| Show pork production in the intermountain intel mountain country by W L carlyle dean and director idaho state university oregon oraton short line demonstration trin train lecture many tanners farmers believe that it is impossible to raise hogs and produce pork in this intermountain country at a profit some and perhaps the majority of them believe that hogs can not be grown and fattened at a profit in any country where corn cannot be abundantly and cheady grown in fact act they are not backward in expressing their conviction that hogs cannot be grown and fattened without corn atter after some years experience in hog bog growing and fattening in this western country we I 1 are convinced that these men are greatly mistaken and we believe that this section offers many advantages tor for pork production that are not to be ba found in any other section of the united states i it may be said that there are five prime factors that have to d do 0 with profitable pork production in any country these are firsts first the ability experience peri ence and taste of the farmer second the nature of the climate third the character of the soil and its capacity to produce an abundance ot of su suitable table teed feed products cheaply fourth i the prevalence of disease and fifth and most important the demand tor for pork products or the availability ot of a good market let us consider briefly these five factors and apply them to our conditions and see how nearly we fill the bill in this r section ec tion in the first instance I 1 we have as progressive a lot of farmers as may be fou found nd in any section of the country it is true that many in tact fact most moat of them have not that knowledge and skill in the business of rearing and feeding swine that insures success but this skill and knowledge can be cecur secured ed in a very short time with a little practical experience peri ence and careful study IT ii can therefore be said that in so tar far as the first factor is concerned that our conditions are favorable As regards the climate this section cannot be excelled in any other part of this continent for or hog bog raising this is ii a broad statement but I 1 believe the facts substantiate it the weather is uniformly dry the season seasons sue sare mo moderate der the air pure and invigorating and the sunshine abundant and strong there is only one serious objection to our climate from the hogs standpoint and that is our extreme var variation laton of 0 temperature in each twenty tour four hours and this objection while a very serious one it if not guarded against is very readily overcome the hog is by nature a semitropical semi tropical animal he has a light coat of very coarse hair it a t best and is consequently very susceptible to coldor cold or chills again the ha aps 1 has no perspiration or sweat glands in pis fals a skin kin and he be a semitropical semi tropical animal naturally Is very easily overcome overcame with heat most other animals including man are providentially equipped with a means of cooling the surface of their bodies through the evaporation of the perspiration which exudes from the open pores of their skin whenever the temperature of the body rises abnormally this merciful provision of nature lias has been denied the hog consequently when he is exposed to the burning hot hoi sun during the middle of the day and his body becomes overheated lie ho should be provided provide 4 with some kind of 0 shelter or shade and with some means of supplying moisture tor for evaporation from the surface 0 of f his body on the other hand when the sun goes down and the chill air from the mountains descends into the valleys in the evening or during the night the hog having no adequate covering of hair is very readily chilled the result of which Is very apt to be a serious loss from pneumonia and other pulmonary troubles particularly in the case of young pigs ind and very tat fat animals in summer it I 1 Is important therefore that hogs should bo be furnished with some shelter in the fields we provide small A shaped eight foot square hog houses these are cheap easily moved from place to place and answer every purpose both tor for shelter from froin the sun and from the cool night a air tr providing they are well ventilated in addition to adequate shelter all pasture lots for hogs in summer should be provided with a bath in which the animals can go at will not so much to clean their bodies as to cool themselves hogs should not be forced to make a wallow in some dirty filthy stagnant pool of water in order to cool themselves provide each pasture lot with a small tank eight by eight feet square and ten inches deep made of plank rr er concrete set into this the ground and have hae this supplied with resli fresh clean water 0 once nce or twice a week which will not h told old to exceed two or three barrels and to this bath each week you should add about two quarts of some good coal tar disinfectant it will be found an excellent precaution against disease and particularly those of a parasitical nature and Is the most et ef method that I 1 know of tor for keeping the animals free from lice and vermin with these minor protections against sudden extremes in temperature empera ture this climate Is certainly ideal tor for hogs of all ages concerning the soil little need be said tor for it is such in almost every section that it will produce a maximum y yield I 1 eld of all kinds of cereal grains as well as peas beans and other legumes and in the most favorable sections corn crops can be very successfully grown in addition to all this we grow here the most valuable ot or all hog feeds in almost per feet act form namely alfill alfalfa fa with alfalfa dcarl erseg rape and english calp kaan ani a minimum amount of co feirn d ill iii h grad is r foi r idt iii the trouble has baa 1 in i n in inin hii to dl de pond altogether too much oiw alfalfa because it t Is a 96 good lorise people should not make the ot of depending upon it alone for