578 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



Hogs should always have access to plenty of good water and salt and 

 coal, either slack or charcoal, is a good cleanser of the system of man ; then 

 why should it not bo in the hogs? 



A little time spent each day in looking over the hog pen fence may look 

 like time thrown away but I think it is time well spent; you can observe 

 how your hogs are doing; whether you are feeding too much or too little. 

 You can see if some are being crowded and need a separate pen or better 

 care; always feed with judgment and discretion. 



One thing I want to emphasize is the comfort of your hogs; as I said 

 before the final end of the hog is the pork barrel and you wish to make 

 the most pounds out of him at the least expense possible. A good dry feed- 

 ing place should be provided also good roomy sleeping quarters, with plenty 

 of bedding. It may be said that a pig kept for fattening purposes after it 

 is from 8 to 9 months old is kept at a loss to the owner as it ought to have 

 been converted into meat, says London Live Stock Journal. 



The cost of keeping in store condition is unprofitable and the farther 

 attempt to fatten a hog after it v.eighs 300 pounds is unprofitable as com- 

 pared with feeding pigs that weigh from 100 to 200 lbs. There is no 

 question with me about whether it is profitable or not to raise hogs with 

 the present price of corn and the present price of hogs, if properly taken 

 care of. With hogs near the 8-cent mark and corn at 45 to 50 cents there 

 is no doubt in my mind that there is good money, a saving in time and 

 labor to turn the hogs in and let them do their own husking. This is a plan 

 I have never tried and I think that it would be all right if you had your 

 corn field in a convenient location to water, etc. 



Silage is highly recommended by some feeders as fine feed for breed- 

 ing stock and a substitute for pasture. One thing that recommends it is 

 the extreme cheapness. 



There is a lot of good things that I could say about hogs; how they 

 have been instrumental in helping many of us pay off the mortgage on 

 our farms, how they have helped us to build good buildings and buy many 

 of the things that make life worth living but perhaps I have taken enough 

 of your valuable time so I will close with a story. 



An old man was picking strawberries on the mountain side one day in 

 August when he heard the stones rattling down the hillside above him, 

 and on looking up saw a big grizzly coming at him; he turned and ran 

 with the big 1600 lb. bear in pursuit. Then he happened to think the riv- 

 er was frozen over with thin ice that w'ould hold him but would not sup- 

 port the bear. 



So he ran until he got to the river and, as he thought, went over in 

 safety and the bear went through. 



When he was through one of the listeners said, "I thought you said it 

 was August when that old man was picking strawberries." The old man 

 said, "I might have kept you here to tell you all, but it was August when 

 I was picking those strawberries and it was .January when I got to the 

 river." . ' I » 



