Fort Mill times. [volume] (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, 1922-05-04
HOG RANCH RAILROAD.
Five Mile Line Connects All Lots
and Yards.

and cattle for market, recently
has built a small railroad that is
five miles in length and connects
all the feed lots and yards on the
huge farm. Farm boys who are
interested in increasing the eff
cheney of farm work doubtless
will like to learn how this partic-
ular rancher equipped his place
with mechanical hired men.
just to show that the scheme
works well, two men can now
feed 5000 purebred hogs in 60
minutes, whereas previously it
took 20 men double that time
daily to care for the hogs. The
rancher bought an 1S-ton steam
locomotive and five miles of
standard gauge track, as well as
\25 small fiat cars at low figure,
from a railroad company that
failed. With his ranch labor
he laid the track around and
through the feeding yards, con-
Meeting with the sllos, hay barns
and granaries. He. arranged the
hog yards SO that the lots front
ed Oh the railroad track. He
built a continuous series of indi-
vidual hog troughs just outside
OF each lot and close to the track.
Then he arranged hinged door
operated by finger trigger in
front of each yard SO that when
the lever was tripped the gate
would swing out over the trough
which had eeen filled with feed
and made the meal accessible to
the hogs in the lot.
This ingenious farmer then con-
verted one of the flat cars into
feed wagon by equipping it with
large wooden tank of 1000 gal
Ions capacity. He arranged a sys-
tenn of agitator blades inside Of
this tank and placed a small gas
oline engine outside to keep the
paddles III motion and to stir the
feed. He devised spout-like de-
livery pipes at the bottom of the
tank provided with hand cut
offs in such a way that as the To-
comotive and tank car steamed at
a speed of about l mile an hour
down the alleyway between the
Fhog yards one attendant could
operate this cutoff and fill the
troughs with feed while another
trips the gates and allows the
hogs access to the feed after each
trouglrcis filled. The rancher is
now working on an automatic de-
vice which will be used to trip
the gates in turn and will thus
eliminate the services of one at.
tendant on the feeding car.
The cattle yards are so arrang-
ed that carloads Of ensilage and
hay can be hauled directly from
the silos and hay 'mows to the
feeding pens and left there until
the cattle have eaten all the feed
from the car, when fresh supplies
from other cars are hauled in.
The cars are provided with feed
ing racks which hold the feed in
such manner that it is easily ac-
cessible to the cattle. These cars
can be handled directly under the
silo chutes so that the succulent
ensilage can be loaded directly
from the silo onto the cars at a
single handling.
In case the regulation steam
engine breaks down, an emergen-
cy gasoline engine made from a
6O-hOrsepower automobile engine
has been rugged up as u reserve
steed. This engine has been
mounted on one of. the flat ears
and equipped with supplementary
gas, oil and water tanks. The en-
gine has been geared down low
enough SO that it is adapted for
the slow speed hauling work for
which it is used::- An automobile
dump car has also been devised
on the ranch for carrying ferti-
lizer, sand, gravel and other
building material. Another flat
car has been rugged out as a
spraying, disinfecting and white
washing car. It is equipped with
500 gallon wooden tank that
carries a system of revolving pad
dies operated by a small gasoline
engine similar to. that used on the
tank feed car to keep the mate.
rial mixed thoroughly, as well as
a spray pump which distributes
the disinfectant or whitewash.
The car is used in disinfecting
and whifawaahinn hnn hniasas