434 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



will gain 2 lbs. per day. In the summer time, when possible, get hold of 

 old lean sows just after the pigs hahe been taken from them, and you 

 will find these will gain an average of 3 lbs. per day. With 75 to 

 100 hogs gaining at that rate while pork is worth 8 cents per pound, 

 you make a pretty fair profit, provided the market does not drop. In 

 feeding, we find required the greatest amount of study to obtain the best 

 results. Our method is to feed at regular hours. In the morning we 

 give them all the buttermilk they can drink and then what would be 

 about three ears of corn each. 



In the middle of the forenoon we again fill them with milk, the same 

 at noon and in the middle of the afternoon. At night we repeat the 

 morning rations. Keep enough hogs on hand to use all your buttermilk 

 so you will have no old, sour milk in your cistern. Th cistern should 

 be emptied once a week and given a good scrubbing at least twice during 

 the summer months. This does away with all the mould and any germs 

 that may gather on the sides of the cistern. 



Probably we have some advantages in buying and selling hogs that 

 some creameries would not have. When we have a bunch ready for 

 the market and the price is satisfactory, we inform our local stock 

 buyer of how many we have, and ask him to furnish us with an equal 

 number of light hogs. He is always anxious to get heavy hogs and we 

 do not have to hunt around to keep enough light ones on hand. 



If there is any question in regard to this side line any of you gentlemen 

 wish to ask, I will be glad to answer same to the best of my ability. 



Mr. Fowler: I would like to ask Mr. Hansen what it costs to 

 produce a ton of pork. 



Mr. Hansen : We aim to put on to a young hog about two 

 pounds a day. It eats about six ears of corn at 45c a bushel. We 

 have never sold any buttermilk, but I presume a pound of pork 

 produced the way we feed costs us not over 3c at the most. That 

 includes everything. 



Mr. Ross : I would like to ask Mr. Hansen about his cistern. Is 

 it made all of cement? 



Mr. Hansen : Our cistern is wood. It is sunk in the ground 

 about 200 feet from the creamery. It is on sloping ground and 

 runs from the churn room into the cistern. We have two cisterns. 

 One large one and one small one. When the large one is full it 

 overflows into the small one, and whenever there is buttermilk in 

 the small one the patrons are entitled to use it. 



Mr. Fowler: How much buttermilk do your hogs consume a 

 day? 



Mr. Hansen : From four to six gallons in the summer. In the 

 winter they don't drink so much. It weighs about eight pounds to 

 the gallon. AA 7 e feed five times a day and give them all they will 

 drink. 



