494 DOMESTIC ANIMALS, DAIRYING, ETC. 



interest. The hog which shrinks the least in killing is the corn- 

 fed hog. Bought at the same price and the products sold at the 

 same prices, the hog which has been fed on whole corn without sup- 

 plements, is the most profitable to the packer. This is the least 

 profitable hog to the farmer. The higher the proportion of corn 

 that is in the ration and the less the feed the hog has been in the 

 habit of eating, the cheaper is the cost per pound, net dressed weight, 

 to the packer. The hog with which the farmer has made the cheap- 

 est pork has probably been raised on grass or has received milk or 

 nitrogenous grain supplements along with its corn. (Mo. B. 65.) 



It is a well known fact that beans and peas make a softer flesh 

 and fat than corn. Corn pork is the standard in this country, and 

 the flesh and fat produced by corn in this experiment was dry and 

 firm. Soja beans and chufas made fat of about the same firmness, 

 but not quite equal to corn. Peanuts made a soft and oily fat. As 

 to the flavor when cooked, no difference between the meats could be 

 detected. The usual practice, when pigs are fattened on other foods 

 than corn and grain, is to feed corn to them for a few weeks to 

 harden the flesh and fat before marketing. (Ark. B. 54.) 



Short or Long Period. For the short growing period the 

 March and April pigs are grown rapidly and marketed in 6 to 10 

 months, while the long period pigs are grown through the summer 

 and winter, and marketed the following spring and fall. Ordinarily 

 the short feeding period is the more profitable. There is a consider- 

 able saving in cost of feed by the latter method. 



The cost of producing a pound of gain increases as the pig ad- 

 vances in age. The risk in growing the pig for a longer period is 

 also greater. In special cases it may pay to keep the hogs over 

 the second summer, feeding clover with a small grain ration, pro- 

 vided an extra price can be obtained for them in the fall. (Mo. 

 Cir. 28.) 



Usually it is better to have hogs ready for miarket as early as 

 November or December, and it rarely pays to feed through the win- 

 ter for making pork. Summer feeding is cheap while winter feed- 

 ing is expensive. Pigs farrowed in the spring should weigh from 

 200 to 250 pounds by fall, and if the market is not unusually de- 

 pressed it is better to let them go then rather than to feed through 

 the cold weather and risk still lower prices in the spring. If good 

 grazing is assured through the entire winter and grain is not too 

 expensive, winter feeding is sometimes profitable on account of the 

 higher prices which usually prevail in the spring, but ordinarily 

 it is better to winter only the breeding animals and the fall pigs. 

 (F. B. 100.) 



In rare instances it may pay to keep a pig over winter as a 

 store hog, but generally he loses the flesh he accumulated while suck- 

 ling his dam, and this can not be replaced except at increased ex- 

 pense. Corn will now come into the ration, and should be supple- 

 mented by all the variety of feed at the feeder's command, to keep 

 the appetite keen and the digestive system in the best condition. This 

 variety should consist of mill feeds, dairy by-products, and succu- 



