Jasper County Democrat, Volume 22, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 April 1919 — MODERN BUILDING FOR LOWLY SWINE [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

MODERN BUILDING FOR LOWLY SWINE

Clean, Comfortable Quarters for Hogs Worth While. FARMER’S CHANCE NOW HERE Removal of Government Restriction* Enable* Him to Construct Building* That Ar* Badly Needed. By WILLIAM A. RADFORD. Mr. William A. Radford will answer questions and give advice FREE OF CCBT on all subject* pertaining to the subject of building work on the farm, for tbe reader* of thl* paper. On account of hl* wide experience as Editor. Author and Manufacturer, he is. without doubt, the highest authority on all these subject*. Addresr all inquiries to William A. Radford. No. 1«37 Prairie avenue. Chicago, 111., and only inclose three-cent stamp for reply. • The lias been denied during the lust two years the new buildings the expansion‘bf his business hus required, will hall with satisfaction his chance to put up that new barn, silo, horse barn, or cattle or hog house that he has needed for many mouths. But during the time of his inactivity there huve been rapid strides made In designing commodious and sanitary

farm buildings. One of the things that the modern idea of farm efficiency demands is that the hogs be housed In a building that can be kept clean and is so arranged that the swine can be cared for with the least amount of effort. It may be trite to say it, but hogs are valuable property these days. A little more money spent on the hog house means falter and healthier animals, and each additional pound is worth real money about the time snow Illes and the hogs are marketed. Herewith is shown a modern swine establishment, in which are embodied a corncrib, granary, feeding platform and scale house. The building is what Is known as the saw-tooth hog house. While the floor plan shows the arrangement of these features, it might be explained a little more fully by a description of it. Room for Eighteen Sows. The hog house proper was laid out to accommodate eighteen sows; two stalls In one end were used to provide plenty of room around the water place and another stall in the other end for the scale box and small store room; so, as it is arranged now it contains fifteen usable stalls. The ventilation is taken care of by two combination smoke stacks and ventilators in the roof and a slat ventilator built In the end above the door. This ventilator Is fitted with a door on the inside, so that It can be closed tight when necessary. All the gates between the stalls are removable, so that one or more pens can be thrown together. The feeding platform also can be used as outside yards by putting iu the cross gates. Each six feet there la

an angle iron bolted to the side of the house, which holds one end of a 2 by 4, the other end being fastened to the fence on the outside of the platform. The 2 by 4 acts as a brace to hold the fence rigid and also serves as a means of fastening the top of the gates. The lower part of the gate is held in place by 2 by 4 braces on the gates dropping into holes made to. fit them in the concrete platform. In order to remove the gates it is only necessary to loosen two bolts and lift them out. Scales Under Cover. The scales are under cover in the passageway between the hog house and the granary and are fitted with a swinging gate at each end, one of them swinging inside so as not to interfere with the sliding door which closes the passageway up tight. This passageway is all under cover and makes a

fine place in bad weather for grinding feed. etc. Tbe gate at the outer end ol the scale* swings out and joins a small gate at the loading chute, making it handy to do the loading. The sleeping pens, granary and corn crib are all floored with hollow tile with two Inches of concrete over them. The corn crib and granary have studding sockets set in the concrete on top of the wall. The sills in the hog bouse are belted down to the top of the foundation wall. There is a slat door between the corn crib and granary, so as to make it tight when the granary is full of small grain. The roof is shingled with composition shingles nnd the siding is fir drop siding. Everything is of the best materials and is built in the best possible way. All the foundation walls are reinforced. The floor of the hog house slopes to the center, so as to drain into the sewer which runs out under the feeding platform. The feeding platform slopes to tbe outside and also at one end. The feed trough also slopes and is fitted with a drain at one end. All Fitting* Are Modern. The fittings of the house are modern in every respect. One of these Js a waterer that will not freeze. Concrete floors and feeding troughs make it easy io keep the building clean, and cleanliness has been found to be a prime factor in the successful production of hogs. This hog house is only one of the buildings that will be erected on the farms this year that contains many up-to-date features in construction and equipment. There is a growing demand among the farmers for these modern build-

ings, because those who are producing food for this country and for a considerable portion of the rest of the world now realize that their time is worth money and everything that saves even a few steps a day is worth while. At the end of the year this worth-whileness is shown by the balance on the right side of the ledger after the season’s crops have been marketed and the livestock sold.