288 IOWA DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



of nature's laws. Scientific feeding is only the most natural and cor- 

 rect method, economy, efficiency and results considered. In discuss- 

 ing the subject to-day I shall not deal with the intricate and tech- 

 nical phases of the subject, so much as with some general principles 

 and practices which I wish to emphasize. 



The hog is preeminently the most profitable corn and grain con- 

 densing animal on the American farm. No other domestic animal is 

 capable of converting so large a part of the feed it consumes Into 

 edible meat and no other animal yields so large a percentage of dressed 

 meat to live weight. The hog will make from twelve to fifteen pounds 

 of pork, live weight, from a bushel of corn; the sheep from five to 

 eight, and the steer from four to five. The sheep will kill from fifty to 

 sixty per cent of net meat; the steer from fifty-five to sixty-five per 

 cent and the hog from seventy-five to eighty-five per cent. As an econ- 

 omical meat producer the hog has no rival. Viewed as a machine for 

 converting farm feed stuffs into finished products the hog stands pre- 

 eminent. He is even called upon to supplement and complete the prO' 

 cess of converting feed into pork in the feeding of nearly all other 

 stock on the farm. Eliminate the hog's part in the economy of farm 

 feeding operations and you will remove the factor of profit in many 

 cases. 



The oustanding and ever present menace in hog raising is disease. 

 Were it not for this, pork production at the prevailing prices would 

 be an easy road to wealth. As it is, successful hog raisers seldom 

 remain long in debt. One of the shrewdest bankers I .have ever known 

 rated his customers largely by their ability to raise hogs. A farmer 

 who turned off a good bunch of hogs each year could always get credit 

 at that bank. 



The hog's ailments are numerous though not formidable, with the 

 exception of cholera. For this there is no specific, or care. There are 

 always venders seeking to exploit cocksure remedies at the feeders' 

 expense. A really successful remedy needs no exploiting in the farm- 

 ers' feed lot. The dealer who is honestly confident that he has a sure 

 cure can well afford to provide his own hogs for demonstration. That 

 artificial condition and feeding are largely responsible for swine 

 diseases is generally admitted. Corn, the crop that makes pork pro- 

 duction so highly profitable, at the same time renders the business 

 extremely hazardous. Yet it cannot be said that there is any direct 

 connection between corn and cholera or that hogs raised without corn 

 would be immune. The methods attending the use of corn are largely 

 responsible for disease. While no exact statistics that I know of are 

 available there is generally a well established relation between the 

 price of corn and the prevalence of cholera. I am fully convinced that 

 the hog until the finishing or fattening period begins, needs more 

 room, more freedom, more grass and succulent feed, and less confine- 

 ment and corn. Because the hog utilizes grain products so efficiently 

 and economically the mistake of feeding grain exclusively is too fre- 

 quently made. The hog from fipst to last is capable of getting a large 



