Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 145, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 June 1919 — PUREBREDS GROW IN FAVOR [ARTICLE]

PUREBREDS GROW IN FAVOR

SUPPLY IN INDIANA SO LARSE AND THE DEMAND NEVER SO HEAVY. . I-...; v .. - V —7-- —^ The herd books of the breeding i associations show that thousands of ■ Indiana swine breeders are turning from mongrels to pure breds, and the movement to place a pure bred sire at the head of every herd is rapidly gaining ground. The demand from county banks, breeding associations, and others which are promoting boys’ and girls’ pig clubs has this year been so heavy that the number of pure bred gilts has fallen short of the demand, while some of these promoters have gone .out of Indiana into other states to find the stock they desired. In point of number, there are more Hampshire swine of pure blood reared in Indiana than any other breed. E. C. Stone, secretary of the ' American Hampshire Swine Record association, has on his records the names of 2,496 breeders in Indiana who own registered Hampshire sows, not including the large number of feeders who own only registered Hampshire boars. Mr. Stone estimates that 561,000 Hampshire pigs, all pure bred and eligible to record in the association’s books, were farrowed on Indiana ! farms this last spring. The 2,496 l Hoosier owners of registered sows ; have six or more of these animals on j their farms. Soipe of the breeders have 300 registered sows. The six ; largest herds in Indiana are those of I John R. Lewis, of Rensselaer; Willie j Essig, Tipton; Seth T. Hadley, Hadley; Claire Rhode, Pine Village; M. S. Gardiner, "Idaville; J. Crouch & j Son, Lafayette, who own registered sows in lots of 100 to 300. There I are in Indiana, Mr. Stone said, 1,000 j Hampshire breeders whose herds of ! sows number from twenty to fifty head, and there are 1,000 more breeders who have from five to fifteen registered sows, making an average ownership of twenty-five sows on Hoosier farms which specialize in Hampshires of highest Weeding. Prices on Indiana Hampshires have ruled high this year and give no sign of becoming lower. Hampshire pigs eight weeks old and small enough to slip into a cup, have sold from the least known breeding farms at $25 each, while breeders who are good, advertisers have received SSO for a pig at weaning time.

The choicest September boars and gilts of the ’TSampshire blood have this season commanded SIOO to SSOO a head, while a few older and show boars have sold from SI,OOO to $4,000 a head, but none -of these boars was Hioosier bred. Seth T. Hadley sold a. number of sows early in the spring at more than. SI,OOO a head. Willie Essig sold a sow for $l,lOO. Claire Rhode sold a ten-months-old gilt for $1,200 and he bought two herd boars for about SI,OOO each. But John R. Lewis holds the record price for a Hampshire sow in the state, selling one early in the spring to Willie Essig for $1,550. Through the spring season, Mr. Stone said, Hampshires have averaged $336 a head in the auction sales.

Spotted Poland China prices have been on, the rise and are now at the highest level in the history of the breed. A first-class yearling boar readily sells for SSOO. Mr. Obenchain sold a two-year-old boar in May to George W. Reeve; of Rushville, for SI,OOO. At their spring sale, Clawson Bros. & Lairy, of Lafayette, sold a yearling sow to Shaver & Fry, of Kalona, la., for $1,500; B. J. Southard, of Fishers, sold a sow to James Owens, of Noblesville, for $1,050; Lilly Bros., of Tipton, sold a sow to Dunk & Ehrsman, of Mulberry, Ind., for $1,030; Clyde Jones, of Stuart, la., bought a boar of Youkey Bros., Thomtown, for sl,275, and a sow for SBIO. The largest herd of Spotted Poland Chinas in the National Breeding association is owned by Mrs. Jennie M. Conrad, who operates a farm of 5,000 acres in Newton county. She began specializing in the black and white swine years ago and while her herds produce many hundreds of pigs a year, she has difficulty in meeting the orders for breeding farms over the United States for pigs, gilts and older animals. Mrs. Conrad has 150 cows on her farm Which supply milk for her pigs and Aberdeen-Angus calves. . . -

G. G. Carter, of Fairmont, says there are 300 Indiana breeders of Duroc Jerseys who have 4,500 hogs recorded on the books of the breeding association, the number not including all of the boars or sows that are eligible to the records. The range of prices for Duroc boars has through the spring sales in this state been from, SIOO to $2,000. ' A. M. Brown, of Winchester, Ind., secretary of the National Poland China Record association, said that for some years about 10,000 hogs of this breed have been registered from this state. The year in Poland Chinas has been marked by very high prices, the range for boats being from $75 to $10,200. Silver Brook farm, at Muncie, sold a boar to E. E. Farver, an lowa breeder, for $5,000. J. L. Davis, of LaFontaine, sold Kramer i Kind to T- E. Thompson & Sons, of Franklin, for $5,600. This sow early in the spring farrowed ten pigs, nyie of them sows, all of which are being

raised. So much improvement has been made in Berkshires in recent years that the breed is rapidly spreading in favor and the number of these hogs on Indiana farms is increasing every year. In its earlier years the Berkshire was small and fine in ■ quality, but with passing time it has been taking on size. One of the last auctions of Berkshires held in Indiana this year was that of E. J. Barker, of Thorn town, who sold fifty-one head for a total of $12,935, an average of $261, these figures showing about the range of prices for Indiana of the breed this year. Piping Brook farm, of Greenwich, Conn., bought five animals at the Barker sale, paying from $290 to 1,000 for them, Grand Leader 2d bringing SI,OOO. Breeders from Massachusetts, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Georgia and Ohio came to this sale and took home with them Hoosier-bred animals with which to enrich the blood of their herds.

To increase interest among breeders, as well as to increase the number of breeders and the size of the herds, all of the swine associations of Indiana are giving much attention to the promotion of boys’ and girls’ pig clubs. As a result there are many thousand members in these juvenile organizations in this state. Banks in county seat and smaller towns are financing these movements and the clubs are under the general supervision of county farm agents or experienced members of the adult associations. Some of the clubs have been operating long enough to get on a* substantial footing, and in most of the counties of Indiana, to be the champion pig raiser is the goal of the ambitious members of the clubs, and these county champions aspire to state leadership. The breeding associations are broadening the activities of the juvenile clubs. The great show of pigs raised by club members will concentrate in September at the state fair, when five hundred or more pigs, which have wofi county honors in their breeds, will be in a battle royal” for the state championships. About 2,500 in prize* will be awarded in the different breeding contests ait the coming state fair, the Chester White association being one organization which will give SSOO in prizes for the best pigs of that breed. LANNES McPHETRIDGE.