468 IOWA DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE 



still another breed. By this time he has a hog with about all the unde- 

 sirable points. 



"Now, brother breeders, I think we ought to do all we can to discour- 

 age this method of breeding hogs. If a man comes looking for a male 

 pig and we find he is going to cross him with another breed, try to get 

 him to stick to one breed and raise a more uniform lot of hogs. It is 

 surprising how very few strictly good hogs come to our markets. It is 

 just as easy to raise a good hog if we go at it right, and a great deal 

 more profitable. If there is anything in blood, it is pure blood that has 

 brought hogS' up to their present state of perfection. 



"I would say to every man who raises hogs for any purpose, select a 

 breed that suits him best, always select breeding stock from the best 

 he can find, and every year try to improve. Brother breeders, I do not 

 want to insinuate that any of you are guilty of this no-purpose kind of 

 breeding, but that there are too many who are too careless and do not 

 produce as good hogs as they should. A visit to the markets will prove 

 this statement true." 



FORAGE CROPS FOR SWINE. 



PROF. W. J. KENNEDY, AMES, IOWA. 



"I feel certain that the hog business in Iowa from now on is going 

 to be different from what it has been in the past. Many years ago the 

 hog was an adjunct in cattle feeding operations. It was used to make 

 money in cattle feeding operations. While the cattle feeding business 

 is good in Iowa and while people will feed them in the future, more and 

 more people will go into dairy farming and that means that we will have 

 to pay more and more attention to the hog. Instead of the hog being 

 a necessary part of the cattle feeding operations, they will be raised from 

 the standpoint of raising pork and not to help some other industry pay 

 dividends. They will pay their own dividends and we all know there is 

 no class of stock in this country or any other country that has paid off 

 more mortgages than hogs, or bought more automobiles. The hog today 

 is the most profitable animal on the farm when he is properly bred and 

 properly fed and marketed. There is no doubt about it. 



"A great deal of attention has been paid to feeds at the experiment 

 station. Some six years ago we started out to carry on rather extensive 

 experiments along the lines of forage crops for swine. Our idea is to 

 get as nearly as we can some facts which will help the farmers out from 

 the standpoint of the value of the different forage crops. We have tried 

 out six or seven of the more common forage crops, and used them in 

 the growing and development of young pigs. Our experiment work 

 shows one thing — it may be contrary to what we expected and what you 

 believe — and that is that the forage is a valuable thing for young pigs 

 from weaning time up to the time they weigh a hundred and fifty to a 

 hundred and seventy-five pounds, but if you have a bunch of sows or fall 

 pigs, our experiment work indicates that they will make heavier daily 

 gains and cheaper gains by putting those animals in the dry lot and not 

 feeding forage crops. When they weigh up to a hundred and fifty or bet- 



