8 



FARMERS^ liULLETlN 874. 



for, among other things, they enahl© the farmer to market his products 

 at any and all tunes, thus takuig advantage of any favorable fluctu- 

 ation in the market prices.' As to the type of hog the market 

 demands, that must be detormuied by local inquiry, but in order to 

 bruig the highest market price hogs must be well finished and fat. 

 The greatest demand is for 200 to 300 pound hogs, and farmers 

 generally obtain the most profit by markethig their hogs at weights 

 ranging from 1250 to 300 pounds. 



NUMBER OF HOGS FOR A FARM. 



Tills (piostioii nmst be determined by a study of local concUtions 

 and the type of farming. The maximum number of hogs per acre is 

 found on farms chiefly or wholly devoted to the raising of that class 

 of stock; as, for example, in the State of Iowa, where it is quite com- 

 mon to see farms averaging a number of hogs to the acre, although 

 the average for the entire State is 1 hog to every 3 acres of improved 

 farm land. Under ordinary conditions hogs return the largest profit 

 when raised to utilize waste products, and when kept for this purpose 

 alone the number will depend upon the quantity of waste products to 

 be consumed. Skim milk from dairy herds; shattered grain from 

 grain fields; unmarketable products from the truck farm; undigested 

 grain in the droppings of fattening steers; and many other minor 

 wastes on the average farm are examples of foodstuffs which would be 

 wasted were it not for their utilization by the thrifty farmer for the 

 production of pork. In order to utilize some of these products, it is 

 necessary to have a number of pigs on hand for a relatively short time 

 on account of the perishable nature of these feeds. The rest of the 

 year the fattening pigs and the breeding stock must be maintained 

 upon feed raised expressly for their consumption, and while they are 

 not kept at a loss during this time, still the greatest profit is derived 

 when they are eating their cheap feed in the form of waste products, 

 and the number of hogs which can utilize the waste to the best advan- 

 tage should be the limiting factor in determining the number of hogs 

 to the farm. On farms in the corn belt where hogs are raised simply 

 to market the corn crop on the hoof, the number is controlled by the 

 amount of corn which can profitably be raised to fatten them. 



THE FOUNDATION HERD. 



In feeding hogs for the market, as also with any other class of meat 

 animals, larger returns are obtained when the stock is as nearly uni- 

 form as possible, and as it is very profitable for each farmer to breed 

 his own feeders, particular attention should be given to the selection 

 of the original breeding stock. Uniformity is of primary importance, 

 for to have a uniform crop of pigs there must be uniformity in the 



1 See Farmers' BulleTin 718, 'Cooperative Live Stock Shipping Associations ' 



