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Forty Years’ Experience
of a Practical Hog Man
A practical book for the
pure bred swine breeder
and farmer. Written
from actual! experience
of forty years in success-
fully handling a large
herd of pure bred hog's
By A. J. LOVEJOY
Springfield, Illinois
The Frost Publishing Company
1914
rae See al
SF 3a5
Copyright 1914 by
A. J. LOVEJOY
MAY -4 1914
Av ar
@ciag71677
MA /
A MAN WHO WILL BE REMEMBERED.
Andrew J. Lovejoy is one of the foremost benefactors
of American agriculture. His constructive work as a
swine breeder, his honesty and ability in public offices
which he has accepted in the interest of the common good,
his enterprise and contagious enthusiasm as a farmer, his
competence and fairness as a judge of pedigreed swine, his
simplicity and forcefulness as a speaker and writer upon
practical questions relating to animal husbandry and farm-
ing, his wise and far-sighted counsel in the management
of shows and agricultural organizations, his loyal friend-
ship and good-will for an exceedingly large circle of ac-
quaintances, and his big, warm heart that makes him a
welcome and enkindling personality among men, are the
outstanding qualities for which he will be long remember-
ed. He has deserved the honor and the success which
have come to him. From the role of a stout-hearted
notion and dry-goods wagon peddler, upon the long
roads of central Illinois in the days of his ambitious
youth, he rose steadily and worthily to the dignified
position of a farm owner and widely known breeder
of pure-bred hogs. As a vendor of goods he spe-
cialized in quality. When he became a Swine breeder
he held to his business ideals, and sought steadfastly to
deliver Swine goods of the highest quality. The annals
of the trade testify to his triumphs in this sphere. He is
the author of an inspiring, useful and untarnished career,
which is still in flower, and his wide and extended experi-
ence and unique abilities qualify him for the other kind of
authorship which this book ecreditably represents.
DeWitt C. Wing.
6 Forty YEARS’ EXPERIENCE OF A PRACTICAL HoG MAN.
INTRODUCTION.
The Author of this book has not undertaken to write a
thesis on the swine breeding business, nor to give the his-
tory of the various breeds, but having commenced the busi-
ness of swine breeding when quite a young man and follow-
ing it for practically forty years, he has been requested to
write this book, along practical lines of breeding, feeding,
care and selling of hogs, both for the market and for breed-
ing purposes.
Starting with a pair of young pigs way back in the dim
distance, the business of breeding hogs was commenced by
the writer. Knowing nothing whatever in the beginning,
the only way anything has been learned has been by actual
experience during all these years, finding out each day
something that must be learned. This experience has been
very costly, but that learned at the greatest expense one >
never forgets.
For many years the writer did all his own work in the
business of swine breeding and feeding as well as showing,
and he gained in knowledge as he gained in experience. I
cannot recall any labor or duties connected with the feed-
ing and breeding of swine that I have not carried on per-
sonally, and step by step have grown in the business from
the smallest possible beginning until a trade has been built
up that extends throughout the entire United States and
many foreign countries. Being of a temperament that never
gives up, and with a determination to stick to the business.
through thick and thin, I have never weakened one iota
from my determination to make it a success and a per-
manent business in which there is practically no limit.
Harly I decided to follow the pure-bred business, selling
principally to breeders, and feeding for market those that
did not come up to a certain standard of excellence that is
-~]
INTRODUCTION.
necessary to satisfy customers, and I have never had any
reason to change my first decision. Of course in the early
days it was a hard matter to find customers, but good care,
feeding and advertising and the following of the show ring,
gradually brought us to the attention of farmers and breed-
ers, and as the years came and went I could see a gradual
increase of business and the knowledge regarding it, and
each year I went out a little stronger in the show ring, did
a little more business over the circuit and found a larger
correspondence at home, all of which was gratifying and
encouraging. It was my good fortune also, to believe in
system in all things, and to this cause I attribute much of
my success later.
