502 FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 



amount is given there will be no increase in weight, as all the feed is required 

 to sustain life. For those who have not the confidence to feed their stock 

 liberally, it would be much more profitable not to keep any; for, to empty 

 our crib of corn and not have a pound of pork to show for it is the height 

 of folly. 



Let it be remembered that the quicker any animal, intended for meat, 

 will demand the highest price, and produce the best meat, the more profit 

 there is to the feeder, or in other words, every day they do not gain in value 

 to us we must charge them with their board. 



And again, it is a certain fact that the improvement of our stock is of no 

 use in any other way except to more profitably convert their feed to our 

 profit. Hence the improved, or well bred animal is simply an improved 

 machine to convert our feed into money, and except it is given a chance it 

 cannot perform this service for us. 



I have never been able to get breeding stock too fat if plenty of exercise 

 was given and proper kinds of feed. There is one rule that applies well in 

 most all places in the improving of our stock, and that is that like produces 

 like. And this rule is especially adapted to this part, for if we would improve 

 the feeding qualities of our swine, the place to begin is with our breed- 

 ing animals, and so feed them that they do not know what hunger is, and 

 they will produce young that have no knowledge of hunger, and if the dam 

 is in high flesh she is capable of feeding her young so that they are in good 

 flesh while dependent on her for their support. And if we do our part 

 when they are dependent on us, and so care for and feed them that the 

 so-called baby flesh is never lost, and so continue from one generation to the 

 next, it cannot help but produce stock that will be easy keepers. 



I think it is impossible to produce a healthy and palatable meat on any 

 animal that is confined in a small pen all of its days, and a great part of the 

 time in filth, and fed upon all kinds of unhealthy foods. 



But they say this is the most profitable way to feed them; but if we persist 

 in feeding and keeping them in this way, and so ruin the demand for the 

 product, the loss is our own. 



I think a hog should always have a good large yard to exercise in at all 

 times during his life, so that he can have the ground when he wants to 

 exercise his muscles, and should always have a dry place to sleep, not too 

 warm but with the cold wind and storm broken off of them. And as a rnle 

 they should be forced to come somewhere for their feed, and, where it is 

 possible in summer, a clover field is the place for them. 



The practice of ringing hogs is not only cruel but is detrimental to their 

 well doing. The reason for ringing given by most of those who practice it, 

 is that they root so much, but I have found that when a hog had plenty to 

 eat given him he had but little disposition to root. 



Whole corn is the principal food for hogs, especially in fattening them. 

 It is my opinion that it is not the proper feed alone for swine at any time 

 during their life, but should only be fed in connection with other feeds, such 

 as wheat middlings, barley or oats, roots, and skimmed milk. 



As the mixed feed not only produces a healthy hog but generally improves 

 the quality of the meat, by producing a much harder, finer grained and much 

 more lean meat to fat. With me, wheat middlings is of more value in feeding 

 hogs than corn, and there is no time during their life that wheat is not a 

 part of their food. 



