FORTY-THIRD ANNUAL CONVENTION 165 



the pigs that we bought never had buttermilk, and they didn't 

 thrive for us hke the ones we raised ourselves. We aim to 

 finish a hog in six months' time. I mean, a hog six months old 

 must weigh 220 pounds ; that is the average weight. It depends 

 somewhat on the feed. As to the hogs w^e buy, of course, we 

 don't know just what treatment they have had, but I find that 

 they cannot consume the feed, they have not the capacity, or else 

 their digestive organs are not accustomed to so much of it. 



Q: What do you figure buttermilk is worth with corn at 

 $1 a bushel? 



A : The very lowest figure I could give you w^ould be 50 

 cents a hundred. 



Q : How do you feed these pigs from the time they are 

 weaned until six months to make them weigh 220 pounds? 



A : We never let a pig go hungry. We have a pig feed- 

 ing well before we w^ean it. Usually about 8 weeks, sometimes 

 sooner and sometimes a little longer. The pigs as soon as they 

 are weaned are fed all they can eat of alfalfa hay and alfalfa 

 pasture or blue grass if we have nothing else. When I am 

 speaking of buttermilk, I mean high testing buttermilk. It is 

 hard to feed them the ordinary raw^ skimmilk or raw buttermilk 

 on account of the solids having been heated up to a high tem- 

 perature which hardens the casein and makes it very hard to 

 digest, and lessens somewhat the feed value to them for that 

 reason. 



Q : Do you feed alfalfa hay dry, just like you would to a 

 calf? 



Yes. 



Do you put it in a rack and let them help themselves ? 



We feed it out on the ground so that they can exercise. 

 Our hogs have alfalfa hay to eat in the winter time until 

 they are loaded in the wagons for the market, all they want. I 

 consider alfalfa hay the cheapest feed that we have in America 