Careful records were kept of all animals, breeding dates,
farrowing dates, marking of the litters, disposition of the
same, showing to whom sold and prices received; correct
accounts kept regarding expenses and receipts, until a
thorough system of bookkeeping, breeding records, sales
records, ete., has been worked out.
It has always been our custom to answer all correspond-
ence promptly, keeping a carbon copy of the reply to every
letter. Before typewriters were used, all letters were writ-
ten with pen and a letter press was used in taking an im-
pression in the copy book. It is no trouble for us today
to turn to any year’s business, or to find out if the ques-
tion is asked, what animal we sold a certain man years ago.
Nothing has ever been done on this farm in the matter
of breeding but what is on record, therefore we do not
depend on our memory for anything connected with the
business.
What I have learned during these many years is written
out in this book, hoping that many a young man, new in
the business, or perhaps older and also of experience, may
find some subject that will interest him, and from which
he can learn something that will be of use. It is for the
benefit of my fellow breeders, feeders and farmers that I
have attempted to write this book, and it was with great
diffidence that I undertook iit, even after urgent solicitation,
and I only trust it may meet with the approval of those
striving to make a suecess of the swine business.
In advising a beginner in this business, I can only say
8 Forty YEARS’ EXPERIENCE OF A PRACTICAL Hoc MAn.
—select the breed that you think you would like best no
matter what color. After you fully decide on the one you
will commence with, stick to it, and do not let anything
cause you to waiver. You cannot make a success by using
Residence of Wyman N. Lovejoy on Lovejoy Farm.
first one breed and then another. Stick to the one you have
selected and by every means possible get information re-
garding it, its origin, general characteristics, ete. Be hon-
est and remember that it takes time to build up a business,
and after it is once established one must be as careful to
maintain it as he was in building it.
CHAPTER ONE.
THE IDEAL HOG FARM.
This is a hard subject to write on. The writer has never
yet seen a hog farm that was ideal in every respect. While
many of them are almost ideal usually they lack some one
or two requirements. My idea for an ideal hog farm would
first be one that would have a rich soil, full of fertility to
grow grasses and other forage, as well as the grains need-
ed for the best feeds for the proper development of the
animals. After a good rich soil the next thing would be
a slightly rolling well drained farm. If it was underlaid
three or four feet down with gravel, as much of our
soil in northern Illinois is, it would not require tiling to
‘earry off surplus water. I have often noticed that a farm
that lies quite level and of a rich black soil gets
very muddy after rains and during the coming out of the
frost in the spring of the year. This kind of soil is not
best for ideal hog raising. Besides being extremely
muddy at times, this class of soil does not come as near
being ideal as does a dark sandy loam well drained with
under ground drainage sub-soil. This class of soil is also
better even during dry weather for the feet of the pigs.
They are rather more inclined to keep in shape and wear
down a little all the time instead of growing long and turn-
ing up at the toes as do many pigs kept on a soft mucky
black soil.
If one wishes a-central hog house for general use,
rather than a feed house and half acre lots in which
individual houses are placed, he should place his central
house where pastures could be easily reached from either
side, and the kind of a house he should use is one
of the modern swine houses such as described on page
17, and should be situated so that a good pasture of
well set grass or mixture of grasses could be reached from
10 Forty YEARS’ EXPERIENCE OF A PRACTICAL Hog MAN.
either side. Pastures before being oceupied in this man-
ner should be well set in grass at least a year before being
used as hog pasture.
A small pen the same width as those on the inside
of the hog house should extend outward from the
pen sixteen or more feet, just for convenience, and gates
opening from these to the regular pasture, which
may be acre lots, half acre lots or much larger accord-
ing to whether the breeder cares to keep each sow and
litter separate after they go on grass. If haif acre lots are
used each should have a sleeping house at the rear
end, and artificial shade if there is not natural shade in
Pigs in rape, an important forage crop.
