Raising Swine for the Market 





AISING hogs for the market is an 

 industry which should prove very 

 profitable to thousands of Califor- 

 nians. There is good money in hogs 

 in this State. Seven-eighths of all 

 hog product, such as bacon, ham 

 and lard, consumed in California 

 is imported from the East. For this 

 reason local hog-raisers have the 

 advantage over Chicago prices, plus the price that 

 is added by the addition of freight. 



Despite the strong demand, California ranks but 

 twenty-fifth in swine. On January 1, 1903, the last 

 census of this kind, California had 511,311 swine, 

 valued at $3,901,303, or an average price of $7.63 

 per head. For the seasonal year 1901-02, the value 

 of hogs produced on dairies was $1,710,040.00, 

 so that swine may be considered almost a by- 

 product of the dairy. California ranks first as a 

 producer of alfalfa, with about 410,000 acres of 

 this splendid fodder, and this despite the fact 

 that California is not a "short grass" State; that 

 it produces other fodders in great abundance, and 

 that alfalfa is not raised, as in many other States, 

 to tide the stock over the winter. There is really 

 no season in which alfalfa cannot be cut. 



Alfalfa is a splendid food for horses, cattle and 

 swine. It is equally good for sheep, but the sheep 

 graze so close as to cut the roots, and consequently 

 frequently destroy the plant. There is no cheaper 

 or better way of producing pork than to allow 

 growing pigs to run in a field of alfalfa. "One 

 acre of alfalfa will furnish forage for from ten to 

 twenty hogs per season," declares Farmers' Bul- 

 letin 31 of the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture. "At a conservative estimate, ten pigs 

 per acre will gain 100 pounds each during the sea- 

 son from May to September, and 1000 pounds of 

 pork cannot be produced so cheaply on any other 

 feed." 



This statement of the Department of Agricul- 

 ture is endorsed by California breeders, with the 

 comment that not only does alfalfa give a good 

 forage from May to September, but it may be re- 

 lied upon in California throughout the entire year. 

 A study of alfalfa has an important bearing upon 

 swine raising, inasmuch as young hogs may be 

 turned into an alfalfa field with absolute safety. 

 This is not always the case with cattle, as they 

 will sometimes get the "bloat" when turned into 

 the green alfalfa. 



Swine-raising is particularly attractive and 



