The Nezperce herald. (Nezperce, Idaho) 1900-1957, 1924-03-20

Ohio counties who come to study hi
methods. No higher compliment It
/ Ballard as farmer could be paid tina
that the other farmers find it wort
while to drive many miles to stud,
what he has done.
asked Mr.. Ballard to tell som
of the outstanding things he has learn
ed about making farming pay Ant
here is what he said:
Growing 1000 hogs year is nj
harder than growing two, except tina
one has more hogs. Aside from re
plenishing corncribs and hauling man
ure, one-half hours work day il
sufficient to feed and care for th'
thousand hogs have fattening at
time.
| "a wide margin between cost Of
production and selling price is the
| fundamental of financial success witt
hogs, as it is with any other kind %
| farming.
sfKeeping down expense, have
found, is larger matter than pinch
| ing pennies. 1t means not only care
full buying, but also eliminates un
necessary labor, avoiding needlessly
expensive equipment, using purebred
stock, and ceaseless attention to the
details that assure more pigs and few
er losses to the litter.
"When l was twelve years old a
neighbor offered me a litter of six
runt pigs for 25 cents each. Fearing
to plunge headlong into business I
knew little about, bought just one
pig, and gave a quarter for him. He
thrived so well that when he was sold
had SLIP.
eff / could make money on runt
pigs, why not on better ones, won
dereds began buying better pigs.
II discovered eventually that feed for
my pigs cost something. I saw that
my $11.72 gain on that first runt was
not actually clear prift. But / did
have driven deep into me the idea thar
the lower the expense the greater the
profit and that always had been in my
mind when managing my hog business.
Zone year back in the eighties !
had one hundred and forty fat shotes
to sell, and eleven fat old sows. /
sold the young hogs at 81 cents a
pound No buyer would offer me
more than two cents pound for the
eleven old sows, and was determined
not to sell them for so small price.
~ couldn't keep them either. so Z
butehered all eleven. l was teaching
school at the time. When I came home
from school my hired man would haze
a big kettle of hot water ready. We
would kill and clean a SOW and hang
her up to cool. In the morning we
would cut her up. The sows were too
large for the hams to be cured, so we
made all the meat into lard and sau-
sage except the sides. We picked
those. Is
~ sold the lard to Marion grocers
for 6 IA cents a pound, the sausage !
for 7 cents, and the sides for 10 and |
IL cents. BY using different selling |
method l got more for my two-cent
sows, after all, than my shotes had |
brought, plus good pay for our labor
in butchering
That set me thinking some more
| quit selling hogs on the hoof as soon
as | could arrange better butchering
facilities. fixed up small slaughter
house on the farm, and for six years
sold my entire hog output-two or
three hundred head year-as fresh
and cured meat at substantial profit
'ver overweight prices.
"Some time later small slaughter
house in Marion was offered for sale
1t a reasonable figure. 1 bought it,
IN my bankers advice. This has
yrown into an institution now doing
more than 100000 business year
md killing seven or eight hundred
logs week. While 1 still hold CON
rolling interest, 1 give little atten-
ion to its management. 1 like to
aise hogs better than to pack and sell
neat
My hog and farm business is en-
irely separate from that of the pack
ng company. The hogs are sold at
he same prices that the packing com
any pays other farmers at the time,
that my farming enterprise derives
0 advantage from my connection
18th packing business.
~ have altogether only 2s5 acres
land, SO that am unable to grow
early enough corn to feed out 1000
ogs year. I try to produce as much
led per acre as possible, and little
ter IN tell you how l work that
| have to manage to buy my corn
nd other feeds at the right time to
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