Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 January 1910 — RAISE MORE HOGS SAYS FARMERS’ PAPER. [ARTICLE]

RAISE MORE HOGS SAYS FARMERS’ PAPER.

Keep Your Breeding Stock and Continued High Prices Are Assured by Drovers’ Journal Expert. The growing of more hogs for the market Is advised by many market journals and on this line the Chicago Drovers’ Journal says: “The extraordinary prices paid for hogs at the present time should not induce farmers to sell their choice breeding animals, as the industry has a brilliant outlook for good prices for several years. In 1908 the census report estimated the total number o 4 hogs in the United States at 56,084,000 and 64,147,000 in 1909. In 1907 there wera reported 54,784,439 hogs, making a decrease In the supply in 1909 as compared with two years previous. “The breed to raise is one the farmer fancies most, as what one admires he is more likely to treat generously. It pays to use thoroughbred sires in the hog Industry, as pure-bred animals are naturally more thrifty and will give better returns for the feed than will mixed or scrub breeding. Poland-China, Berkshire, Yorkshire, Tamworth, Jersey or Duroc Red and other breeds have their fanciers and Are commercially profitable when given the proper attention.

In selecting breeding stock the animals should be chosen from mature parents. Dams that produce large litters are good nurses and raise their offspring are the ideal kind of ancestors to produce choice breeding stock. The sire should have shown ♦ extra quality as a prize winner" or in his progeny carrying off blue ribbons at live stock exhibitions. “Immature animals should not be bred, as reproduction will not only stint the growth, but the offspring of immature sows are generally small and delicate. Greater vigor will be developed in the progeny of mature parents than in the progeny of the immature animals. Constitution is necessary to success in the swine industry as well as in other classes of live stock. “I depends on the breed as to the type of hog produced from the heavy, medium to lightweights. In some breeds all the variations are produced in equal perfection. The heavy grades take longer to mature, but command greated totals when sold by weight. “What the industry needs is a rapid growing hog^that will attain a weight of 225 to 300 pounds at 9 months old. The hog must be a good feeder and the farmer, if possible, should depend largely on an alfalfa pasture to push the growth of the animals. Alfalfa is rich in protein and phosphorus, which build up bone and musclar tissue, and the pasture can be supplemented with moderate rations of grain. The final finishing preparations for market should include all the corn the animals will eat and assimilate. The farmer wants a hog that will return $1.50 to $2 for every $1 worth of corn consumed.”