(Courtesy of Animal Husbandry Department,
Iowa State College of Agriculture.)
each lot, for the comfort of the sow and litter during the
hot weather. They should come to the general house for
feeding. ;
A mixture of clover, alfalfa, orchard grass and other
grasses makes the most ideal pasture. The lots should
be situated on either side of the general hog house.
Arrangements for watering should be made so that all
could drink from the central house. Small fields of for-
age should be grown where a large number of sows or
young hogs could be placed after weaning time, or those
that had already weaned their litters, or animals being.
fitted for market that would not necessarily be obliged to
THE IDEAL Hoc Farm. et!
remain in the central house and lot, but could run in the
larger lots and larger numbers together. I am quoting
the value of forage crops for Swine from Bulletins Nos. 136
and 143, from the Iowa Agricultural Station.
“Probably there is no kind of pasture that becomes green
and suitable for hogs as early in the season as a field of
winter rye, sown early in the fall previous. This rye often
furnishes good grazing through the late fall and early
winter, or until it becomes covered with snow, then it is
the first thing that will furnish a green bite in the spring,
coming on much earlier than either alfalfa or clover.
Following the early rye comes alfalfa, which furnishes
A rye pasture affords excellent feed for hogs.
green pasture a little earlier than any of the clovers. By
May 1st in the northern latitude red clover will furnish
a splendid pasture until such time as it begins to
dry and burn by the hot weather. By this time a field of
rape should be ready which is probably as good pasture
for making growth and gains as any other one kind of
green forage. This should be sown in May and the pigs
should be kept off of it until it becomes a few inches high,
after which it will stand extremely heavy pasturing.
‘Where one wishes to ‘‘hog down’’ corn in the fall by
turning in a large number to fatten for market, there is
12 Forty YEARS’ EXPERIENCE OF A PRACTICAL HoG MAN.
nothing that will combine with this as well as Dwarf Essex
rape drilled in between the rows just after the last cul-
tivation of the corn. By the time the corn is ready to turn
the hogs on you have an ideal ration in the same field; or
rye sown with the rape also makes a good combination.’’
No greater opportunity exists for cheapening pork
production than through the general adoption of a forage
crop system for spring pigs.
Where alfalfa pasture is used in this climate it should
not be pastured earlier than May Ist nor later than Novem-
ber, as it must have enough growth after pasturing to make
a cover crop for the winter. Where rape pasture is used
it will be found good at any time during the growing sea-
son and furnish abundant pasture after the clovers are
dry and dead; in fact will furnish good pasture until
freezing weather comes. It can be used either for pastur-
ing or for ‘‘soiling,’’ that is cutting and earrying to the
lot where the pigs are kept if they are not turned into
the field.
Young hogs can be pushed very fast by having this good
rape pasture and ear corn, plus one-tenth of the corn in
meat meal or best quality tankage. This meat meal or
tankage is a great help in furnishing the necessary protein
and has a tendency to stop the inclination for rooting that
many pigs have when on clover or alfalfa.
When hogs and pigs are in winter quarters with no sue-
culent feed such as pasture, the other feeds may be supple-
mented by using a good quality of third cutting alfalfa
which is greener and better than that of former cuttings.
This may be fed whole in racks made for the purpose to
save waste, or it may be run through a cutting machine and
chaffed, and then mixed 2 parts chaffed alfalfa, one part
shelled corn and one part oats, thoroughly mixed and ground
through a steel burr grinder, which is better than any
other for this kind of a mixture. If desired a little mid-
dlings may be added and a little tankage to make a balanced
ration and a complete one. This may be fed dry in
troughs where there would be no waste, or can be steamed
a little and thoroughly mixed so that all particles of the
ground feed and alfalfa are well mixed. This makes an.
ideal feed in the winter for brood sows or growing sows.
THE IDEAL Hoc FARM. 13
A little of it for fall pigs is good but they should also
have a feed once or twice a day of a warm slop con-
taining skimmed milk if possible, or enough tankage to
balance the other materials.