or a teed feed ratten fatten their hogs hog T the h to raise arid and rn gregarious animal and d is hog Is a physiologically and anatomically more nearly like man than any other domestic ani animal mial hla his stomach intestines and whole system and assimilation Is almost alof of 0 digestion a counterpart of the human and as a result he cannot thrive on coarse bulky or very fi berous food it Is a good rule to follow in hog raising in all particulars to put yourself in the other fellows place where you would thrive and wax tat fat mr ilog hog will also think that he has entered hog heaven you would not long maintain your health and strength on such a food as alfalfa either green or in the hie form of hay nor will the hog do his best I 1 know that it is a common practice to turn brood sows bows and young pigs into an alfalfa lot and there let them range during the most of the summer without additional teed feed this Is a very serious mistake at no time in his lito history can as aa cheap gains be made on the hog asin as in the early stages of his life in an experiment conducted under my direction fit at the wisconsin experiment peri perl ment station a number ot of years ago it was that the proportion of food ot of support or maintenance to total teed feed in a GO 50 pound pig was war 18 per cent with a pound pl pig 25 per cent pound pip pig 27 per cent and a pound pig 36 per cent from this it will be seen that it takes taker twice as much of the total percentage of tile the food eaten to make up the food ot support between a 50 pound pig and a pound pig again it was found that in the case of a 50 pound pig it required 2244 pounds of dry matter in teed feed to produce pounds of gain in the pound it required pounds of dry matter to produce pounds gain and in a pound pig it required pounds of dry matter to produce pounds ot of gain from this it will be seen that tho the earlier in life the pig pg can be induced to eat largely ot of grain the greater the returns that may be secured from a given amount of teed feed land and this Is particularly true when the grain teed feed can be fed in combination na tion with alfalfa pastures As a maintenance ration alfalfa will just about support a pig without allowing anything adal additional dional for g gain aln in weight the more grain therefore that a hog can call be induced to eat w when hen on alfalfa pasture posture the ma more re rapidly the gain and the greater the pr profit with barley mill stuffs wheat peas rye oats and a small amount of corn such as can be grown in this country we have all of the grains necessary for the most profitable production of pork it may be said however that these grains must be fed in proper combination to give palatability and to supply the various nut and other elements in proper proportion tor for growth and development without any waste during the winter months roots and tubers such as beets mangels turnips carrots and potatoes all of wilch may be readily grown la i tells country will be found very tery valuable ahle its as supplemental feeds to the grain ration in addition to this we have a rapidly growing dairy industry and the byproducts by products from the dairy in tile the form of skim and butter milk we have another valuable food supply which can best be utilized when fed to hogs concerning the matter of disease there is no large section of arable land in the united states that Is as free from the many diseases to which the hog Is heir as Is this intermountain country the sunshine is so bright and strong and the at atmosphere mos phere Is so rare that all kinds of germ diseases ds ases have a poor chance for development As to the last and most important factor which is the demand or the markets we have every evidence that in this respect this section ot of the united states is at the present time particularly favored the last census depoi t for 1910 gave utah a population of people the same census gave utah a total of hogs including young ples or a trifle over one hog for every five and one halt half persons on tle average and this would require that every hog in the state would have to be slaughtered during the year whereas a large percentage ot of them are kept over tor for breeding stock in the case of idaho with a population of we have a hog population tio n of in which case we have a little over one half a hog for each person providing viding all were slaughtered it can be readily seen that these two states do not in themselves produce nearly enough pork for their own supply the sheep men of this intermountain country estimate that it requires three pounds of pork products a day for each one of their employed emp loyes which would mean that for each employed on the sheep ranches it would require over four average sized hogs annually in addition to our local de mands tor for which we pay the highest prices we have to the west of us a number of large cities partle particularly u barly spokane and portland where large packing plants have been established and tor for which they have found it necessary to go to kansas and nebraska tor for their hogs which they secure in large numbers each month paying the freight addition to to the m market prices in order to get their supplies these markets belong to our people it has been learned through the railroad agencies that to supply the markets west of the rocky mountains it required in 1910 approximately worth of meat products shipped from the eastern markets the larger bulk of this perhaps 90 per cent consisted of pork products surely then we have tor for many years to come one of the best unlimited markets in the country with all possible things in our favor it Is not too much to hope that this intermountain country wa w 1 y soon goon become one of the greatest pork producing centers in america and such it Is destined to become as soon as ag our farmers avail thi themselves or of the advantages presented to th them em tor for pork 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