The gazette-times. [volume] (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925, 1914-09-24

tlOnf
Is the female SO lacking in fecund-
ityi
Is our climate inimical to his health
and Development
To all Of which we must answer,
emphatically, "No." 1t is, therefore,
now in order to discover the most
practical methods for the propagation,
feeding and general management of the
porker from birth till he reaches his
destination in the form of hams, bacon
and lard. In raising hogs cheaply we
must begin with the SOW. She must be
well fed in order to produce good
litter of strong, vigorous pigs. Oats is
splendid grain feed; corn is too fat
tening. Exercise and pure water are
essential. The sOws should be handled
so one can go up to them at any time.
November is good time to have them
farrow. The time of farrowing can
be determined quite exactly; the milk
shows in the teats four to six hours
before. Tor twentyfour hours after,
she requires no food except perhaps
little warm water if she develops
thirst. When the little ones are five
or six weeks old, begin feeding some
grain feed like shorts or ground oats.
A good way is to fence off their
trough so the SOW can't get to it..
From seven to ten weeks they will be
ready to wean, and right here | might
add that the dairyman who conducts
a winter dairy has strangle-hold on
the profitable production of pork and
its products. He at less expense than
any other can give the youngsters the
necessary nOurishment to carry them in
good, thrifty condition through the
winter months, and the breeder who
does this is the one who will rake in
the biggest checks when marketing
time comes next year. Two things are
essential to make the pigs grow fast
through the cold weather-the right
kind of feed and proper protection
from the weather. 1t rests with the
farmer whether he will turn off large
fit porkers or whether he will have
long -nosed runts eating off him until
he learns to love them as much as he
loves his poor relations. The absence
of green feed in winter calls for some
other feed or feeds to take its place.
1t is possible to have green feed until
quite late, especially on the west side
Of the Cascade Mountain range; late
sown rape has proven satisfactory
when the winter is fairly moderate.
A little alfalfa hay, or on the coast
clover silage, fed in managers, will
prove valuable addition; always pro-
vided there is a never failing supply
of fresh separator milk, warm and
palatable. There are other methods,
however. Some men let their hogs get
real cold and hungry and then fill
them up with decoction chiefly com
posed of water. They are pleased to
call this wintering their hogs cheaply,
when as a matter of fact they are
simply rupturing the muscles of the
hogs stomach by gorging with
thin slop The successful hog growers
will use system in managing their fall
and winter hogs just as they do in the
management Of any other valuable
stock. No matter how much nourish-
ing food is given to them, they will
not do we'll if not comfortably housed.
The A-shaped portable houses are
very popular with some breeders; they
are best without floors and must be
placed on high ground where the dirt
floor will be dry. 1t is well, however,
to move the houses few feet once
in a while to let the sunlight sterilize
the ground where the house stood. In
permanent house concrete is essen
tial; dirt floors are impossible and
plank is an abomination. The urine,
excrement and feed work down through
the cracks and in these dark recesses
all kinds of germs thrive and multiply.
It will thus be seen that the dairy
man by judicious use Of clover or
alfalfa pasture can sell his skim milk
to his hogs, as it were, at a price far
in advance Of that paid in any other
local market; as at eight months old,
his shoats, raised under the conditions
ont1;nad ehou1d ovarouo o00 IN o5O