338 Missouri Agricultural Re^oort. 



COTE SYSTEM VS. CENTRALIZED HOG HOUSE SYSTEM. 



(June K. King, Marshall, Missouri.) 



That hogs, more than any other of our breeds of live stock, need 

 shelter is certainly true, and that they get less housing than per- 

 haps any of our live stock is also true. You hear frequently ex- 

 pressions like these: "Most anything is good enough for a hog;" 

 "Hogs do not need shelter;" "Corn is a mighty good cross for a 

 hog;" "It costs a heap to care for hogs like you do," etc. 



I believe that for most farm.ers the centralized hog house is 

 perhaps the most convenient. It should be well located on a high, 

 dry place, arranged in such a manner that the sun can shine into 

 all parts at least a part of the time, with water and feed conven- 

 ient; the pastures should be near; the lots or pens should be as 

 roomy as circumstances will permit and open into the pastures; 

 the lots or pens should be concreted or paved. 



I have in mind a neighbor who is making quite a success rais- 

 ing hogs for the market. He raises about 200 each twelve months. 

 He has two houses that will accommodate about ten sows each, 

 with a shed or alley-way to feed the pigs in in bad weather. There 

 is also a corn crib at each house. As yet he has not water con- 

 venient, nor small lots, but his pastures — some eight or ten, each 

 containing from ten to twenty acres — are so arranged that he can 

 utilize any one with one or the other of his houses. 



Feeding floors are very essential to the well-being of the hog, 

 and can be built at a reasonable cost for material; the labor can 

 be performed by the farmer and his hired hand. 



The greatest objection, I think, to the centralized hog house is 

 disease. Should you have an outbreak of some contagious disease 

 you cannot so well isolate your hogs nor can you so readily disin- 

 fect. If one has the means, I would advise combining the two sys- 

 tems — having one or more larger houses and then as many cotes 

 and their adjoining lots as you need. 



In this section we often have a severe snow storm — which lasts 

 only for a short time — that makes proper caring for hogs out of 

 doors almost impossible. At such times it would be convenient to 

 have a larger hog house where all the hogs could be brought in 

 from the small houses and cared for with great comfort to both 

 the herdsman and the hogs. The larger hog house should be built 

 with an alley way running the whole length of the building with 



