446 SWINE IN AMERICA 



to winter pork making, and says that especially where 

 winter dairying is carried on it can be made a very prof- 

 itable business. He writes. "If the milk is separated at 

 the farm and the cream is sent to the factory, the by- 

 product can be fed to the hogs with a good margin of 

 profit. No calf has the ability to convert skim milk into 

 profitable meat as readily as a thrifty pig. The pig, 

 properly handled, will be ready for market in six months. 

 Comfortably housed and well cared for, hogs can be 

 forced to make better gains during cold than warm 

 weather, thus causing a more profitable consumption of 

 the food supplied. 



"During the winter months, when the field work is not 

 pressing, pork making furnishes an opportunity to utilize 

 the farm labor to advantage. Where winter dairying- 

 is carried on, laborers must be constantly maintained to 

 do chores and care for the milk. There are always sev- 

 eral hours between milkings when the labor needs to be 

 otherwise employed. Most dairymen keep one or two 

 barn hands to do the chores and care for the dairy herd, 

 exclusive of the milking. As the hogs can be fed be- 

 tween the hours in which the herd demands attention, we 

 find that it is very profitable to follow winter pork 

 making as an adjunct to the dairy, because we can fur- 

 nish steady employment to the necessary farm labor. It 

 requires only a few minutes for one or two hands to 

 feed 50 or 75 hogs, and this in no way need interfere 

 with their regular- work. 



"Attention should be paid to compounding as nearly 

 as possible a well balanced ration to promote rapid and 

 profitable gain. For slops we have never found anything 



