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"We Take Time To live" 



The Story of Marion File of Bond County 



and His 200,000-Pound Pork Factory 



By Larry Potter, Assistant Editor 



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IDEAL FOR LARGE FAMILIES 



December and February litters are far- 

 rowed in 6' by 6' A-type houses. Ten 

 to 15 houses are scattered over ten acres 

 oi rye pasture and the distance between 

 them prevents visiting among the pigs. 

 D. C. "Rusty" Redding, former truck driver, 

 paper hanger and handyman, says he can 

 build three such houses a day after all 

 sawing is done. About 350 feet oi siding 

 is used in each one. Average cost: $16. 



(^^ -ARION FILES 330-acre 

 ^-*^\jf Bond county farm, just 

 ^ -^ Yf south of the south edge of 

 the corn belt, might be called a pork 

 factory. From his production line each 

 year comes some 1,000 head of choice 

 Hampshires weighing right at 220 

 pounds apiece — an average annual pro- 

 duction of around 200,000 pounds of 

 pork. 



On paper, mass production of pork 

 seems simple. Yet producing anything 

 on a large scale, be it hogs, cars or hair- 

 pins, requires a certain kind of inventive 

 genius coupled with shrewd business 

 insight. 



Mass production implies that much is 

 done in little time. It means going for- 

 ward at a rapid rate. But the speed of 

 progress tends to multiply each tiny error 

 in judgment. That is why File's ac- 

 complishment is so unusual. 



"On paper our enterprise is like this," 

 he said. "We raise 120 litters a year 

 when the corn-hog ratio is favorable, 

 75 litters when it is not. That means 

 expanding on an unfavorable ratio and 

 reducing numbers on a favorable ratio. 



Pigs are farrowed in December and June 

 from one set of sows and in February and 

 August from another set. The December 

 and June pigs are held back a little for 

 the July and February markets. The 

 other litters are pushed for marketing in 

 August and March. 



"The two winter crops are farrowed in 

 A-type houses on fall sown rye pasture. 

 The summer litters are less trouble. They 

 are born on sites selected by their mothers, 

 usually in the timber. 



"Our pigs are always raised on clean 

 ground. We never run out of it. Land 

 here is comparatively cheap and it's 

 easy to rotate the pigs every year. 1 

 don't know how many miles of hog fence 

 we have on the place. We don't take 

 chances with infection from contaminated 

 soil," Marion concluded. 



Marion and his cousin, J. T. Willeford 

 who, Marion says, is the most skilled 

 hog man in the state, worked out the 

 plan several years ago. Along with it, 

 they developed a few labor-saving, pig- 

 saving and money-making kinks and skills 

 that make the plan workable. 



Vaccination with Farm Bureau serum 

 is almost a continuous process. The pigs 

 are treated young and as many as 80 

 head an hour can be injected with doses 

 of both serum and virus by three men. 



Marion employs one man the year 

 around to care for the winter litters and 

 do the farming in the summer. Marion 



MR. AND MRS. FILE 



Says he: "With all 

 the fine reading ma- 

 terial we have, Chin- 

 ese Checkers is a 

 waste of time." Son 

 Fred is family champ. 



takes care of only the summer litters but 

 keeping his plant running smoothly is a 

 full-time job. 



One trick that makes winter farrow- 

 ing chores easier is scattering the A-shape 

 houses as far apart as possible. It keeps 

 the pigs from visiting other litters until 

 they are old enough to take care of them- 

 selves. Ten acres of pasture will accom- 

 modate 1 to 15 litters of about the same 

 age until after weaning tinie. 



In the ten years during which this 

 method was used, Marion's Farm Bureau- 

 Farm Management records show an aver- 

 age of 7.2 pigs saved per litter. 



The A-t)pe houses are of unique de- 

 sign. Experience has shown that houses 

 six by six feet are superior to larger ones. 

 Sows confined to this small space have no 

 room to thrash about and the pigs can 

 easily scamper under fenders at the sides 

 to escape being laid upon. 



The front four feet of these houses are 

 of conventional style. The last two feet 

 are covered by a lean-to roof, the braces 

 of which lend rigidity to the hardwood 

 frame. Hedge runners form a lasting 

 foundation. Cost of such houses ranges 

 between $15 and |20 each. So well do 

 the houses serve that Irving Shaw, Knox 

 county farmer, recently drove 1 50 miles 

 to see them. 



At six weeks of age the pigs have ac- 

 cess to an eight by 12 self-feeder of 

 (Continued on page 10) 



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WATER SUPPLY SIMPLIFIED 

 Ponds formed by earth dams thrown across gul- 

 lies furnish water for stock, beautify the landscape, 

 provide fishing holes. This pond was enlarged by 

 a second dam. 



