Mountain Home Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1915-1946, 1916-04-08
LIVESTOCK ON SMALL FARMS

NC iLNlCd6S III tu0 pIOuuClpOH Oh
livestock does not rest with the big
feeder and breeder but rather with
small farmer who keeps two or three
hogs, a few sheep and some dairy
cows, as well as the usual flock of
chickens. The hogs will eat up the
refuse from around the house, the
things which would otherwise be a
total waste; the sheep will nibble in
the fence corners and get a good
living. There vial be root crops.
clover, alfalfa and other forms of
green forage which will keep the
livestock in thriving condition; at
the end of the season there will be
little grain to fatten the animals
and make them marketable. A few
hogs and sheep fed in this manner
will probably go on the market cost
ing the farmer not more than half of
what 1t would cost were a large num-
Der OF animals kept on the same
place and 1t were necessary to buy
much more of the feed given them.
When We find a little livestock on
every farm from one end of the
country to the other, then we shall
be more prosperous and contented
people. The chances are that enough
stuff is wasted every year in the Will
lamette Valley to produce twice the
number of hogs and other livestock
which the same farms now carry.
When one set of experts state that
1t will cost six cents to raise hogs
in this country and another man,
who 10 known all over the United
states for his study of the same
question, states that &c per lib. is
fair cost for production, We presume
that one man is figuring on the
small farm, carrying two or three
head OF hogs, supported largely by
the household waste, while the other
expert is figuring on a large number
OF hogs fed in commercial way and
largely on the grain and forage which
has a stated market value.
1T is common knowledge that many
housewives almost pay for the gro
ceries, which it is necessary to buy,
through their sale of eggs, gathered
from the few dozen chickens which |
have the run of the barnyand. 1t lis |
also a notorious fact that few COM |
mercial chicken ranches have ever
been made to pay, especially when
they come down to straight egg pro-
duction.
The man who finds himself in a |
nelghborhood where community breed |
ing, community shipping and the COM
munity spirit is the live thing, should
be very contented with his lot. When
community shipping lis better de-
veloped i'm his neighborhood, he will
find that it is much easier to hustle
his one or two pigs into crate and
drive them to the nearest railroad
station, where he meets a number of
his neighbor farmers who have brot
In enough more hogs to make a car
load, than 1t Is to 6 to the trouble
OF butchering the hogs himself, then
shipping them to the market and
taking chance on their being i'm
properly cooled out, or perhas take
chances on the weather which they
may encounter during shipment. 1t
Ia not an uncommon thing thing dur
Ing the warm weather for carcasses
to arrive badly tainted, which affects
the selling price to such an extent
that the man may receive less per
pound for the dressed carcass than
he would ever receive for the live
animal. In quite a number of cases
here is an absolute loss of the en-
Tire carsass. The increase of the
shipment of live animals during the
asst year has been very marked and
very few good farmers now think of
killing anything on the farm.-Port-
and Livestock Reporter.