Further along the line of the Ideal Hog Farm, I wish
to say that this farm should be located as near as possible
to a good shipping point or on an Interurban line leading
to some city where one or more railroads enter, the more
the better. It should also be located on a good hard road
rather than on muddy lanes or steep hills, so that pigs
could be delivered at any time during the year rain or
shine. It should also have some portion of the farm cover-
ed with a nice growth of trees where dry sows and
young hogs could be carried along on good pasture
between breeding seasons. This pasture for best results
should have springs or running water of some_ kind,
but springs would be preferable rather than a stream run-
ning through the farm. The farm should be large enough
to furnish all the grain and feed that would be used in the
business, as well as straw to make first-class bed-
ding, and fields should all be rather small, say from 10
to 20 acres each and all fences both outside and division
fences should be made of woven wire with steel or cement
posts, so that when once built there would be no need of
repairing for a generation. Suitable gates made of gal-
vanized piping with woven wire should open into every
field and pasture. These gates should not be less than
14 feet wide, so that teams could be driven in and out when
necessary. Suitable barns, nicely painted and kept in good
repair, should be of sufficient number to contain all the
products of the farm, both grain, hay and straw. A small
building used as a shop should by all means be on every
well regulated breeding farm, where crates, hurdles and
anything along these lines could be made as needed. This
shop should be furnished with a complete set of tools, in-
cluding carpenters tools, pump, tongs, various kinds of
wrenches, etc., and all such tools as are constantly needed
on a farm.
If the owner has any knowledge of blacksmithing a port-
able forge, a drilling outfit, etc., should also be in the shop.
Also a good heating stove so that work could be done here
14 Forty YEARS’ EXPERIENCE OF A PRACTICAL Hoa MAN.
in cold or stormy weather. If the business was large
enough to justify, a nice small office should be on every
breeding farm, so that all comers would have a place where
they could go and ‘‘talk hog’’ to their heart’s content with-
out being obliged to do this in the dwelling. All buildings
should be built of good material, nicely painted and always
kept in good condition. The various hog houses, as well
as the smaller individual ones should all be nicely made
of lumber and well painted and each should be numbered.
A plat of the farm proper should also be made by a sur-
veyor and each field numbered, so that a regular record
can be kept of what each field produced and what its crop
rotation should be each year. All convenient utensils
should be kept on every swine breeding farm such as mix-
ing vat, steam boiler or water heater, good well made gal-
vanized pails and dippers, a set of scales in the feed house
or some other convenient barn where pigs and feed for
them can be weighed, so that one could keep his feed
account and know how much. feed he. was giving
each different lot of pigs or hogs. Water should be in
every feed house, either pumped directly with windmill or
engine or from a compressed air water system.
other animal or human being. I have known pigs to walk
directly from a wet feed of nice rich slop to a drinking foun-
tain and take a good drink of water, as though they had been
fed on dry feed. I really think that the majority of breeders
and farmers overlook this matter of letting the hogs have
plenty of water to drink.
Further, the brood sows during the season should, if pos-
sible, have some kind of green feed or pasture. Of course
in parts of the country where there is heavy snow, some-
thing must be fed to take the place of pasture. There is
nothing equal to the third or fourth cutting of alfalfa for
this purpose. This, if cured without being damaged by
rains, is practically as green as it would be in June, and ‘is
greatly relished. It can be fed in racks, properly made,
and mentioned elsewhere in this book, or it may be run
through a power cutter and chaffed and fed with a portion
of the grain ration, as above recommended. A mixture of
salt, charcoal, wood ashes and ground limestone or slacked
lime is absolutely necessary, and if convenient add also a
portion of ground phosphate rock. This mixture adds much
CARE OF THE BRooD Sows. 59
in the way of mineral matter that ‘is so necessary in building
up the bone and frame of the unborn litter.
