening.
l am not recommending any definite
rules for you to follow, simply give
you my opinion. My purpose is to raise
these questions in your own mind and
let you work them out for yourself
No one can stand up here on this plat
form and lay down definite rules for
you to follow that will insure sue
cess of the hog business for you I'M
less you like the hog, like the smell,
and mix little brains with the slop.
Be like the old Poland China breeder
back in Iowa who didn't eat pork, nei-
Their did he permit his family to do so,
which was the great sorrow Of that
/ good household One OF his neighbors
was greatly surprised one day, upon
questioning him concerning the mat
| ter to have him reply that he wasn't a
canibal and that none Of his family
would be If he could help it.
There are unlimited opportunities in
the hog breeding industry. You will
make success of it IL you like the
business and study the suggestions of
others. working these matters out for
yourself The breeders back in Ne
| braska, Iowa, and Illinois, have no
| lead over you. They have been rails
| ing hogs for sixty years or more
though it is very seldom you hear of
them producing a 1400-pound hog at
20 months of age, yet book in 1868
breeder in Connecticut fed two hogs
under the direction Of the department
of agriculture. One weighed 1857
pounds at twenty and one-half months
of age and the other 1452 pounds-why
cannot you do that today? You want
early maturity in hog. These two
hogs weighed 81 pounds and 343
pounds respectively at six months of
ago. You don't hear of that being
done very often at the present time l
would like to see the breeders of Ida
no set the pace for this whole country,
and there is absolutely no reason why
| you cannot do it as all conditions here
|
Allister will point out to you, are as
| favorable, or more so, than in any
| other part Of the country, but you need
| good stock to start with, and it's cost
| will soon be returned in the breeding
stock 1t produces.
AS I remember it, the subject of this
discussion is "a Good Hog and the
Idaho Farmer" Probably it would
have been equally as appropriate and
just as easily understood if it had
been "A Good Hog and Good Farm
en-" but at any rate / am not going in
to the same detailed description of the
Idaho farmer as l have the hog, but
there is one thing am going to prove
to you and that is that the Idaho farm
er can better afford a good hog than
any other farmer In the United States.
According the government statis-
tics, during the year 1909, this country
produced 100000 hogs, of which the
great, grand, and glorious state of
Idaho contributed 143,OO0 head, about
one-third of one per cent. But you
say comparison on that basis is not
fair, that but small area of the state
Is in cultivation. Then let us make a
comparison with the acreage in actual
cultivation to feed adaptable to the
hog. In the state of Idaho there were
eight pigs raised to each eighty acres |
in actual cultivation to such crops. |
When we consider the large herds in |
the state, this would leave a portion |
of the ranches without hogs or but |
very few, and I will venture to say
that the by-products from such ranch
es, that otherwise would be practically |
wasted, would support double or ire
a MI y,oh nf ND ON,
right in this 1t would increase the |
production of the state by more than |
one million dollars. That would go a
long ways in taking care of the taxes |
we are complaining of so bitterly, but |
please do not understand me as at |
tempting to shield the taxes, as that is |
bigger job than l want to tackle.
Let us make a comparison with sew
eral of the greatest hog states of the
country: Iowa heads the list with
value Of pork produced in 1909, $751;
100000. Nebraska produced $4,000
900 in pork and Idaho slightly more
than 81 100000. But that comparison |
is hardly fair to Idaho because great |
percentage of the state is not in cul-
tivation, so comparison of the value
of pork produced with the value of |
feed produced that sustains a hog
would serve as better criterion. In
Iowa for every dollars worth of pork |
produced there was raised $3.50 wsrth |
Of feed; in Nebraska for every dollars |
worth of pork, $500 in feed, and in
Idaho for every dollars worth of pork, |
$4,000 worth of feed. You will note |
the Iowa farmer found it advantage
Gus to convert Is times as much of his |
feed into pork, and the Nebraska farm |
err 10 times as much, as the Idaho |
farmer, and II we do not have that |
country beat for hog raising, both in |
the production Of grain, alfalfa and |
clover pasture, climate and markets, |
l will quit. In Nebraska for the year
1909 the corn crop averaged rs BUSH
els to the acre, for which the farmer
received an average of about / cent
per Id. In Idaho the same year barley
averaged 40 bushels to the acre, for
which the farmer realized approx
mately cent per lb. and / would not