474 IOWA DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE 



he can get. An auctioneer can't be crooked and a farmer can't be crooked 

 and make a good sale. Another thing that shouldn't be done is bidding 

 up to get high prices, or boosting. The stock should be sold for what it 

 is worth. 



"I believe our sales will be better this year. I believe that the farmers 

 and breeders are looking for good hogs this season. Prices have gone up a 

 little and there are very few pigs. We had bad weather in the spring and 

 pigs are scarce. I think you will find that hogs will be high and sales 

 will be good this winter. 



"If a man is dishonest he can't make a good sale. You all know that 

 if you go to a man's sale and you know he is honest you will bid your 

 heads off but if you know he is not honest you won't bid. One sale I went 

 to, when we went down to the tent there were only seven men there. I 

 said we couldn't have any sale but the man said we would try it and we 

 sold the entire offering and got an average of $38 a head and only fifteen 

 people there. That man was honest, he said the hogs were so and so and 

 he knew those men were there to buy his stuff, and buy it at what it was 

 worth. If a man talks boosting, kill it right down. It will help the public 

 sales. I don't expect to sell all the hogs this year but I expect to sell them 

 on the square." 



VENTILATION AND CARE OF WINTER PIGS. 



PROF. C. F. CURTISS, AMES, IOWA. 



"One point I should emphasize regarding the fall pig is to have them 

 come as early as possible so they will be pretty good and thrifty before 

 winter comes on. I believe that is half the battle right there. If they 

 are late they will have a hard time getting through the winter no mat- 

 ter what care and protection you give them. If you have the pigs come 

 early in the fall so that they get two or three months growth before the 

 severe winter sets in, and handle them in such a way that they get a 

 good start, when winter comes half your troubles will be over. Of course 

 it is necessary to provide good quarters. The quarters need to be better 

 than for mature hogs because they will not stand cold and exposure as 

 well. Then, as has been suggested by this subject, you need to provide for 

 good ventilation. The ordinary hog house is sometimes unsatisfactory. 

 Ordinarily if you have not a large enough bunch to fill the house or to 

 occupy the quarters that you have, the old fashioned method of a good 

 sleeping place in the straw pile, properly protected, or in a banked barn 

 or some place of that kind where you can have a temperature that will 

 afford comfort is often more satisfactory than the ordinary hog buildings. 

 Many of the hog buildings are not warm enough for such conditions as 

 you have with the fall pigs. Some breeders have resorted to the old 

 method of the rail pen in the straw pile. That is a pretty good place 

 if they can go in far enough to be warm. Ordinarily we have got away 

 from the straw pile method but it still has some advantages. Another 

 important thing is the bedding. There ought to be plenty of clean bedding 

 and it should be changed often enough to avoid skin diseases and troubles 



