SIXTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART IV. 313 



six months to get him in sh^pe,- — and nine times out of ten 

 you have ruined the pig. You work for the ribbon and that 

 is all you care for if you have a show herd. If you come to 

 the Iowa State Fair with twenty hogs under six months and 

 have ten of them in breeding condition and the other ten fed 

 away up, which one will the people buy? They will buy the 

 fat pig instead of the one in breeding condition. If the public 

 breeding people want that kind of pig we must get it fat. If 

 a pig has been fed and won honors at the fair he is useless after- 

 ward and you had better sell him and let the other fellow get the 

 experience." 



Mr. Browning stated his view of the case as 

 follows: "I think it is every breeder's duty to look further than 

 that. If he sells a hog that he knows will not do well he should 

 never sell him. He should raise them for a reputation of his 

 own careful breeding and produce the right kind of stock. 

 There is more in it than the dollars and cents. I would 

 rather sell a pig that will do well and that will not look so well. 

 Then if he is over fed and does not do well, the purchaser cannot 

 kick, because I did all right. But on the other hand, if he gets a. 

 pig and he is over fed before he gets him and does not do well in 

 his hands, I get the blame." 



Along this same line Mr. Browning continued: "I 

 do not think it is necessary to the case that because a 

 hog is finished out that it is spoiling the breed. The 

 best hog I ever owned was fat to the limit. He was about as 

 broad as he was long but he was one of the best hogs I ever had. 

 On the other hand, I got a hog once from Illinois that the man 

 said he had been saving for a show hog and he was a hard looker, 

 but he was properly raised for a breeder and was excellent in 

 that respect, so we cannot always tell by the looks what there is 

 in a hog. It depends on the blood there is in him. If he is a 

 mixed hog he may look like a thoroughbred but he will not 

 be all right for a breeder. Proper care and feed will improve 

 him but after all it is the blood that makes him valuable. You 

 can only determine his value by use. Then you can tell just 



