AUG 47 
S38 
THE RURAL fiEW"¥©BKEB, 
are business men who can manage several 
different branches of business with success, 
and some farmers can do the same; but to 
take up such a business as dairying and carry 
it on successfully, might well absorb the ener¬ 
gies of most men. In order to make butter 
at a profit the dairyman needs to study the 
following points: 
1. To obtain foods that will make the most 
and best quality of butter at the least cost. 
2. To keep cows that will make the most 
economical use of these foods. 
3. To handle the milk so as to get all the 
butter in the best shape for market at the 
least expense. 
4. To market the product at good prices. 
5. To make the most economical use of the 
by-products. 
These few points cover a great deal 
of ground. The better one understands them, 
the better dairy man will he be. Ignorance and 
lack of skill cause great loss. In the first 
place, feed is the raw material. Too many 
exalt the machine above the raw material. 
They think that if they get a few Jerseys they 
are relieved from further care, and that hav¬ 
ing good cows will insure good butter. Essen¬ 
tial as good cows are to the profitable produc¬ 
tion of butter, feeding requires the greatest 
skill and knowledge. Shall the Eastern dairy¬ 
men grow or buy their grain foods? Most of 
them doubtless can grow grain cheaper than 
they can buy it; but what to grow and how 
to grow it most cheaply are questions that 
need careful study. Grass, corn and clover 
must form the basis of our cattle feed. The 
West is learning the value of its bran; but 
neither the West nor South seems to place a 
true value upon cotton-seed meal. Still some 
are afraid of this, and its real value for a butter 
food is not satisfactorily determined. The 
value of silage is no longer in doubt, and silos 
are being built all over the dairy region. 
Poor pastures are a drawback, and soiling 
must be resorted to by the majority of Eastern 
farmers. The experiment stations are work¬ 
ing on all these problems, and some are taking 
steps to determine the best breeds of butter 
cows. 
When one looks back 10 years and thinks of 
the progress that has been made in methods of 
handling milk, cream and butter, he cannot 
help being hopeful for the future. Fifteen 
years ago a large proportion of the butter fats 
must have been left in the milk. 
Now practically all the butter fats are 
extracted. The limit of invention has not, in 
all likelihood been reached. The Sw edish but¬ 
ter extractor will be a long step in advance, 
if it proves to be what its makers claim. 
The co-operative creamery solves many of 
the problems connected with dairying; but 
proprietary creameries where a certain num¬ 
ber of pounds of milk are estimated to make 
one pound of butter without any distinction 
between good and poor dairies, effectually 
discourage the breeding of butter cows. The 
cost of making butter in creameries averages 
about four cents per pound. Made at home, 
it probably costs five cents. When butter 
sells at 16 cents, ono cent must be deducted 
for the cost of package, so that one-third of 
the price is used up in simply manufacturing 
the butter and fitting it for market. 
As to marketing butter, the fewer hands it 
passes through between the producer and the 
consumer the better it is for both. The poor¬ 
est months to make butter and the best months 
to have cows dry are July and August. Yet 
how few farmers act upon this well-establish¬ 
ed fact. Fall calves are best, and what a re¬ 
lief it would be in midsummer to be freed 
from milking and caring for milk. 
As to by-products, a pound of chicken sells 
for about three times as much as a pound of 
hog or calf; and yet good authorities assert 
that it costs no more to grow a pound of 
chicken than a pound of pig. The experi¬ 
ment stations ought to settle this, and tell the 
farmers whether they can really make three 
times as much by feeding skim-milk and but- 
ter-mik to poultry as by feeding them to 
hogs, etc. The dairyman of the future must 
be a student and a wide-awake, energetic 
business man. He must lay aside prejudice 
and keep his eyes open. He must learn and 
use his knowledge. The better he can do 
these things, the more profitable will his busi¬ 
ness be. 
Lamoille County, Vt. 
The statement made by a number of writ¬ 
ers that cud-chewing gives all the exercise 
that cows need strikes the ft. N.-Y. as being 
very absurd, it might as well i e claimed that 
type-writing, piano-playing, singing, whist¬ 
ling or talking gives those of us who spend 
much of our time in such ways all the oxer :ise 
needed. Exercise of the fingers or hands, of 
the head, mouth, jaws, of the lungs, feet or 
legs can never take the place of that which 
ihould develop a'l parts alike. 
