The Ekalaka eagle. [volume] (Ekalaka, Mont.) 1909-1920, 1916-11-17

PREPARING PIGS
FOR THE MARKET
SHOULD BE IN SHAPE TT
SELL IN SEVEN MONTHS
AT 175 POUNDS WEIGHT.
What to Feed Them in Order to Get
Best Results; Hogs Will Harvest
Peas or Corn and Put Plenty of
Weight or in Process.

~ u AAOSO WI AdIVCSt
Peas or Corn and Put Plenty of
Weight or in Process.
There are many ways of getting the
young pigs ready for the market. The
number of hogs kept. the facilities for
caring for them. the labor available
and It's cost must all be considered in
determining the method to be adopted
and the individual must select the one
best suited to his conditions.
With cheap feed and plenty of la
Dor, money may generally be made by
pushing the pigs right alone from
birth. If properly fed they should be
ready Tor market in six or seven
months. weighing from IT'S to 200
pounds live weight. Pigs crowded in
this way should have IL mixed grain
ration; wheat, barley. and bran or
corn. marley, and bran are good COM
binatlons or, if wheat and corn are
high priced, barley and bran make a
good mixture with bats added to this
as the pigs get older. Peas may be
substituted for bran in such mixtures.
For the best results the grain r%ations
must be supplemented by other feeds.
During the winter, skim-milk mixed
about half and half dry weight with
the grain will greatly increase the rate
and economy of the grains. If skim
milk is not available, sugar beets.
mangels, alfalfa or clover hay, may be
fed to good advantage.
Good Results from Tankage.
Tankage, IL b%y-product of the
slaughter houses, can sometimes be
bought at Il reasonable price and can
be fed with good results.
The skim milk or tankagc should be
mixed with the grain and fed in a
trough. The roots should be sliced
and also fed in a racl> In the pen so
the animals may help themselves.
For the farmer who raises only a
few pigs the above method of feeding
is too expensive in time, labor and
equipment. A more economical plan
for the small diversified farm is to
arrange the feeding so as to make the
pigs gather their feed from what
would otherwise be wasted, or to have
them harvest a crop directly from the
field. By this plan it usually takes
from ten to twelve months to get the
pigs ready for market.
Spring %litters are usually run with
the sow on alfalfa or sweet clover pas
ture. Feeding experiments have shown,
however, that young, growing pigs
will increase in weight much faster if
the pasture feed is supplemented by a
small grain ration. AS soon as the
grain is cut the pigs are turned into
the stubble fields to gather the waste
grain and from this time on thew will
need no other grain feed until time for
finishing for market. The pigs are
usually run in the stubble field until
winter sets in and are then put into
pens to f%atten, as during the winter
months more time is available to give
attention to the feeding. The hoes
should be given all they will eat up
clean in a reasonable time of some
mixed grain ration, supplemented with
such feeds as peas, skim-milk, roots,
tankage, or alfalfa or clovephay. Pigs
put on feed the latter part Of Novem-
Der should be ready for market by the
first of March, which is generally a
good time to sell as far as the market
is concerned.
Hogs Harvest Crop.
Where peas are raised pigs may be
fattened in the fall by simply turning
them into the pea fields and giving
them no other food. In sections of the
state where corr is grown pigs should
be turned into the field after the corn
has matured. They will harvest the
entire crop and fit themselves for mar
ket at the same time.
Fall litters are harder to handle
than spring litters as it is then more
difficult to provide the best feed and
proper shelter. If the litters come
early in September and the sows are
we'll fed during the sucking period
and the young pigs are early
encouraged to eat a ration of
shorts or crushed grain and skim
milk, they will be of good