Page 1 |
Previous | 1 of 16 | Next |
|
|
Loading content ...
\ V x@r VOL. LXX INDIANAPOLIS, OCT. 30, 1915. NO. 44 Securing Profitable Returns From Hogs It Is largely through the hog that the Indiana farmer of today converts corn, certain of the forage crops, and the waste products of the farm, such as kitchen refuse, dairy by-products, inferior or surplus products of the garden and orchard and light or damaged grain and grain which is not secured by the harvester, into cash. Without hogs on the farm to manufacture into pork these waste products of different kinds, the latter possess little value and will bring no revenue to the farmer in the absence of their utilization by swine. The market value of damaged grains is usually so little that it hardly pays to take the time to market them. Some are really unmarketable. Yet nearly all of these waste products may be marketed, so to speak, at good prices right on the farm by feeding them to hogs. But while utilizing large quantities of waste products, hogs also consume even larger quantities of farm products which possess a good value if hauled directly to market. Hence, in the end, the net returns from hogs depend to a large extent upon the kind of hogs the feeder keeps and how he cares for and feeds them. There is no stock kept by farmers that has improved more during the last twenty-five or thirty- years than hogs. Thirty years ago if a hog gained three or four pounds on a bushel of corn the farmer was satisfied; today the scientific feeder expects, and is getting, about three times that gain from his bushel of corn. The increase of gain secured by modern feeders comes from two sources, viz.: ' Better breeding, and better care and feed. Today the power of the improved hog to eat and assimilate food is almost marvelous. Scientists assert that the Intestinal canal of the lard hog has been more than doubled in length in the last three decades. Breeding and feeding has accomplished this result. But if the modern hog is a more complicated machine than was the hog that our forefathers knew, it must have a better man behind it if it is to come up to its limit as a pork maker. The greatest measure of success comes only to those feeders of today who understand every detail of their business, and who keep the imlproved hog under improved conditions. Economical Production. The, present day method of pork production, as practiced by numerous feeders, is similar in one respect only to the old time method. Corn is still depended upon to a great extent in growing and fattening hogs. Twenty- five or thirty years ago the farmer thought corn was all it was ever intended he should feed his hogs, when Improved Hogs Give Best Results Only When Kept and Fed Under Improved Conditions. By W. F. Purdue. he fed them at all, unless it was milk and the kitchen slops. He had never been informed otherwise. At that time few farmers knew the difference between growing and fattening feeds. If the average man had heard or read of certain feeds being rich in protein, quite conclusively by the experiment stations as well as by practical feeders that by employing a variety pf feeds—a balanced ration, in other words—and giving the growing shoats access to good pasture in season, more rapid growth is made ,and at less A. B. Patterson Feeding a Bunch of Thrifty Hogs on His Farm in Clay County. and others rich in fat, he would have wondereid what was meant by protein. Even yet the difference in feeds is not well understood by all farmers who are engaged in pork production, though this matter has repeatedly been explained in intelligible terms through the medium of bulletins and in articles in the agricultural press. But If those men who do understand the difference existing between the various kinds of feeds, do not take advantage of that Knowledge it is largely due to the fact that corn is so plentiful on their farms that the temptation to feed it exclusively, making it the main reliance in growing the little pigs as well as in fitting the developed shoats for market, cannot be overcome even though it is suspected that the modern method of feeding gives better results. If corn was less abundant, perhaps more men would seek for a way of producing just as many fat porkers as they now do, but on a less quantity of corn. Certain it is that those feeders who have the courage to break away from the antiquated method of feeding and adopt the more modern one are the men who are securing the greatest net returns from pork production. It was long since demonstrated cost, than when corn is fed exclusively. With a balanced ration the animals are developed more uniformly, bone, muscle and vital organs all being constructed at the same time, and therefore, greater weights can be attained than when the frames are neglected by using only fattening feeds. The balanced ration also affords an opportunity for utilizing numerous cheap feeds most profitably, thereby lessening the feed bill materially but at the same time securing just as rapid gains in the animals. There have been many times during the last few years when fat hogs commanded a high price in the markets, but at tho same time corn and other grain feeds also possessed a high market value, hence the margin between the cost of production of the hogs and their selling price was slight at the best, and if the high priced feeds were employed altogether an actual loss may have been sustained. But if at such times an effort is made to diminish the cost of production by using, as much as possible, cheap feeds which can be grown on the farm, paying returns can generally be secured. Value of Forage Crops. It Is now generally conceded that the cheapest as well as the easiest way of growing pork animals is to feed grain while the pigs have the run of good pasture. Any gain made from, pasture or forage crops is the cheapest gain possible to make, and at the same time the pasture keeps.the hog's system in fine shape. Forage crops answer a triple purpose In pork production. First,, while the hog ia primarily adapted to concentrated feeds, at the same time it requires some roughage. Grain-feeds do-not bulk up well in the stomach and