CHAPTER SEVENTEEN 



Why the 

 hog is 

 valuable 



A question 

 in farm 

 manage- 

 ment 



Lard 

 breeds 



FARM ANIMALS AND THE PRINCIPLES OF FEEDING 



The cattle are grazing, 

 Their heads never raising ; 

 There are forty feeding like one ! 



WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 



AN important matter that every farmer has to decide 

 is whether to keep livestock and feed the crops he raises 

 or to sell his crops and keep no stock. Cattle, sheep, 

 hogs, and poultry require constant care. They cannot 

 be left to themselves for a few days while the farmer 

 takes a vacation, as a field crop sometimes may be. 

 On the other hand, it often pays better to feed such crops 

 as grain and hay, and sell the resulting product in the 

 form of meat, milk, eggs, and wool, than to sell the crops 

 directly ; and keeping stock saves the expense of buying 

 a great deal of fertilizer (page 42). The number of 

 animals that the Illinois Experiment Station recommends 

 for a farm of one hundred and sixty acres is eighty sheep, 

 twenty-two cows, and twelve hogs. 



Keeping hogs. There are several reasons why the 

 hog is one of the animals most commonly raised. It 

 increases in weight more than other animals do in pro- 

 portion to the amount of feed given it. A large part of 

 its feed, if it is kept with cattle, is made up of what the 

 cattle waste. It multiplies more rapidly than most 

 animals do, as it frequently occurs that twice a year 

 there are born litters of seven or eight pigs each. 



Breeds of hogs have been improved within recent 

 years. The average hog of today is much larger than 



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