32 BULLETIN 941, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Forty per cent of the farms reported cattle losses. There was no 
epidemic of a contagious disease, and the losses that occurred were 
probably such as may normally be expected. These losses repre- 
sented 3.6 per cent of the cattle kept. 
HOGS. 
Hogs, when raised on the acorns and mast in the woods, furnish 
perhaps the cheapest meat produced in the Ozarks. This, however, 
is quite a precarious business, owing to the losses due to predatory 
animals, stealing, accident, and the uncontrolled epidemics of hog 
cholera to which hogs on the range are subjected. The acorn and 
mast crop is also quite variable. In some years there is no crop at 
all, while during others there is an abundant crop. If there is an 
acorn crop and the hogs are turned on the range, the additional 
feeding of some corn is usually found profitable. The corn will 
induce better gains. The feeding of skim milk, when cream is 
sold off the farm, affords a profitable opportunity for hog produc- 
tion. Soy beans, and cowpeas planted separately or in corn, and 
used as grazing crops, also provide good feed for the hogs. Be- 
cause of the serious losses sustained on the range, many farmers are 
inclosing woods land, and not allowing the hogs to rove beyond the 
confines of the farm. 
Hogs were kept on 74 of the 79 farms. Thirty-three farms re- 
ported losses of hogs, leaving 55.4 per cent of the farms which suf- 
fered no such loss. One hundred and sixteen hogs were reported as 
having died during the year, and 54 small pigs. (These figures do 
not include losses of pigs at farrowing or of very young pigs lost in 
the woods.) The year was favorable to hog production, there being- 
no epidemic of cholera or other infectious disease. The percentage 
of hogs lost to the total number of hogs handled on all the farms was 
10.75. The percentage of loss on the farms which suffered losses was 
much higher. In view of the fact that 41 farms sustained no losses 
whatever and that many of the farms that conducted an extensive 
hog business suffered only slight losses, it is evident that by better 
care this loss could be materially reduced. 
HORSES AND MULES. 
On some of the farms the raising of colts contributed substantially 
to the farm income. On other farms, not enough colts were raised 
to replace losses of work stock. Eleven farms reported losses of 
horses, 86 per cent of the farms suffering no losses at all. The total 
number of mature animals that died was 10, and of colts 4. The 
proportion of horses and mules lost to the number on hand during 
the year was 3.43 per cent. This, as in the case of cattle, represents 
a normal and unavoidable loss. 
