FEED AND CARE OF SWINE 



707 



Cost of producing pork in terms of corn 



Under A is estimated the cost of pork production with spring pigs 

 from gilts which raise 5 pigs on the average and are fattened and sold for 

 pork as soon as their pigs are weaned. According to these estimates, the 

 approximate total cost of raising a 225-lb. pig under this system is 

 equal to the price of 25.91 bushels of corn. The cost of producing pork, 

 per 100 Ibs. live weight of pigs, is equal to the price of 11.51 bushels 

 of corn. With corn at 56 cents a bushel on the farm, the total approxi- 

 mate cost of producing a 225-lb. pig would be $14.51 and the cost of 

 production per 100 Ibs. of live pigs would be $6.45. 



According to these estimates, if mature sows raise on the average 7 

 pigs to the litter, the costs are lower than with gilts raising 5 pigs per 

 litter. The estimates are based on the old sows being retained until 

 they are 4 years old, when they are fattened and sold. Compared with 

 the figures for the gilts, if mature sows raise 2 litters of 7 pigs each a 

 year, the cost of production, per 100 Ibs. of live pigs, would be only as 

 much as the price of 10.74 bushels of corn. 



These data will be helpful in estimating the costs of pork production 

 at local prices. However, the figures can be taken only as approxi- 

 mations of what is possible under good systems of feeding and manage- 

 ment and where larger litters are raised than is often the case. 

 Furthermore, any system of estimating costs of farm products in terms 

 of feed or other single commodities gives results which are only rough 

 approximations when applied to different years. This is due to the fact 

 that the price of feed may rise or fall more proportionally than the other 

 costs. 



These estimated costs of producing pork correspond quite closely with 

 the actual ratio between the average price of hogs and corn on the 

 Chicago market. Wallace's Farmer 33 reports that the average price of 

 hogs per 100 Ibs. live weight at Chicago was equal to 11.3 times the price 

 of No. 2 cash corn per bushel for the 10-year period 1908 to 1917. For 

 earlier periods the values were as follows: 1858 to 1867, 10.6 bushels; 



""Wallace's Farmer, 42, 1917, p. 1726. 