are not easily penetrated by the gastric juices of the stomach, and for this reason the appetite is better maintained and digestion is improved by the use of some bulky feeds at all times of the year. Secondly, most forage crops supply sufficient protein to balance a corn, ration nicely; and finally, they furnish the pigs with exercise while securing the forage', and exercise is essential for active and healthy vital organs in the growing animals. Even during the finishing process, it is considered advisable to allow the shoats as much exercise as they care to take. The ' more concentrated their feed, the greater the necessity for some exercise every day. There are all kinds of' pasture suitable for hogs' —clover, alfalfa, rye, blue-" grass,, rape, soy beans and cow peas. They may be" sown at various times during the growing season, so that some of them' will be available at all' times from early spring until late fall. Fall-sown rye and bluegrass rnake^ pasture earlier than the others. Clover and alfalfa make very desirable sum-; mer pasturage, and they are more beneficial to the land than any of the other crops. Clover is rich in protein and It balances a corn ration nicely. It has been variously determined that when hogs have the run of good clover pasture, they require or should have from one-half to two- thirds as much corn as when corn' alone is fed. Rape is almost as good as clover in a way; what it lacks in quality as compared to clover, it makes up for in quantity of forage produced. As rape is frost proof and is a vigorous grower, it can be sown at any time after spring weather has arrived, as early as any of the grain crops, and thereafter until the end of the summer. Under favorable conditions rape is ready for pasturing in six weeks from date of seeding. Substantial fences around the ho=r lots and pasture fields are essential if the hogs are to be kept under modern conditions. A pig never outgrows the hole in the fence, it is said, therefore it should never be allowed to acquire the habit of breaking out of its enclosure. A bunch of pigs that are
Object Description
Title | Indiana Farmer, 1915, v. 70, no. 44 (Oct. 30) |
Purdue Identification Number | INFA7044 |
Date of Original | 1915 |
Subjects (LCSH) |
Agriculture Farm management Horticulture Agricultural machinery |
Subjects (NALT) |
agriculture farm management horticulture agricultural machinery and equipment |
Genre | Periodical |
Call Number of Original | 630.5 In2 |
Location of Original | Hicks Repository |
Coverage | United States - Indiana |
Type | text |
Format | JP2 |
Language | eng |
Collection Title | Indiana Farmer |
Rights Statement | Content in the Indiana Farmer Collection is in the public domain (published before 1923) or lacks a known copyright holder. Digital images in the collection may be used for educational, non-commercial, or not-for-profit purposes. |
Repository | Purdue University Libraries |
Date Digitized | 2010-04-22 |
Digitization Information | Original scanned at 300 ppi on a Bookeye 3 scanner using internal software. Display images generated in CONTENTdm as JP2000s; file format for archival copy is uncompressed TIF format. |
Description
Title | Page 1 |
Subjects (LCSH) |
Agriculture Farm management Horticulture Agricultural machinery |
Subjects (NALT) |
agriculture farm management horticulture agricultural machinery and equipment |
Genre | Periodical |
Call Number of Original | 630.5 In2 |
Location of Original | Hicks Repository |
Coverage | Indiana |
Type | text |
Format | JP2 |
Language | eng |
Collection Title | Indiana Farmer |
Rights Statement | Content in the Indiana Farmer Collection is in the public domain (published before 1923) or lacks a known copyright holder. Digital images in the collection may be used for educational, non-commercial, or non-for-profit purposes. |
Repository | Purdue University Libraries |
Digitization Information | Orignal scanned at 300 ppi on a Bookeye 3 scanner using internal software. Display images generated in CONTENTdm as JP2000s; file format for archival copy is uncompressed TIF format. |
Transcript | \ V x@r VOL. LXX INDIANAPOLIS, OCT. 30, 1915. NO. 44 Securing Profitable Returns From Hogs It Is largely through the hog that the Indiana farmer of today converts corn, certain of the forage crops, and the waste products of the farm, such as kitchen refuse, dairy by-products, inferior or surplus products of the garden and orchard and light or damaged grain and grain which is not secured by the harvester, into cash. Without hogs on the farm to manufacture into pork these waste products of different kinds, the latter possess little value and will bring no revenue to the farmer in the absence of their utilization by swine. The market value of damaged grains is usually so little that it hardly pays to take the time to market them. Some are really unmarketable. Yet nearly all of these waste products may be marketed, so to speak, at good prices right on the farm by feeding them to hogs. But while utilizing large quantities of waste products, hogs also consume even larger quantities of farm products which possess a good value if hauled directly to market. Hence, in the end, the net returns from hogs depend to a large extent upon the kind of hogs the feeder keeps and how he cares for and feeds them. There is no stock kept by farmers that has improved more during the last twenty-five or thirty- years than hogs. Thirty years ago if a hog gained three or four pounds on a bushel of corn the farmer was satisfied; today the scientific feeder expects, and is getting, about three times that gain from his bushel of corn. The increase of gain secured by modern feeders comes from two sources, viz.: ' Better breeding, and better care and feed. Today the power of the improved hog to eat and assimilate food is almost marvelous. Scientists assert that the Intestinal canal of the lard hog has been more than doubled in length in the last three decades. Breeding and feeding has accomplished this result. But if the modern hog is a more complicated machine than was the hog that our forefathers knew, it must have a better man behind it if it is to come up to its limit