The circle banner. [volume] (Circle, Mont.) 1914-1939, 1923-01-26
PIGS
FOR The MARKET
SHOULD BE IN SHAPE TO SELL
IN SEVEN MONTHS AT
175 POUNDS
What to Feed Them in Order to Get
Best Results; Hogs VIII Harvest
Peas or Corn and Put Plenty of
Weight ON in the Process.

There are many ways of getting
the young pigs ready for the market.
The number of hogs kept, the facili-
ties for caring for them, the labor
available and its cost must all be
considered in determining the method
to be adopted and the individual must
select the one best suited to his con-
ditions.
With cheap feed and plenty of la
Dor, money may generally be made by
pushing the pigs right along from
birth. If properly fed they should be
ready for market in six or seven
months, weighing from IT'S to 200
pounds live weight. Pigs crowded in
this way should have a mixed grain
ration; wheat, barley, and bran or
corn, barley, and bran are good COM
binations or, if wheat and corn are
high priced, barley and bran make
a good mixture with oats added to
this as the pigs get older. Peas may
be substituted for bran in such mix
lures. For the best results the grain
rations must be supplemented by
other feeds. During the winter,
skim-milk mixed about half and half
dry weight with the grain will great
ly increase the rate and economy of
the grains. If skim milk is not avail
able, sugar beets, mangels, alfalfa or
clover hay may be fed to good ad-
vantage.
Good Results from Tankage
Tankage, a by-product of the
slaughter houses, can sometimes be
bought at a reasonable price and can
be fed with good results.
The skim milk or tankage should
be mixed with the grain and fed in
a trough The roots should be sliced
and also fed in rack in the pen so
the animals may help themselves.
For the farmer who raises only
few pigs the above method of feed
ing 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 vast
ed, or to have them harvest 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 ran with
the sow on alfalfa or sweet clover
pasture. Feeding experiments have
shown, however, that young, grow
ng pigs will increase in weight much
'aster if the pasture feed is supple
nented by small grain ration. AS
oon as the grain is cut the pigs are
urned into the stubble fields to ga
her the waste grain and from this
ime on they will need no other grain S
eed until time for finishing for the [
market. The pigs are usually run s
n the stubble field until winter sets
n and are then put into pens to fat |
en-, as during the winter months S
more time is available to give atten- f
ion to the feeding. The hogs should
e given all they will eat up clean in e
reasonable time of some mixed t
rain ration, supplemented with such @
eeds as peas, skim milk, roots, tank a
ge, or alfalfa or clover hay. Pigs t
ut on feed the latter part of Novem-
er should be ready for market by the t
rst of March, which is generally a L
God time to sell as far as the mar L
ct is concerned. n
Where peas are raised pigs may v
e fattened in the fall by simply b
lrning them into the pea fields and t
living them no other food. In sec b
ons of the state where corn is n
rown pigs should be turned into the O
cid after the corn has matured. f
hey will harvest the entire crop and e
t themselves for market at the h
lme time. Il
Fall filters are harder to handle Il
ian spring filters as it is then more
fficult to provide the best feed and
'oper shelter. If the filters come
lrly in September and the sows are n
ell fed during the sucking period fl
Id the young pigs are early encour- b
sed to eat ration of shorts or o.
ushed grain and skim milk, they 81
Ill be of good size before cold wea- M
er comes on. ST