Home Markets and Bacon Production. 563 



Dietrich finds that it seems to be necessary to add somewhat more 

 water to the dry feed. On protein-rich feeds the pig needs more 

 water than when on starchy feeds. (825) 



III. Home Markets and Bacon Production. 



925. Home markets. — With pork consumption increasing more 

 rapidly than production there have sprung up over our land good 

 local markets for all manner of pork products, from the dressed 

 carcass to sausages, hams, bacon, etc. Consumers are calling for 

 leaner pork, and many farmers who are feeding pigs will find it to 

 their advantage to supply the home demand for high-grade pork 

 products. Knowledge of how to grow the pig economically on such 

 roughages as the legume hays, roots, and rape is of great value in 

 producing a high-grade product, especially with eastern farmers, 

 who are unable to produce corn as cheaply as it is groA\Ti in the 

 corn belt where the lard hog is still the favorite. Most helpfully, 

 local establishments are springing up where pork products of the 

 highest quality are being manufactured, and the success attained 

 by some of these show that expansion in this direction is possible, 

 as it is also desirable. Since the pig, next to the cow, is the most 

 economical four-footed farm animal for the production of human 

 food, there is every reason to anticipate greatly increased interest 

 in pork production in all the agricultural districts of our country. 



926. Danish pork production. — Quality and quantity considered, 

 the Danes lead the world in bacon production. This surprising 

 fact is due to their ability to use wisely dairy by-products, to their 

 spirit of cooperation, and to the high degree of intelligence sho\vn 

 by the people in feeding and caring for their pigs, this intelligence 

 being acquired thru their agricultural colleges and other educa- 

 tional institutions, which are aided and directed by a wise and 

 sympathetic government. The total area of Denmark is but little 

 over one-fourth that of Iowa, yet measured in money this little 

 country exports about one-sixth as much pork products, mostly 

 bacon, as the entire United States. Kennedy,^ studying the sub- 

 ject on the ground, gives the following excellent summary of pig 

 feeding methods as practiced by the Danes: 



"As a rule pigs are marketed at about six or seven months of 

 SigQ, when they weigh from 160 to 200 lbs., live weight. The Danish 

 buyer demands pigs which are uniform in size, with an even thick- 

 ness of fat on the back, which should be about three-fourths to one 



* U. S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Anim. Indns., Bui. 77. 



