Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1914-01-19
Forcing Growth of
Animals and Merit.

spend his Thanksgiving vacation. We
all went out to examine the fattening
| hogs and other live stock. The fat
tening hogs were as nearly perfect as
| they could be, thrifty and making
wonderful gains. They were heavily
fed twice daily with a rich mixed slop
and corn.
In pens close to the fattening hogs
were some young Duroc pedigreed
gifts being grown for breeding sows.
They, too. were fat and vigorous. The
merits of this breeding stock were
discussed. The son from the agri-
| cultural college took part in the dis
cussion.
| Father, you are getting these Duroc
| gifts too fat for breeding purposes"
| said the boy.
Perhaps they are a little too fat
replied the father, but l am feeding
| them to make them grow"
| Now, there is vital difference be-
tween forcing animals for an early
market finish and growing animals for
large size for breeding purposes. The
market animals future ends at the
meat block, hence it can not be in
| iured through forced feeding. The
young animal, however, being grown
for breeding purposes, may be perma-
nently injured by too heavy feeding,
especially on fattening feeds, such as
corn. 1t is economy to force the mar
ket animal to an early finish and to
make it acquire heavy weight in the
shortest possible time. During the
early period of an animals life is the
| time when the largest amount of
growth is made on a given amount of
feed. Early gains are the cheapest
gains for meat animals.
With hogs there should be two sys-
TENS of feeding and handling. In the
beginning, pigs for both market and
breeding purposes should be fed lib
orally of variety to make bone and
iesh. Abundance of exercise in large
| lots or pastures should be given so
| that the pigs may develop vigor and
strength of limbs and vital organs.
The pig to enter the fattening pen
must have ample frame and good legs
and feet to support heavy weight at
market time. The breeding hog should
| also have large frame, good legs and
| feet, and strong vital organs to become
a good breeder and to be able to trans
/ nit these qualities to its filters. Car
| rying surplus fat is hindrance rather
| than help. Too much fat tends to
weaken the vital and reproductive or
gans and when a fattenipg ration is
fed to growing breeding hogs, simple
weight is taken on at the expense of
| frame development.
After pigs have made ideal, well pro-
| a inc n
about 100 pounds of weight, then they
should be separated for special hand
| ling. The pigs to be grown for breed
ers should be kept in pasture, where
they can continue to exercise, while
hose to be fattened for market should
be confined in more restricted quarters.
| Their exercise should be limited to al
most the zero point, unless they are
being fattened on a mixed diet of for
age crops and grain. Then it will be
much better to fence off small patches
of the forage so that the animals will
not walk much. Energy expended in
exercising consumes feed that should
go into fat.
To force hogs or young beef animals
to an early and large market finish,
they must never be hungry from birth
til the time they are hauled on to the
scales to be sold. Rich slops or green
| forage with corn or other grain up to
the last weeks of the finishing period
will give better results than exclusive
grain feeding. The farmer who knows
the art of mixing feeds and using good
Stops can grow topnotch hogs at a
greater profit than the farmer who
feeds grain alone. Good rye, clover,
alfalfa, blue grass, raps, cowpeas and
| like forage crops may take the place
of Stops in spring and early summer,
and again in the fall. During mid
summer, unless clover alfalfa or rape
pasture is available, Stops must be
used to balance grain feed and make
| digestion better.
| Animals of all kinds on the farm
should be grown for large and prime
finishing at an early maturity. This
does not mean that animals kept for
breeding purposes, production or work
shall be made as fat as they can be,
but that they shall be fed literally
from start to finish for rapid develop
ment There must be no stunning II
the animals are to turn out profitable
in the end.
| Right noWS eggs are nlgn. IHey
usually are in late fall and early win
ter, and the majority of poultry keep
ers get only a few eggs from their
focks at this time. But pullets that
have been Matched early in the spring
and forced along by liberal feeding OF
a variety will begin to lay in early fall
and turn out eggs during the season OF
extra high prices. The extra feed and
care in forcing them to an early finish
are more than paid for by the extra
eggs laid during October, November
and December Perhaps with no 9TH
er animals will liberal feeding pay SO
we'll as with pullets intended for fall
and winter laying.
| Many horses and mules develop into
small or medium sized animals be-
cause they were not forced along with
liberal feeding of variety while they
were young. They made slow gains
during colthood, hence at maturity
they were hundred pounds or two
lighter than they should have been
with better care and feed.
| Baby beef has rapidly come into