The Kennewick courier. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1905-1914, 1913-07-04

TIC CSSA
Ions is to keep them growing every
1.v The pig or shoat must be
.oasonably fat in order to grow every
dow He cannot keep IN this con-
d;t;on on alfalfa pasture alone.
There are two reasons for this. The
arot and most important is that the
hogs digestive organs are very small
oon,nared to his weight. Alfalfa is
roughage. The hogs small digest
Two organs cannot handle enough of
this roughage to nourish his body
properly. He will keep filled, to be
cure and may look fairly well but
he is not fat enough to grow but
very little. The pig or shoat does
not need to be poor in order to have
his growth retarded, and if he is
moor YOU can figure safely that he
il stunted. He will be little too
thin to grow well or will be poor
and entirely stunted if he is required
to live entirely on roughage because
bis small digestive organs cannot
handle enough Of it to furnish pro-
ner nourishment for his body.
The second reason is that in order
for an animal to be reasonably fat,
without eating great deal OF feed
that is not assimilated, he must
have a feed with a reasonably high
per cent of carbohydrates which is
fattening compound. In grain the
hog gets a concentrated feed, some
of which he must have on account
of his small digestive organs. And
he also gets feed with reasonably
high per cent of carbohydrates which
supplies the needed fattening COM
pound for his body.
If you have been arguing that it
does not pay to feed grain to hogs,
run back very carefully over the
circumstances from which you
drew your conclusions and see if
you do not find that the hogs you
fed, or saw fed, had not at some
time been stunted, or at least re-
tarded in their growth. In addi-
ton to many instances elsewhere,
every single instance that has come
under our observation in Benton
county, where it has not paid to
feed hogs grain. has been where the
hogs have at some time been too
thin to grow. And under such cir
cumstances the impression that it
does not pay to feed hogs grain is
invariably correct, because after a
hog is once retarded in his growth
or entirely stunted, twill cost near
ly or all he will bring to put him
on the market. Beside the conclu-
sions of experiment stations and
successful feeders in other places,
every place in Benton county we
have thus far visited, where some
grain is being fed to hogs with the
alfalfa pasture, it is claimed that it
pays by all means to do so.
Let US figure a little. Suppose
we were feeding all grain. Feeders
and experiment stations give the
amount ofgrain required to produce
a pound of pork all the way from
three and quarter pounds to six
pounds. Take five pounds, which
is above the average. The five pounds
of grain at s25 per ton will cost
$.064. The pound of pork it pro-
duces is worth s.07 or more, is it not?
You may say the grain is costing
you more than S25. Perhaps it is
right now, but look back over the
grain prices for the year and see If
this is not figuring it as high or higher
than it will usually cost you on the
average. Figure the number of
pounds of grain required to. produce
a pound of pork above the average,
the price of grain above the average,
the price of pork very conservative
and the figures are still in favor of
the hog. But understand this does
not mean stunted pigs. In that
case we'll agree with you that the
figures will be entirely different and
the results will be entirely different.
Now we have been figuring on feed
ING a II grain Rl1t cupnoca Won q ro