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THE ILLINOIS FARMER. 



US 



THE GRAZIER. 



Fork Feeding in the West. 



BY LEWIS P. AtLBN, BLAOKBOCK, K. Y. 



What I have alreadj said of a change in the 

 manner of feeding beef cattle for market, will 

 apply with greater force to fatting swine. I do 

 not propose a change in the mode of rearing 

 shoats to an age at which they are sufficiently 

 matarbd to fatten easily, which is, rtrying 

 8 im;what ac?oid ni( to breed, from sixteen to 

 Tweiity months. The breed of Western hogs in 

 genera] can be much improved, particularly if 

 an improved m'*thod of fattening them is adopt- 

 C'l 'I'he old W8V of feeding on raw, unground 

 cf rn, and then drivin?: them to market, varying 

 oficordinsy to circiirnstances, from fifty to five 

 hundred or more miles, required a stout-limbed 

 auiuial, hekvy in constitution, and rather coarse 

 in bone, liiu» euab.in? him to travel. Eighteen 

 to twenty fWar mou h' was required to give the 

 animal growth, and sifficient bone and muscle to 

 carry his tatted carcass on foot, over the long 

 journey to martet, which, by the present rail- 

 way mv^de ot traLsportation, is not required; 

 cousequenily.a lighter breed of animal, aiid one 

 taking on lai m^re readily, at an early age, say 

 at thirteen to eighieea aaouths, is sufficient for 

 profitable feeding in the way that I am about to 

 recommaud. Wuat tna breed should be, I am 

 nut dieposwd to say, as in the present condition 

 of Wtsterii swine.neiiher of the improved breet a 

 iu their purity, can tor many years to come, be 

 adapu'd, so Lumerous are the hogs for annual 

 coDSUHiption required. I will only say that a 

 snug, cujtiptct animal which will g:it his full 

 growth in eighteen months, light in bone, proliSc 

 iu breeding, (aliening readily after six munths 

 old, and ot a quiet temper, is the breed which 

 every larmer thould sinve to obtain and adopt, 

 ihe liijg is a cu!d animal, thinly haired, and 

 sensitive to changes of weather. He requires a 

 warm and dry boJ, fnd this at all ages, he 

 should nave, or he will not thrive, or thrive but 

 Slowly, ill comparison lo whai he would do with 

 such accommodation. Therefore, for the most 

 economical and profitable results, good shelter 

 anJ warm bedaiag he should have in all seasons, 

 wiiether as a growing shoat, or a fatting hog. 



To state the subject more plainly, let us look 

 at the present method of pork feeding, asnsually 

 practiced in the West, in op'position to an im- 

 proved method hereafter to be stated. Of the 

 past and present practices in fatting hogs, there 

 are several, and all of them imperfect. I say 

 l.ttle of the plan of letting lean or store hogs fol- 

 low the cattle in their feeding lots. That is in- 

 dispenable to the mode of feeding shocked corn 

 . to Cdttie. According to the abundance of corn 

 led to the caitle, can the hogs, which glean aftpx 

 them, gain flesh. Some, I believe, are fatted in 

 this way: but the number is comparatively few 

 to thosb fed ofiT by themselves for market. But 

 to the present ways of feeding: 



First. Turning a drove of hogs into a field 

 of standing corn. This is manual labor-.saving 

 of the primitive kind. The hogs eat a great 

 deal ot corn, and a great deal of dirt with it, 



and they do a (treat deal 9f hard work as they 

 proceed in breaking down the wrn before they 

 can get it, and this is not lubor-saring to the 

 hog, who should do nothing bat eat. Hogi are 

 no economists iu the consumption of their food, 

 all will allow. Of coarse, a considerable per 

 centage of the corn ia trodden under foot, buried 

 under the soil, and so dirted orer that none but 

 a lean and a hungry one will ever follow them 

 to root tha soiled ears out of the ground for 

 food, 80 long as any standing corn ia left in the 

 field. The tog here lies out without shelter, w 

 .bed, except what a fence corner, and the wither- 

 ed grass or leaves in it will give iim. 



Second. Turning the hogs into a grass field, 

 where the corn ia drawn, ready busked, int* 

 cr.bs, or pens, and thrown out with shovels, or 

 the bands, by the sides of the aforesaid cribs, or 

 pens. In a few dayb the ground is thoroughly 

 trodden and rooted up by ihem, and the corn 

 diily fid out beeomes as filthy as ia the field 

 where they do their own harrfsiing. Here they 

 have no more shelter nor warmth of beddioc 

 than in the other. • ^^ ^: - f r;^ WeS^t^ 



Third. In a field like the last, tlie corq is " 

 brought in c'aily with a w^on, and scattered 

 promiscuously over the lot— a better way than 

 the last, as it gives them a clean leeding place 

 daily, but the same want of shelter and bedding. 

 Poartfa. The same as the last, only that % 

 load ot corn is taken inside, and the team taken 

 away, leaving the wagon and corn standing nnlil 

 the corn is all fed out, when the team is again 

 hitched on to the vehicle, and the process re- 

 peated. I have seen muiti(ude8 of fields and 

 droves of hogs fed in these various methode. In 

 fair and warm weather, the hogs looked toler- 

 ably well; but in foul weather, so deep in mud, 

 aid so besmeared aud filthy were they, that 

 iheir original colors even could not be dis- 

 covered So have I seen them in deep snows, 

 where they were running, pqaealing about with 

 upturned suouts over the fieids, perJect pictures 

 01 misery aud de«pair-^cold, wet aijd hungry, 

 even in the midst of plemy, such as thejjlentv 

 was. - -: Wy' ■ 



Now either of thes« methods, a merciful aod 

 a tidy man will say, »t the first look, is not the 

 real way to economically fatten a hog, throwing 

 out of the question the humanity of the thing. 

 Ou inquiry of the farmer who practices either of 

 the above plans of feeding, the uniform answer 

 is— or what amounts to it— he can't afford to do 

 it in any other way; in short, it saves labor. It 

 is no labor, of course, to raise the corn th^ ' 

 wasted, but it is a shoeking ' waste of labor to 

 feed it out as it should be fed, and by so teeding 

 save a third of it, which might either be sold at 

 a fair price, or feed an additional number of 

 hogs! In this relation, I do not blame any body; 

 I only state facts as I have witnessed them. 

 Perhaps it is the best way. We will see. 



A hog loves cleanliness quite as well as he 

 loves filth. He likes both, in fact; but each in 

 its place. He prefers his food clean, altbougli 

 he will eat it when filthy. He loves to wafl^w 

 in the mud when be is hot, provided he caooot 

 get dean water to wallow in. If he can. he 



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