Worcester Democrat and the ledger-enterprise., 1925-04-25

originated in the United States De-
partment of Agriculture few years
ago is saving hog raisers large num-
bers of pigs and much money is shown
by reports coming in continuously
from various parts of the Middle
West. Illinois, where the system was
first tried out in Mclean county, has
been taking up this new method of
handling sows and young pigs with a
great deal of energy, and the results
obtained no doubt will stimulate in,
creasing numbers of farmers to raise
pigs under sanitary precautions which
will keep them from worms.
This spring 500 farmers in 81 Illi-
nois counties gave all the pigs farrow-
ed good start by having them come
in clean farrowing houses after the
sows has been thoroughly scrubbed.
The live stock extension specialist of
the University of Illinois considers
that with this start half the battle in
the economical production of pork has
been won. He says the. other half
consists merely in keeping the pigs a.
way from worm eggs until they are
at least months of age, and to do
that does not require skill, but merely
determination and persistence.
Reports indicate that farmers who
| hoxyo vroicoI niorc tho conifofinr
will not go back to the old careless
method. They saved more pigs, the
pigs were ready for market sooner,
and the profit was greater. At the
experiment station farm at Urbana,
ILL.,, lot of sanitation pigs gained 35
pounds each while others allowed to
run in old hog lots where they picked
up worm eggs gained only 18 pounds.
DR. H. B. Raffensperger, of Bloom
ington, ILL.,, representative of the Bu-
reau of Animal Industry, U. S. Dept.
of Agriculture, reports lot of sani-
tation hogs that reached weight of
218 pounds, while others frequenting
an old hog lot grew to only 1872
pounds. In this case the sanitation
method increased the size of the pigs
35 per cent. Hundreds of farmers in
various parts of the State have re-
ported similar and even greater gains.
One man raised sanitation hogs to
weight of 300 pounds in the same time
that his hogs formerly grew to only
200 pounds; another reported ton
litter of sanitation pigs averaging 272
pounds when others in the old hog
pastures weighed only $50 pounds,
gain of 80 per cent. A farmer who
adopted the sanitation system last
year had two sows which raised 13
pigs on half acre of old pasture land
which had been plowed and sowed to
oats and rape. AS this man expressed
it, he had the best "luck" with these
pigs that he had had in 10 years.
With such enthusiasts as these men
scattered throughout the State, it is
highly probable that the sanitation
method of hog raising will be the COM
mon mthod in a few years. The
method is not complicated and, as one
Illinois farmer expressed it, once you
are fixed for handling hogs in this
way it is the easiest way to raise pigs.
Briefly, all that is necessary is to have
the pigs farrowed in a pen that has
been thoroughly cleaned with lye and
hot water, from sows that have been
thoroughly scrubbed before the pigs
are born. From this point on the pigs
must be handled so as not to be
brought into contact with old hog-lot
soil polluted with worm eggs. They
should be moved to clean pastures
and kept away from contact with 9TH
er hogs until they are four months of
age and have good enough start to
resist any worm infection that may
come later.