Brood sows should have a dry warm place to sleep, and
but few in number—not over ten or twelve—should run
together or sleep in one compartment. This is to avoid
their crowding or piling up too closely.
The future of the pig depends much, in fact more than is
usually realized, on what the dam receives in feed and care
before the birth of the litter. ‘‘A litter well born is half
raised,’’ and there should be no immediate change in the
feeding formula for the sow having just farrowed a litter
of pigs, from what she has been having during the
period of gestation, only after farrowing the sow should
go at least twenty-four hours without feed, with what
water she will drink, which in cold weather should
be given her with the chill taken off; then, a very light
portion of the same feed she has been having. If she
has been fed a dry feed, it would be well to use the same
proportion in the mixture, only feed it as a slop, with warm
water during the winter in a cold climate, and cold water
. if in the southern States.
This feed should be gradually increased as the litter is
able to take all the milk furnished by the mother. Usually
at the end of one week, if the litter is an average sized one,
the sow can be fed all she will eat up clean.
By the time the pigs are three weeks old they will eat a
little on the side from the trough with their mother, and
if it is desired to push them to the limit in growth, a small
feeding space can be arranged so they may feed from a very
low, shallow trough by themselves, unmolested by the
mother, giving them the same feed given the mother.
During this period of the early life of the litter the sow
and litter should take plenty of exercise for the necessary
good of the pigs, for they must exercise considerably dur-
ing each day, or they will become fat around the heart and
die with what is known as ‘‘Thumps,’’ which is nothing
more or less than fatty degeneration of the heart, which
they will certainly have unless they are exercised daily in
some way.
As weaning time approaches, which should not be earlier
than ten to twelve weeks, in my opinion, the feed may be
lessened for the sow and more given the litter, so that the
60 Forty YEARS’ EXPERIENCE OF A PRACTICAL Hog MAN.
sow would gradually give less milk and have no trouble
when the pigs are taken entirely away.
Some breeders have made it a practice to gradually wean
the litter by taking them away for a few hours and then
returning them to the mother and following this up for
a few days until they are taken away entirely.
Others have practiced taking one or more of the most
thrifty pigs in the litter away from the mother first, then
after a few days a few others, and finally taking those re-
maining, believing that pigs so weaned would leave the sow
in better condition and less danger of swelling and soreness
of the udder.
We never have practiced this, however, during our forty
years of breeding pigs. By letting the litter suckle until
it is ten to twelve weeks old or a little over, the sow naturally
is inclined to wean them herself and if she has been prop-
erly fed the last part of this period she will practically
give no milk at the end of three months or thereabouts.
When the litter is finally weaned the sow should be given
a good fresh pasture of some kind with a little grain and
she will need very little else during the next month or two*
or until time to begin to bring her in condition for another
season’s breeding.
We pastured something like forty brood sows that had
weaned their pigs in May, by turning them directly into
a fresh white clover and blue grass pasture where there
was plenty of shade. They had no grain or slop for four
months, but were given daily from a water fountain all the
fresh clean water they could drink.
They did well on this grass and water diet, but in 1914
we will feed two or three ears of corn daily to each sow,
besides the grass and water, as I believe for best results
they should have a little grain. The sows that were bred
for fall litters ran in the pasture with the others and were
removed into individual lots about a month before farrow-
ing where they were given a little corn and some slop with
plenty of grass. |
To have two litters a year, sows must wean their spring
litters by May 1st, so as to be bred for early fall farrow,
and the fall litters must be weaned in November or early
December so as to be bred for March and April farrow.
CARE OF THE Broop Sows. 51
In the North it is not always practical to have two litters
a year and we find it often advisable to breed the sows so
that they will farrow one litter the first year and two
litters the next year, or in other words, three litters in two
years.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
MARKING PIGS.
The matter of having each litter marked so that pigs
may be identified at any time, is one that every breeder
of pure-breds at least should follow without fail. There
is nothing that would be more embarrassing than to have
a prospective buyer, when looking over the pigs ask how
we identify them and be unable to answer satisfactorily.
