86 " Forty Years' Experience of a Practical Hog Man. 



It behooves the thinking farmer to keep up soil produc- 

 tion, especially during these days of high priced land, and 

 this can be done profitably and economically by "hogging 

 down" corn, especially if rape or some of the clovers or 

 other grasses, or some of the grains like rye, is sown in 

 the field when the com is laid by. This will give a good 

 balanced ration, and the hogs will do the harvesting them- 

 selves without cost to the farmer, and will doubtless, tak- 

 ing one year with another, bring the selling price of his 

 corn up to an average of not less than $1.00 a bushel. 



I have a friend who made a comparison between "hogging 

 down" part of a field of wheat, in 1913, and cutting the other 

 part of the field, threshing it and hauling it to the elevator 

 and selling it at 80e per bushel. Estimating the yield of 

 the entire field the same, the portion that he "hogged 

 down ' ' after weighing the hogs when turned into the wheat 

 field, and again when the wheat was all eaten and the hogs 

 sold on the market, he found that his wheat that was "hog- 

 ged down" brought him $1.40 per bushel compared with 

 80c per bushel for that threshed and hauled to market. 

 Further than this it required no expense to market the 

 wheat that was "hogged down," and it also benefitted the 

 land to have the hogs on it. There are many little things 

 in the hog business if one will try them out that are not 

 only more economical but are less work than the old 

 methods. 



Of course where men are breeding' hogs of the pure 

 breeds, to be sold as breeders, it is necessary that they 

 should be in good flesh and prime condition at all times, to. 

 be ready for inspection by visiting breeders. With such 

 animals additional care and feed may be necessaiy. Cer- 

 tainly it is a good plan to have everything in the hog line 

 at least in good breeding condition and always ready for 

 inspection. ■ — 



Every breeder or feeder should Imow what are the best 

 grasses, grains and other feeds that can be grown in his 

 locality, or can easily get this information from his State 

 Agricultural College, and should .use his judgment in 

 selecting those that are best. The essential thing is to 

 have plenty of green feed at all times of the year if pos- 

 sible, either for grazing or that can be used during 



