CHAPTER XXVI 



BEGINNER'S PROBLEMS 



The most rapidly growing live-stock industry of the 

 West is that of raising hogs, although even yet hog- 

 raising does not assume the proportions it does in the 

 Corn-Belt or with other lines of live-stock in the West. 

 The hog is essentially a grain-eating animal and is grown 

 in large numbers only where there is abundant grain 

 of not too high a price. The West has more grass land 

 than grain land, and where grain is grown, it is wheat, 

 barley, or oats, instead of corn, and therefore usually 

 has a higher market value than corn, although the feeding 

 value a pound is not much different. It has been dem- 

 onstrated, however, that by proper use of pastures 

 and other supplemental feed, the cost can be made 

 lower than was popularly supposed. In addition, there 

 are great quantities of waste material in the grain fields 

 of the West and equally large quantities of by-products 

 from the dairies, all of which may be utilized for pig 

 feeding so that a good profit may be realized, even when 

 the grain fed does not in itself any more than return 

 its cost. About the year 1910 the farmers of the West 

 began to take a great interest in hogs. Prices were ab- 

 normally high and the numbers of hogs increased enor- 

 mously. Western markets that had been procuring 

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