£J)f SunncljmX 
PORK POINTERS 
HOW HOGS ARE HANDLED 
AFTER AUGUST ARRIVES. 
MILK MAKES MEAT: 
PEAS PREPARE PORK: 
APPLES A'D AWFULLY. 
FROM MARYLAND. 
What’we all want from our hogs is profit, 
and the profit depends largely upon the feed¬ 
ing of the hog during the latter half of his 
life, or from the first of August to December. 
A field of cow-peas makes an excellent pasture 
about this time. The hogs on it will require 
very little grain, and a little later when the 
pods are ripening, no additional grain will be 
needed. To some this may seem an expensive 
way to feed hogs; but as a field thus treated 
will be improved almost as much as if it had 
received a drossing of manure, I think in most 
cases it will pay. If the cow-peas are not 
stocked too heavily they will last until corn is 
ripe, and then there is nothing to do but to 
throw in the corn judiciously until cold 
weather comes. I do not believe in penning 
hogs and feeding them entirely on corn or 
with feed. I think the prices of corn and 
pork are too close to allow much profit. To feed 
hogs or any other animal is a science, giving 
them full feed without allowing them to for¬ 
age for a part of it, and if one is not pretty 
well up in this branch of science he had better 
let hog-raising alone. A neighbor of mine kept 
an account of the corn the hogs ate, and found, 
on slaughtering them, that the pork cost him 
25 cents per pound. In contrast to this, the 
most profitable way to feed hogs is to make 
them utilize the waste. W hen I wheel a bar¬ 
rel of slops and skim-milk to my hogs, I do it 
with a clear financial conscience ; but when I 
pay $16 for a ton of mill feed, I am doubtful 
about the result. Even if I otherwise were to 
make both ends meet and lap over, a spell of 
sickness may knocx off the profit for two or 
three years’ feeding, and sickness has laid 
hold of my hogs when they were surrounded 
by the most approved sanitary conditions. If 
hogs have a pasture or wood lot from w'hich 
to get a part of their living, then the extra 
feed will pay well; but feeding them entirely 
on expensive grain food is a risk. As a man 
remarked while paying his bill for hog feed, 
“ There is money in hogs, but getting it out 
—that is the problem.” p. B. c. 
Catonsville. 
FROM MICHIGAN. 
After harvest, as soon as the wheat is 
stacked, I turn my hogs upon the stubble 
fields. At this time they are in good growing 
condition, having run upon the clover field 
during the earlier part of the summer. What¬ 
ever wheat is left upon the ground is picked 
up and thus saved. Some persons object to 
this method of feeding, assigning it as a fre¬ 
quent cause of cholera. I have not, as yet, 
found this to be the case, since when wheat 
stands up well and is properly harvested not 
enough will be found in one field to injure the 
large number of hogs that I turn in at once. 
By the constant use of cholera preventives 
I have managed to keep my hogs in a healthy 
condition and thus far free from that dreaded 
disease. 
If, by this treatment, I succeed in getting a 
large frame with a proper growth of muscle 
by September 1,1 then begin to feed corn, for 
there is nothing superior to that for fattening 
purposes. The animals are liberally supplied 
with good well water, salt, ashes, etc. I con¬ 
sider this the cheapest method of making pork 
t. e. growing the hog upon clover, (for every 
successful farmer has plenty of that and it is 
as healthful feed as one can give any animal), 
and finally, fitting him for market by feeding 
corn. 
I have been making some experiments in 
feeding hogs, but have not got far enough 
along as yet, to give accurately the cost of 
makmg a pound of pork. I think some pounds 
are made very much more cheaply than 
others; that there is a limit to the profitable 
feeding of any hog, and that.w'hen this stage 
is reached he should be sold, rather than kept 
because the price does not suit,*or because we 
want to make him weigh more. Hogs can 
be made to gain very fast upon ground feed, 
but it is doubtful if it pays. I had one pen 
of nine shoats last year, that were fed upon 
swill made of ground corn and oats together 
with what w hole corn they would eat. They 
gained over two pounds each per day, made 
very handsome hogs, but cost more than 
those raised and fattened by the forme^ 
method. The scales can be as profitably used 
in feeding hogs as in the dairy to test the 
merits of the various cows of the herd. 