as a pork maker. The greatest measure of success comes only to those feeders of today who understand every detail of their business, and who keep the imlproved hog under improved conditions. Economical Production. The, present day method of pork production, as practiced by numerous feeders, is similar in one respect only to the old time method. Corn is still depended upon to a great extent in growing and fattening hogs. Twenty- five or thirty years ago the farmer thought corn was all it was ever intended he should feed his hogs, when Improved Hogs Give Best Results Only When Kept and Fed Under Improved Conditions. By W. F. Purdue. he fed them at all, unless it was milk and the kitchen slops. He had never been informed otherwise. At that time few farmers knew the difference between growing and fattening feeds. If the average man had heard or read of certain feeds being rich in protein, quite conclusively by the experiment stations as well as by practical feeders that by employing a variety pf feeds—a balanced ration, in other words—and giving the growing shoats access to good pasture in season, more rapid growth is made ,and at less A. B. Patterson Feeding a Bunch of Thrifty Hogs on His Farm in Clay County. and others rich in fat, he would have wondereid what was meant by protein. Even yet the difference in feeds is not well understood by all farmers who are engaged in pork production, though this matter has repeatedly been explained in intelligible terms through the medium of bulletins and in articles in the agricultural press. But If those men who do understand the difference existing between the various kinds of feeds, do not take advantage of that Knowledge it is largely due to the fact that corn is so plentiful on their farms that the temptation to feed it exclusively, making it the main reliance in growing the little pigs as well as in fitting the developed shoats for market, cannot be overcome even though it is suspected that the modern method of feeding gives better results. If corn was less abundant, perhaps more men would seek for a way of producing just as many fat porkers as they now do, but on a less quantity of corn. Certain it is that those feeders who have the courage to break away from the antiquated method of feeding and adopt the more modern one are the men who are securing the greatest net returns from pork production. It was long since demonstrated cost, than when corn is fed exclusively. With a balanced ration the animals are developed more uniformly, bone, muscle and vital organs all being constructed at the same time, and therefore, greater weights can be attained than when the frames are neglected by using only fattening feeds. The balanced ration also affords an opportunity for utilizing numerous cheap feeds most profitably, thereby lessening the feed bill materially but at the same time securing just as rapid gains in the animals. There have been many times during the last few years when fat hogs commanded a high price in the markets, but at tho same time corn and other grain feeds also possessed a high market value, hence the margin between the cost of production of the hogs and their selling price was slight at the best, and if the high priced feeds were employed altogether an actual loss may have been sustained. But if at such times an effort is made to diminish the cost of production by using, as much as possible, cheap feeds which can be grown on the farm, paying returns can generally be secured. Value of Forage Crops. It Is now generally conceded that the cheapest as well as the easiest way of growing pork animals is to feed grain while the pigs have the run of good pasture. Any gain made from, pasture or forage crops is the cheapest gain possible to make, and at the same time the pasture keeps.the hog's system in fine shape. Forage crops answer a triple purpose In pork production. First,, while the hog ia primarily adapted to concentrated feeds, at the same time it requires some roughage. Grain-feeds do-not bulk up well in the stomach and are not easily penetrated by the gastric juices of the stomach, and for this reason the appetite is better maintained and digestion is improved by the use of some bulky feeds at all times of the year. Secondly, most forage crops supply sufficient protein to balance a corn, ration nicely; and finally, they furnish the pigs with exercise while securing the forage', and exercise is essential for active and healthy vital organs in the growing animals. Even during the finishing process, it is considered advisable to allow the shoats as much exercise as they care to take. The ' more concentrated their feed, the greater the necessity for some exercise every day. There are all kinds of' pasture suitable for hogs' —clover, alfalfa, rye, blue-" grass,, rape, soy beans and cow peas. They may be" sown at various times during the growing season, so that some of them' will be available at all' times from early spring until late fall. Fall-sown rye and bluegrass rnake^ pasture earlier than the others. Clover and alfalfa make very desirable sum-; mer pasturage, and they are more beneficial to the land than any of the other crops. Clover is rich in protein and It balances a corn ration nicely. It has been variously determined that when hogs have the run of good clover pasture, they require or should have from one-half to two- thirds as much corn as when corn' alone is fed. Rape is almost as good as clover in a way; what it lacks in quality as compared to clover, it makes up for in quantity of forage produced. As rape is frost proof and is a vigorous grower, it can be sown at any time after spring weather has arrived, as early as any of the grain crops, and thereafter until the end of the summer. Under favorable conditions rape is ready for pasturing in six weeks from date of seeding. Substantial fences around the ho=r lots and pasture fields are essential if the hogs are to be kept under modern conditions. A pig never outgrows the hole in the fence, it is said, therefore it should never be allowed to acquire the habit of breaking out of its enclosure. A bunch of pigs that are |
Tags
Comments
Post a Comment for Page 1