208 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



pig for $15 because breeders were looking for tliat type. The size was 

 plenty and the quality was good, and all my females now trace back to him. 

 Take a hog that has ears set wide apart and he will have a wide forehead 

 and as a rule a short nose and if his legs are set wide apart you will 

 always have a great back, which means a well sprung rib and a great loin. 

 That has been my experience, and that is where Iowa Champion came in 

 ahead of all of them. He was of that makeup. I had the first prize male 

 here at the Iowa State Fair in 1879. That was the first Iowa fair held in 

 Des Moines. It was Young Sampson, bred by Ellsworth, of Illinois. In 

 1884 I won first and sweepstakes on Dandy Jim, a hog that Shepherd & 

 Alexander bred. He was one of that blocky type. In 1886 I bought Iowa 

 Champion. He was bred and raised by McClung. I showed him as a 

 yearling and he won first and sweepstakes at the lo\/a State Fair, and 

 the same year first at the Nebraska Fair. In 1888 I showed him again 

 at the Iowa State Fair as a two-year-old, and he won first and sweep- 

 stakes; and was killed shortly afterward. In 1889 I showed Iowa Champion 

 II. and won first and sweepstakes on him. Then I got King Tecumseh II. 

 and Ideal Black U. S. I got King Tecumseh II. in 1890 and in 1892 old 

 Black U. S. and in 1895 Ideal Black U. S. I got old King Corwin in 1894, 

 and Pioneer Chief followed. 



I don't know as feeding amounts to as much as keeping your lots in 

 shape, using lots of lime around the pens and sleeping pens. Whitewash 

 the fences and raise a green crop every year on the lots. I think oats 

 and rape are the best things to raise. It is a quick growth, and when your 

 oats are gone your rape is coming on. I think that is one thing that has 

 kept us from having cholera any oftener. We always haul sand and 

 gravel for the pigs the same as for chickens. They will leave corn to come 

 and eat the sand if they have not had it for a while. It is something 

 they need and relish, and in the summer time it makes the nicest, coolest 

 bed for them of anything you can find. Throw lime around in your sleep- 

 ing departments. It is good for them and the dust will not hurt the pigs. 

 It helps appearances as well as helping the hogs. 



In the early days we fed heavier with corn. At first we ground corn 

 and oats and fed quite a bit of that. We did not buy feed so much as we 

 do now. Later on we shut down on corn and oats some. We changed 

 mostly because we thought it was a little easier feeding. It was not so 

 much trouble to feed shorts as to grind feed. When I was feeding shorts 

 I aways thought it better to feed dry corn in place of soaked corn. You 

 get better bone and muscle with shorts. The main thing is exercise. Pigs 

 should have plenty of exercise and a good dry place to sleep. They will 

 always take exercise if they have a chance and plent of room. Don't 

 feed them so heavy but what they would like to have just a little bit 

 more. I never have had much trouble with rooting and never ring my 

 pigs. If you keep a hog healthy and in good shape it will not root. I 

 think rings hurt them and make them cross. If you starve them down 

 and don't feed them properly they will root more or less. We always raise 

 two sets of pigs each year from every sow. Lots of people object to that. 

 If we ever kept an old brood sow she always raised two litters every year. 

 Do not breed sows until they are a year old. We get our best brood 

 sows from fall gilts coming near a year old before breeding. 