After trying all kinds and varieties of ear labels we settled -
many years ago on the only system that we have found
entirely reliable, and one that never fails to remain where
it is put. This system is a series of small punch marks in
the outer and inner rims of the two ears, and is fully illus-
trated herein.
One thing is quite important, namely, that a small punch
be used, one not larger than the largest size in a revolving
harness punch. The punch should be set on the rim ol
the ear, only cutting out a half circle. If too large a
punch is used the marks become too prominent as the pig
grows to maturity.
A small vest pocket memorandum book should always be
carried, using one leaf for each sow and her litter, with
the stamp, as shown in the illustrated system of marking,
showing the same ear marks as are given to the pig. In
this way as one goes through the herd and asks for the
breeding of different pigs, it can very readily be given,
by referring to the small memorandum book. To illustrate:
Suppose a prospective buyer selected a pig and said to
me, “‘this pig has two marks in the right ear outer rim
and one in the left, outer rim. What are his sire and dam
and date of farrow?’’ By referring to the book showing
this mark I will find it is the fifth litter farrowed during
the year and shows that the sire was Rival’s Majesty 150500
and the dam Locksley’s Artful Belle 178745 and was far-
MARKING PIGS. 63
64 ForTy YEARS’ EXPERIENCE OF A PRACTICAL HoG MAN.
rowed March 13th, 1913. This is all in a nut shell and
very satisfactory to the one asking for the information.
In this system we use the same mark for each pig in the
litter, as the pig is not named or registered until sold, then
a name is given and a registry number which is entered
on the card record of that particular litter. If a sow in
this litter or a boar is retained in the herd the card record
should show it and ear mark as well. This system is
started new the first of January each year, as the previous
year’s litters are supposed to be sold, but for the few that
are not, or are intended to be retained in the herd, a
memorandum is made. .
RECORD OF LITTERS.
We have found the following card system for keeping
a record of the litters, as well as disposition of each, to
be the most convenient of anything we have ever tried.
The ecards should be 5x8 in. as illustrated. On one
side should be written the pedigree of the dam, her de-
scription, showing the ear marks she carries, and the date
she was farrowed. The opposite side, as illustrated.
should show the sire and dam of the litter giving
their herd book numbers, and cut of the pigs head should
show how the litter was marked. You will note that this
side of the card is ruled for the purpose of entering on
same the disposition of the pigs of the litter; the pigs that
were sold as breeders as well as those for pork should
all be entered on this side, showing to whom sold and price;
and where a portion of the litter was sold for pork, or
butchered for family use, they should also be entered.
Those sold for breeders should have their name and herd
book numbers in proper column as shown. We give one of
these cards to the litter of each sow. If she has two lit-
ters in one calendar year she has two cards to show what
her litters were in number and what disposition was made
of them. It would surprise many persons to see the foot-
ings of the sales from a registered sow seven or eight
years of age, that has been a good producer once or twice
each year. These cards should be kept in a small cabinet
drawer and each one numbered with the number given to
the sow, so that all cards for that sow may be of the same
65
MARKING PIGS.
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number and in the same pocket. It takes but a moment’s
time where this system is followed to open the drawer of
the cabinet, take all the cards belonging to a certain sow
and add up what her produce has brought you. I had
occasion a short time since to look over the cards of an
old sow who was beginning to get along in years, and added
up what we had received for her direct produce since she
was old enough to breed, and found we had sold from this
individual sow over $3,500.00 worth of pigs, and none of
them at an extravagant price. It is much more conven-
ient than having to use a herd record, as the cards are all
in one bunch and quickly viewed. We have had many
letters in the last few years asking us to send a blank card
showing this system, and all inquirers, so far as I have
heard, have put the system in practice and are well satisfied
with it. A breeder cannot be too careful in keeping
_ absolutely correct records of dates of farrows and of pigs
sold.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
CARE OF PIGS.
