332 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



pect them to average pretty close to 2^ pounds a day gain, pro- 

 vided the lice are kept in check and they have been rid of worms. 



Until two years ago I questioned the possibilities of profit in 

 fall pigs. At that time I had sixty-five pigs of September farrow. 

 On December 8th they averaged forty-seven pounds and were not 

 looking as thrifty as I would have liked. I had not found satis- 

 factory treatment for worms and concluded to try turpentine, 

 which I did, giving a teaspoonful to eighty pounds weight in slop 

 three days in succession on an empty stomach, and repeated in a 

 week. This did the work, and I have since used it, shortly after 

 weaning, and again when they weigh from 125 to 150 pounds. 



I had been using some tankage for nearly two years, but not 

 in a systematic way, so decided to try it on this bunch of pigs and 

 keep an accurate record, weighing the pigs on Saturday of each 

 week and keeping a record of corn and tankage fed. 



Twenty of the choice pigs were sold for breeding; on April 30th 

 I sold twenty head weighing 263 pounds; May 13th the remain- 

 ing twenty-five head at 242 pounds. The last month the forty- 

 five head put on an average of twenty-four pounds a day. They 

 were all less than eight months old when sold. I now raise all 

 the fall pigs I can. Under this treatment, my pigs are practi- 

 cally ready for market at any time, and at any time up to going in- 

 to the lot for the last month's feed they have been handled in a 

 manner to develop properly for breeding, and this is the time to 

 select recruits for the sows' brigade, but hold onto the old ones 

 until they show sure signs of deteriorating. 



My entire herd are purebred Durocs and I do some business 

 in breeding stock — (would like to do more) — but if I never sold 

 a registered hog I would always mark my pigs so I could tell for 

 my own benefit when finished what litters and families are doing 

 me the most good from a purely pork standpoint, and to enable 

 me to select my brood sows intelligently. 



I consider one of the most important things in feeding hogs 

 never to mix sizes in the same pasture or feed lot, and that is one 

 advantage in having the pigs come at as nearly the same time 

 as possible. I try to keep salt and ashes always where they can 

 get them, and they have charcoal — but not always — and eat all 

 the walnuts and acorns of course. 



I have never fed any patent foods or remedies, but think tank- 

 age the greatest supplementary food we can get; it gives them a 

 relish for their corn, and I think they drink a great deal more 

 water when getting it, and water is, I think, a large part of fat. 



