Semi-weekly herald., 1915-03-11
Future Of Hog Raising
in La Plata County
Continued from Page I.)

the San Luis valley as well as to US.
So the question amounts to this; can
we raise hogs and compete with them
in an open market?
The Kansas hog grower has some
advantages over us; two, l think
Namely, cheaper grain and advantage
Of market for he pays fifty cents
per cwt. less than we. Counting
freight shrinkage and other eXpens-
es it takes about eighty cents per
cwt. to put our hogs on the Denver
market. 1t costs but half this amount
to put Kansas hog on the same mar
ket. This is decided advantage over
US.
Again cheaper grain will be decid-
edly in his favor. When corn reaches
sixty cents per bushel or $1.05 per
cwt. the Kansas farmer stops and
thinks before he ventures far in feed
ing hogs. Today corn is selling at
about sixty-five cents per bushel and
they are unloading their shoats TO
such an extent that pigs are selling
in Omaha and Kansas City as low
as $3.50 per cwt. Moreover hog
breeders are having difficulty in dis
posing of their breeding stock, all be-
cause of high priced grain. Now if
the Kansas farmer can't feed hogs
on corn at $1.05 per cwt. can we feed
hogs on grain at $1.50 per cwt., es-
pecially when we have disadvan-
tage Of some fifty cents per cwt. on
marketing?
over the eastern farmer. These are
climate, freedom from disease and
forage. If these do not compensate
for the difference in the price of
grain and the market, then we fight
a losing game.
1t seems to me that the benefits
overlooked. In the central states the
excessive heat makes summer feeding
and summer farrowing impractical
i As result the farmers must sell their
hogs in the late fall or winter; just
the time when the packers plan to
break the market. The best market
of the large packing centers in from
July to October and that is the sea
son for which the central states can
not fatten their hogs with advantage.
For us that is the best time to fat
ten hogs. We have the advantage
of excellent spring pasture which
brings the hogs up to the fattenine
pen in good condition. AS result
less grain is required to put them III
shape. If we take advantage of this
we more than offset the disadvan-
tage of marketing our hogs under our
peculiar condition.
The second thing in our favor i.
freedom from disease. Just what per
cent of hogs raised in the corn belt
die of cholera, l have no definite fig.
ures, but any one who has lived there
or who has read paper from that
section of the country knows that loss
is very heavy. The two means OF
! fighting this disease are inoculation
and quarantine. The former has moi
proved entirely successful and be-
sides it is expensive. 1t will cost $50
to treat 100 pigs at weaving time, il
the farmer treats his own hogs, which
most farmers cannot do. So much is
this the case that it has not been adopt.
ed by all hog raisers. Quarantine is
doing much to prevent the spread OF
disease, but it is hard on the neigh.
borhood where the disease happens tc
start. Before the quarantine laws
went into effect, if the farmer saw
symptoms of the disease in his pen
he could load his hogs and send then
to market, but now he is put under
strict supervision and he must take
the consequences. Whatever prog
ress has been made in fighting hog
cholera, nevertheless the truth re.
mains that the country that is free
from disease and keeps itself FIRE,
has a decided advantage over the
country where it ravages. The rea.
son San Luis buyers are anxious foi
our hogs even at higher price is be
cause our hogs are strong and free
from cholera.
Our third advantage is good
forage. Without a good pasture
hog raising is an expensive prop
osition, and here, it is out OF
the question. An alfalfa pasture
helps the Kansas farmer make
up for his loss from disease and other
causes. He figures that with good
alfalfa pasture he can produce hun
dred pounds of pork with about 800
pounds of grain, whereas it would
taka ahout h0O poupdc of ur,;,, .lo,a