Care of Pigs for First Three Months After Weaning.
Weaning time is a very critical period in the life of the
pig. We will suppose that the pig has been fed in addition
to what he received from the mother, so that he is well
started, and, without changing the rations he has had, he
should be fed at least twice daily all that he will eat up
clean. It is a bad custom to feed any animal more than
it will eat and clean up thoroughly. The pig should have,
in addition to what it is fed in concentrated ration, at all
times of the year, the run of a good fresh pasture of green
feed. The different varieties are treated in another chapter.
Probably the most economical ration for pigs for the
first three months after weaning is a mixture of home-
grown grains, preferably ground into a fine meal and prop-
erly balanced. If one is growing his own grains for hog
feed, a good ration is a mixture of corn and oats very
finely ground. I do not mean broken up with a cheap steel
grinder, but ground into a fine meal, and if it could be
sifted, so much the better. Oat husks are not a very desira-
ble adjunct in the mixture, but will not injure the pigs after
a few months old, but during the first few weeks of their
lives the husks prove more or less irritating in the in-
testines. This mixture would be improved by. an addi-
tion of ten per cent tankage. of not less than sixty
per cent protein, unless one has enough skim milk with.
which to mix the ration into a slop as thick as can be
poured. There is nothing better for growing pigs than
skim milk properly balanced with three pounds of milk to
one pound of ground carbonaceous grain. More than this
amount of milk per pound of grain should not be used.
Where there is no milk, tankage will practically take its
place in balancing the ration. .
All the feed should be fed while sweet. When the
CARE OF PIGs. 69
weather is not too hot it would be better to mix it ten or
twelve hours before feeding, or so that it would soak after
morning feeding time until the evening feed, and vice versa.
If it is desired to feed three times a day, the noon feed
could well be made up of shelled corn soaked at least
twenty-four hours, or until the kernels become softened.
Remember always to use the liquid or water from the
soaked corn to help in mixing the slop feed, as there is a
large amount of nutriment in water from soaked corn. It
has been said that ‘‘it is to a pig what beer is to a Dutch-
man.’’ Some feeders use ear corn for soaking, but I have
never liked to feed wet ears of corn, much preferring to
shell it and soak as above. Above all, feed only clean,
corn.
Here let me mention again the matter of clean, fresh
water never being neglected.
In addition to the feeding and watering, there are other
little attentions that must not be overlooked. The pigs
should, if possible, have a shallow cement pool that could
be used as a wallow, and it should be so made that the
water can be changed every day or two. By having this
kind of a wallow, and adding a good disinfectant and a
little crude oil poured on the water, the skin of the pigs
will be kept in perfect condition, without any danger of
skin disease or eruption.
Where one is not prepared to place these clear water
pools or wallows, he should have a dipping tank. A
dipping tank certainly gets the dip and oil on every part
of the body, for the animals have to plunge or slide down
the chute into the dipping tank, which thoroughly immerses
them.
One great trouble is that the pigs are not run through
the dip as often as they should be. Once every week
in warm weather is none too often if there are any lice or
indications of skin trouble. After they once hecome en-
tirely free from all such troubles, once every two to four
weeks will do.
If, however, there are lice on the pigs, a good quality of
erude oil should be added to the dip, and the sleeping quar-
ters carefully looked after. It would be useless to dip a
drove of lousy pigs and allow them to return to an infected
70 Forty YEARS’ EXXPERIENC: OF A PRACTICAL HoG MAN.
sleeping place. The sleeping quarters should be thoroughly
cleaned out and the ground or floor thoroughly wet with
the dip. This would be beneficial in several ways; if
the ground was used instead of a floor, it would be
dampened by the dip and oil. The oil would certainly be a
great help here as well as in the dip, as it would keep down
the dust. After the sleeping place has been oiled once or
twice, there would be no danger of an accumulation of dust
during the season: If the ground is treated in this way,
there will be no need of bedding during the summer months,
or until the weather becomes cold and bedding is needed
for warmth.
