Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 293, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 December 1913 — FARMER SHOULD LOOK AHEAD IN HOG RAISING [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FARMER SHOULD LOOK AHEAD IN HOG RAISING

By J. W. Schawb,

' . Experiment Station. Purdue University Agricultural Extension.

The man who wishes to succeed in hog raising must think at least a year ahead and generally it pays to think three or four years ahead. About the first thing to do is to determine about how many hogs can be profitably raised on the farm in a year. This is generally limited by the amount of suitable hog feed that the farm can produce annually, under average conditions, such as corn, pasture, milk, etc.

To determine the number of sows to keep for breeding depends largely on the number of pigs that can be raised from each sow or gilt. The number of sows also depends a great deal on the wisdom of selection, feeding and the care that is given them.

There are times when it is best to keep old sows over. It is a common saying among successful hog raisers that a pig from an old brood sow is a month old the day it is born as compared with pigs from gilts. The writer has found in carefully conducted experiments that the average birth weight of pigs from 56 gilts was 2.0 pounds, while the average birth weight of pigs from 40 two-year-old pows was 2.5 pounds. Selecting the Brood Sow. In selecting old sows to breed again, carefully weed out those sows that have proven themselves unprofitable. The kind to weed out are those that produce small litters, the nerv-

Department of Animal Husbandry, Purdue University

ous, restless kind, the careless mother, the pig eater, poor milkers, which are often shy breeders, and the careless, sluggish movers that lie on their pigs. The sow to keep is the motherly sow that has proven herself to be an excellent breeder and not one that has the least masculinity in her appearance. It is a mother you are looking for. First-class brood sows do not have a tendency to lay on flesh rapidly. They are loosely built, roomy and have a strong tendency to growthiness. Of course, in weeding out some of the old sows, gilts must be selected to take their places. To select the best gilts is not a very difficult task if the owner has marked those which have been farrowed by the best sows. They should, by all means, be growthy, good rustlers, feminine in appearance and have at least six good teats on a side. It is generally a good practice to select gilts from large litters, because “like -begets like” In hogs as well as' in other classes of livestock. It is a fact that the size of litters of the average corn belt sow is none too large anyway.

Wheif it comes to mating select a rather closely built, stropg, active male that has a decidedly masculine appearance. By carefully selecting the brood sows from year to year it will require only a few years until the farmer has a very profitable herd.