More important than anything else is the 
kind of a hog that is fed. If one has the 
common scrub, it matters but little how, what 
or when he feeds, whether he weighs the feed 
and accounts for it or not, the one important 
item, profit, will be eliminated from the re¬ 
sults. o. c. H. 
Berrien County. 
FROM IOWA. 
I do not know what a pound of pork costs 
me. It is an easy matter to know at the end 
of the year bow the accounts of the farm 
stand compared with their standing at the be¬ 
ginning; but on a farm where stock-raising 
and dairying are followed it is difficult to sep¬ 
arate the proceeds for both so as to charge 
each kind with its proper share of expense. 
I have 80 acres in permanent pasture, clover 
predominating, which does not run out here 
as it does in the part of N. Y. where I was 
reared. . The hogs are kept in one 40-acre 
field by a plank across the gateway between 
the two fields high enough to keep the animals 
in, but so low that the cattle can step over it. 
This summer I have 93 hogs and shoats, 52 
head of cattle (no calves) and four horses. I 
have kept about the same number for several 
years and pasture has been abundant except 
in the summer of ’87. What part of the pasture 
is chargeable to the hogs I can’t tell; nut I aim 
to make as much as possible of the pork from 
grass. The pigs come in April and September. 
(I follow winter dairying so that the fall pigs 
get plenty of milk./ Fifty spring pigs are 
getting a bushel of shelled corn a day; that 
will be their ration until the middle of Sep¬ 
tember when they will get about all of the 
new corn they will eat at two feeds, which 
will be about five bushels (70 pounds) a day, 
on an average. Last year my April pigs 
treated in this way, when sold on January 15, 
weighed 330 pounds alive each; but last win¬ 
ter was unusually favorable for feeding hogs. 
The pigs that come in the fall are usually sold 
in August, at a little lighter weight, but it 
takes less corn to finish them off in the sum¬ 
mer. As nearly as I can figure it, it takes about 
six bushels ot corn to make 100 pounds of live 
pork with the grass and skim-milk thrown in. 
The cost of keeping the brood sows does not 
enter into the above calculation. Good water, 
shade, and a dry, warm bed are elements that 
enter into the production of cheap pork And it 
cannot be made without them. J. s. 
Corning. 
FROM NEW YORK. 
For about 20 years I have given more atten¬ 
tion to breeding and selling pigs than to 
fattening hogs. Only such as were no longer 
useful for breeding purposes and a few pigs 
each year have been fattened and slaughtered. 
A thoroughbred boar of the breed most popu¬ 
lar and salable in this vicinity at the time has 
generally been used. Having begun with the 
large Chester White, the Poland-China, Berk¬ 
shire, Large Yorkshire and Small Yorkshire 
have been used, and the sows now in use are 
of the mixed blood of these breeds. The last 
cross with the Small Yorkshire boar has 
given good satisfaction, and up to the age of 
eight or 10 months the pigs will give as large 
a profit on a given amount of feed as any 
stock I have seen. The Berkshire and Po¬ 
land-China are excellent breeds, but black 
pigs are not as salable here as white ones. 
A sow that is to be kept for breeding may 
produce her first litter when 12 or 15 months 
old, and continue to raise two litters each 
year until tour or five years of age, or until 
she fails to produce a full number or becomes 
a careless mother. A very old sow will kill 
her pigs by lying on them. With good care, 
suitable feed, and warm winter-pens, sows 
will raise an average of eight pigs to the lit¬ 
ter or 16 each year, and these, sold when five 
weeks old at ordinary prices, will bring from 
$40 to $50; that is, an average yearly return 
of $45 for each breeding sow kept will be 
realized. 
I prefer shorts and barley-meal mixed, for 
the grain feed, and think that $10 worth may 
be used with profit in a year when fed with 
plenty of skimmed-milk. When milk alone is 
fed, sows are liable to become costive and 
feverish, and loss of pigs will result. This 
condition is easily avoided by feeding the 
grain mixture above mentioned. Deducting 
the $10 in grain fed from the $45 realized from 
the pigs sold, $35 remain as pay for the milk 
and care. But with plenty of straw for bed¬ 
ding and as an absorbent, enough manure 
may be saved to pay for the labor expended. 
