Omaha daily bee., 1919-07-10
When Little Pig Is Grooming
From tho New York Times.

Time was when the pig on the farm deemed
himself lucky If the chore boy did not forget
his supper and leave him to skrmish for HIM
self till we'll along toward fall, when the COOL
ing days brought thoughts of pork chops. Win
ter dougllnuts, sausage, and pancakes. Then
the pigs were rounded up and penned up and
surfeited to indigested with rich, fat-making
food till about Thanksgiving and butchering
day.
But times have changed, and with them the
farmers attitude toward the swine. Now the
pig is pampered pet from the time of his birth
till he reaches mature estate. He is vaccinated
against cholera while he is still just Z little
shoat he has clean water to drink, has self
oiler with which to keep his hide soft, self
feeder where he may eat when and as much as
he chooses, and now he is to have an iceless
refrigerator into which he may retire in hot
weather, and delopsing station for the removal
of any stray hog cootie that may thing his
brstes good to hide among.
OF course, all these things are for the pigs
good and have come about because the willy
farmer has learned that what is for the pigs
good is for his own good, with pork chops at
50 cents pound.
For instance, take the delousing scheme. Lice
add cent pound to the cost of producing
pork. This has been proved in tests just COM
pleted at the experiment farm Of the Depart
ment of Agriculture at Beltsville, Md. Twenty
four lousy hogs were secured and divided into
two lots as nearly equal as to quality of animals
as possible. The two lots were managed and
fed the same way, with the exception that one
were weighed at regular intervals, and at the
end OF the fattening period it was found that
the hogs infested with lice cost cent pound
more to fatten than those which were free of
the troublesome pest. The officials of the de-
partment who had charge Of this experiment
securing the lousy animals. They communicat
ed with the departments field men, asking them
to locate lousy hogs. It was some time before
a reply was received to this surprising order.
After the lousy hogs were purchased the owner
learned why, and he Immediately built dip
ping vat and began to treat the animals to pre-
vent lice.
As to keeping pigs cool, the records show
that in May 6sl hogs, weighing approximately
$4,000 pounds. were unloaded dead or died in
the stockyards at the South St. Paul market.
Of this number, $50 hogs, weighing approx
mately 100000 pounds, died in transit or in
yards during the last six days of the month.
This was the week of the first real warm
weather, and as is usually the case during the
first hot spell in the summer season, the loss
Of hogs in transit wa: extremely heavy. The
difference in price between dead or live hogs
was approximately Is cents pound which
would mean a total loss to shippers of about
$l8, 800. This loss, says the Bureau of Markets,
might have been largely avoided if the shippers
had taken proper care in loading, seeing that
oil Cars were properly ClcdHcu Dc1OTc lOdulnS,
and that cars were not loaded as heavily as is
the custom in cooler weather. If these hogs
had been loaded in clean cars the losses could
have been further decreased by having them
sprayed often in transit, especially upon arrival
at transfer points, and also upon delivery to the
terminal One of the largest buyers of hogs at
the South St. Paul market, who reshps to other
markets for slaughter states that the losses of
his firm during the last week in May were no
heavier than usual, but that they were careful
to have their cars thoroughly cleaned and sand
ed before loading in addition to loading lighter
than usual and taking the precauton of having
the hogs sprayed as often as possible in transit
And it not only pays to keep pigs cool while
travelling but at home, well. Summer is
hard season on fat animals and they gain slowly
! or lose weight Home demonstration agents of
the Department of Agriculture have been DEM
onstrating the iceless refrigerator, and these
handy coolers have become very popular. The
| working in cooperation with the federal de-
| partment, has put into practice the same prin-
| cipe used in the iceless refrigerator to keep
| hogs cool in summer. The iceless refrigerator
is made by inclosing frame in canton flannel,
burlap, or duck. A pan of water is placed on
top and wicks are extended from the water,
| over the side of the pan, and down the sides of
| the frame. The evaporation of the moisture in
the wicks keeps the refrigerator cool. In
applying this principle in the hog lot frame
is built to provide shade for the hogs and large
| burlap wicks extend down the sides from con-
tainers plsced on top and filled with water. The
evaporation of the water keeps the hogs cool
and enables them to make more economical
gains of weight during the summer months.