CHAPTER IX 



Pasturing and Soiling 



Wheresoever situated, no tarnier is rij^-htly prepared to 

 raise hogs i^rotitably in any consielerable numbers unless 

 well provided with pasture and grass or facilities for 

 providing acceptable substitutes. In the economical 

 growing of pork there is no more important factor to be 

 considered than that of pasture. Range in pasture af- 

 fords growing animals the exercise so necessary to 

 health and proper development ; and the succulent 

 grasses, while rich in muscle and bone-forming mate- 

 rials, tend to prevent disease and to counteract the 

 heating and fever-imparting properties of corn. This 

 latter quality, and exercise, annually save many thou- 

 sands of dollars to hog-raisers in the United States, 

 yet the loss that results every day to farmers who do 

 not act upon the fact that the hog is, in his normal 

 condition, a ranging and grass-eating animal, is still 

 enormous. Because the hog is tractable and uncomplain- 

 ing his keeper often does not realize that an effort to 

 maintain him wholly upon the more concentrated and 

 heating feeds is as unnatural and unprofitable as it would 

 be to keep horses or cows in the same manner. A further 

 and very important consideration in favor of grass and 

 forage for swine in summer is its small cost, which, as 

 compared with grain-feeding, is merely nominal. 



IGO 