We have noticed in caring for pigs, that it is often the
case that the feed used lacks in mineral matter, and we have
therefore found it a great help to keep a mixture of mineral
matter in troughs or boxes where the pigs and hogs can go
to it at will, and it is surprising how much will be eaten
by them. The mixture we generally use is composed of
ground rock phosphate which we buy for use on our
land, and to this we add finely ground limestone; to
give it a flavor and a relish, also mix in some salt, and often
add to this slacked lime, thoroughly mixed; these ingre-_
dients form a very desirable mineral feeding preparation.
In carrying the pigs along from weaning time to ma-
turity, too many should not be allowed to herd together—
especially is this true if they are of various sizes and ages.
Where they must run together in large numbers and vari-
ous sizes, there should be a separate feeding place with a
graduated creep where small pigs can pass through and
eat by themselves, unmolested by the larger ones. There
is no surer way of getting a bunch of runts on the farm
than by allowing all sizes to eat in the same feeding yard.
A creep of from twelve to sixteen feet long can be made |
between panels of a fence dividing the feed yard where large
numbers are fed. These spaces should be made of rollers
with a piece of iron in each end standing upright and set
into a two by six or other size timber just wide enough
apart, so the smaller pigs can pass through without injury.
Pigs carried along in this way and fed and attended to
in the above manner should make rapid growth and devel-
opment, and if desired to be kept for breeders, this same
CARE OF PIGS. 71
treatment can be carried on during the first year. If it is
planned to put them on an early market, and at a weight
of from 200 to 250 pounds, the ration can be somewhat
changed for the last sixty days by using more corn and a
little less of the other kinds of feed. :
Probably better weights can be made and much more
economically with ninety per cent corn and ten per cent
tankage. This ration, by actual use, put a car of hogs
on the market that topped the market, and showed by
records to have been made at a less cost than those that
were fed corn alone. It is a well-known fact that the first
one hundred pounds of growth of any hog is made at a
much less expense than any other subsequent one hundred
pounds. So it is economy to feed all the good feed that
ean be properly digested from birth to maturity.
There are feeders, and always have been, and probably
always will be, who pay little attention to their pigs dur-
ing the growing period of the first six months, believing
that if they are turned out into any old pasture and can
get water to drink, that they can grow a frame and some
size at little or no cost. This may do for the careless
farmer, who does not wish to give any time to his crop of
pigs, expecting to do it all after they have lived long .
enough to develop some frame, which is in some way to be
covered up and rounded out with an all-corn ration thrown
out to them in any kind of a yard, in any season, expecting
them to make pork at small expense and little time given
to their care. This may be satisfactory to that class of
men, but it has always been our plan and belief that the
mother’s milk fat of the little pig should never be lost, but
be increased by liberal and proper rations during its entire
life.
Carrying the Pigs on After Six Months of Age Until Marketing.
After the pigs have come to about the age of six
months, there should not be much change in the feed
from what they have had since weaning time; how-
ever it is well at this time to increase the corn or the fat
producing element in their feed, and reduce somewhat the
other elements. Probably at this time there is nothing
better than a rape pasture with what corn the pigs would
clean up each day, with the addition of about 10% in weight
72 FORTY YEARS’ EXPERIENCE OF A PRACTICAL Hoc MAN.
of corn in good meat meal or tankage. This will bring
them on to a finish and put two curls in their tails. This
for spring pigs in preparation for early marketing in the
fall or for shipping out as breeders. The grain ration of
course may be varied, using ground corn meal with 10%
tankage, or by using ground barley or wheat or rye
with corn meal. Any mixture of fattening grains bal-
anced with a little tankage where skim milk cannot be
had is all that is necessary with good pasture to make
rapid gain.
WEIGHT FOR AGE OF PIGS.
This is a very difficult subject, as there is no iron clad
rule for pigs of certain ages. 149
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