I have never made any very careful or ex 
tended experiments as to the feeding value of 
the milk used; but the amount received from 
the sales of pigs and pork has warranted the 
conclusion that it represents a considerable 
percentage of the profits of the dairy. When 
I began using a Cooley Creamer, 12 years ago, 
six pigs eight weeks old were weighed, and 
after being fed sweet skimmed milk for a 
month, were again weighed, and their gain 
was sufficient to pay for the grain consumed 
and 25 cents for 100 pounds of the milk. 
Judging by the amount fed daily to a breed¬ 
ing sow, I think she will use 15,000 pounds of 
milk in a year together with the grain feed 
above stated. Here again the feeding value 
of the milk is 20 to 25 cents per 100 pounds. 
It may be thought that such feeding involves 
a great amount of labor for the value re¬ 
ceived; but the farmer’s profits are never 
large and a few hundred dollars received each 
year from the sales of pigs and pork may rep¬ 
resent the entire net profit of a small farm 
and dairy. 
In connection with butter-making from 25 
cows, I usually raise 12 calves each year and 
•keep six breeding sows. If the pigs are Kept 
beyond five weeks old, each week adds to 
their value, and practically they are sold at 
all ages from four weeks to eight months. 
The business has proved satisfactory and 
profitable. With good care there is no dan¬ 
ger of loss on a thrifty, well-fed pig less tuan 
nine months old. 
A pen warm in winter and cool in summer, 
kept dry and clean is essential to success. A 
thoroughbred boar should be used. The sows 
should have the run of a yard in summer. They 
should not be bred too young, as dwarfing 
will result from such a course. A good breeder 
should be kept as long as she continues profit¬ 
able. If pigs are fattened, 200 pounds weight 
is the limit of greatest profitableness. A good 
bleeding sow will yield more net profit than 
the average cheese-dairy cow. A cow giving 
7,500 pounds of milk in a year should be 
credited $15 for the skimmed milk where but¬ 
ter is made, if she is charged for the whole of 
the feed that she consumes. o. s. R. 
Lowville. 
Pork-making occupies an important posi¬ 
tion in farm economy in this section, as it is an 
extensive dairying region, aud these two 
branches of the business go hand in hand, 
each making the other profitable. 
For profitable pork, early pigs are most de¬ 
sirable. A cross of Chester-White and Berk¬ 
shire makes as good a “ porker ” as any, as it 
is long-bodied and small-boned, matures early 
and fattens readily—all desirable points. 
Early pork is the most profitable, costing less 
per pound, while it brings a higher price in 
the market than pork made in cold weather. 
The choicest of early pork may be made by 
feeding plenty of skim-milk with a small ad¬ 
mixture of wheat middlings. Pea-pods, corn- 
husks, clover and weeds are relished and fed 
with profit through hot weather. The product 
of an acre or more of peas is an important item 
in cheap pork-making as well as a healthful 
and delicious table dish. As soon as the peas 
get too old for cooking begin to pull them for 
the pigs. Feed them in small quantities at 
first, increasing the amount as your own 
judgment and the pigs’ appetite and condition 
demand or the weather warrants. Avoid 
heavy grain feeding in hot weather. This 
method of thrashing the bulk of the pea crop 
will be found pleasant and profitable; for 
where is the farmer wtio does not enjoy seeing 
a flock of clean, healthy pigs buried to the 
eyes in luscious, succulent pea vines, munching 
with avidity the w ell-filled pods. If not fed 
to excess, they will eat every pea and nearly 
all of the vines, and for profit, just see them 
grow. 
A “titman” pig of mine for which I couldn’t 
get an offer of 50 cents because he was so 
small, although I received $3 apiece for his 
mates of the same litter, was fed on this diet, 
and without the customary finishing off on 
corn he dressed 268 pounds in September and 
sold for $7.50 per cwt. Two others of the 
same litter for which the buyer willingly paid 
me $6, were fed in the usual way (on milk 
dishwater and corn), until November when 
the best one weighed 275 pounds and netted 
the feeder $6.00 per cwt. Any one can figure 
out the difference and locate the profit. 
1 have no correct data from which to esti¬ 
mate the exact cost of fattening hogs, but I 
know that it is not much over the cost of keep¬ 
ing them as store stock. Of course, I don’t refer 
to such stock as one sees during a day’s drive 
through the country: animals that are turned 
out to pasture aud do not see a pail of swill 
all summer long—long-nosed, gaunt and bony 
brutes. 
The feed to give this kind of stock the full¬ 
ness and beauty of contour that characterize 
