60 BULLETIN 1271, TJ. S. DEPAKTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
breeding stock is included, as no pigs were farrowed. All hogs fed 
that were not on hand at the beginning of the year were purchased. 
On farms 5 and 21, having the highest feed requirements, blue-grass 
pasture was used. On farm 15 alfalfa pasture was used, and on farm 
9 clover was used; both farms have low feed requirements. 
On farm 20 grain was saved by a liberal feeding of skim milk. On 
farm 19 the use of tankage saved considerable grain. 
Part of the hogs on farms 2 and 7 ran with cattle that were on feed 
and salvaged some of the grain wasted by the cattle. It was impos- 
sible to get any record of the amount of grain thus obtained by the 
hogs, but it was a factor in reducing the amount of grain necessary to 
feed directly to them. 
High feed requirements on farm 5 are in part due to the heavy death 
losses. Sixteen pigs were lost after weaning and three mature hogs 
died during the year. 
CAUSES FOR VARIATIONS IN LABOR REQUIREMENTS FOR HOGS 
The labor required to produce 100 pounds of pork is greater on the 
farms producing the smallest amounts. The average for the 11 farms 
producing the least pork was 3.8 man hours and 0.6 horse hour. For 
the 1 1 farms producing the most pork, the labor requirement was 3 
man hours and 0.4 horse hour. It takes very little longer to feed 60 
hogs than it does to feed 30. 
On farm 4, having the lowest labor requirements for hogs, the prin- 
cipal feeds were corn and skim milk. The feeding floor was adjacent 
to the corncrib and very close to the separator room. Very little 
tune was required for feeding. Water was piped to automatic 
waterers in the hog lots. Much of the year the feeding hogs ran with 
the feeding cattle and there was no charge against them for cleaning 
or bedding the shed where they were housed. 
The harvesting of corn by hogs not only saves labor on the corn 
crop but lessens the labor cost of caring for the hogs. On farms 10 
and 15 large acreages of corn were hogged off. On farm 4, with the 
lowest labor requirements, half of the corn received by the hogs was 
harvested by them. 
On farm 13, although the largest number of pounds of pork was 
Eroduced, convenient facilities for feeding were available, and 1,000 
ushels of corn were hogged down, the labor requirements were 
higher than the average. All hogs on this farm were purebreds 
and a large number were sold for breeding purposes. A bred-sow 
sale was held, which added considerably to the labor requirements. 
Since animals sold for breeding purposes are often marketed individu- 
ally, this adds to the labor. The horse labor was not so high in 
proportion as the man labor on this farm, because an auto truck 
was used for hauling hogs. 
VETERINARY AND MEDICINE COSTS 
On all farms where the item of veterinary services and medicine 
is over 20 cents per 100 pounds, it consists largely of the cost of 
cholera serum and vaccination. The high costs for this item on 
farms 0, I I, and 13 arc due to the use of combined serum and virus 
treatment. The other items of cash expense are disinfectants and 
hog powder. 
