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Show Pork Production in the ByW L tarU,e- Dean and Intermouiiiain Country slZHZ. ,.,.,., - ,, , ,. - (Oregon Short Line Demonstration Train Leciurc) Many farmers believe that it is impossible im-possible to raise hogs, and produce pork in this intermountain country at a profit. Some, and perhaps the majority ma-jority of them, believe that hogs can not be grown and fattened at a profit in any country where corn cannot be abundantly and cheapy grown; in fact, they are not backward in expressing their conviction con-viction that hogs cannot be grown and fattened without, corn. After some years' experience in hog growing and fattening in this western country, we are convinced that these men are greatly mistaken, and we believe that this section offers many advantages for pork production that are not to be found in any other section of the United States. It may be said that there are five prime factors that have to do with profitable pork production in any country; coun-try; these are, first, the ability, experience ex-perience and taste of the farmer; second, sec-ond, the nature of the climate; third, the character of the soil, and its capacity ca-pacity to produce an abundance of suitable feed products cheaply; fourth, the prevalence of disease, and fifth and most important, the demand for pork products or the availability 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 section. In the first instance, in-stance, we have as progressive a lot of farmers as may be found in any section sec-tion of the country. It is true that many, in fact, most of them have not that knowledge and skill in the business busi-ness of rearing and feeding swine that Insures success, but this skill and knowledge can be secured in a very Bhort time with a little practical experience ex-perience and careful study. It .can, therefore, be said that in so far as the first factor is concerned that our conditions con-ditions are favorable. As regards the climate, this section cannot be excelled in any other part of this continent for hog raising. This Is a broad statement, but I believe the facts substantiate It. The weather 's uniformly dry, the seasons are njni ,r-ate, ,r-ate, the air pure and invigorating and the sunshine abundant and strong. There is only one serious objection to our climate from the hog's standpoint and that is our extreme variation of temperature in each twenty-four hours; and this objection, while a very serious one, if net guarded against, is very readily overcome. The hog is by nature na-ture a semi-tropical animal, he has a light coat of very coarse hair at best, and is consequently very susceptible to cold or chills. Again, the hog has no perspiration or sweat glands in his skin, and thoueh he be a semi-tropical animal naturally, is very easily overcome over-come 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 kin whenever the temperature of the oody rises abnormally. This mer--iful provision of nature has 6een denied the hog, consequently, consequent-ly, when he is exposed to the burning hot sun during the middle of the day, and his body becomes overheated, over-heated, he should be provided with some kind of shelter or shade; and with some means of supplying moisture mois-ture for evaporation from the surface of 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 ade-quate covering of hair is very readily chilled. The result of which is very apt to be a serious loss from pneumonia pneu-monia and other pulmonary troubles, particularly in the case of young pigs and very fat animals. In summer, it is important, therefore, that hogs should be furnished with some shelter shel-ter in the fields. We provide small "A"-shaped. eight-foot square hog houses. These are cheap, easily moved from place to place and answer an-swer every purpose, both for shelter from the sun and from the cool night air, providine. they are well ventilated. venti-lated. In addition to adequate shelter shel-ter all pasture lots for hogs in summer sum-mer 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 bo 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 vr concrete, con-crete, set into the ground, and have thi supplied with fresh, clean water once or twice a week, which will not hold to exceed two or three barrels, and to this bath, each week, you Bhould 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 effective ef-fective method that I know of, for keeping the animals free from lice and vermin. With these minor protections pro-tections against sudden extremes in temperature, this climate is certainly Ideal for hogs of all ages. Concerning the soil, little need be laid for It is such in almost every lection that It will produce a maximum maxi-mum yield of all k'nds of cereal grains, as well as neas, beans aDd other legumes, and in tlio most favorable favor-able sections corn crops can be very successfully grown. In addition to all this, we grow here the most valuable valu-able of all hog feeds in almost perfect per-fect form; namely, alfalfa. With alfalfa, al-falfa, dwarf Essex rape and English kale for forage a minimum amount of concentrated high priced grin is required re-quired for best results. The trouble has been, in many instances, to depend de-pend altogether too much upon- alfalfa. al-falfa. Because it is a good forage-people forage-people should not make the mistake of depending upon it alone for a feed to raise and fatten their hogs. The hog is a gregarious animal and is physiologically and anatomically more nearly like man than any other domestic animal, his stomach, stom-ach, intestines and whole system of digestion and assimilation is almost al-most a counterpart of the human, and as a result he cannot thrive on coarse, bulky or very fiberous food. It is a good rule to follow in hog raising, in all particulars, to put yourself your-self in the other fellow's place. Where you would thrive and wax fat, Mr. 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 form of hay, nor will the hog do his best. I know that It is a common practice to turn brood sows and young pigs into an alfalfa lot and there let them range during the most of the summer without with-out additional feed. This is a very serious mistake; at no time in his life history can as cheap gains be made on the hog as in the early stages of his life. In an experiment conducted under my direction at the Wisconsin Experiment Ex-periment Station, a number of years ago, it was learned that the proportion propor-tion of food of support or maintenance, mainten-ance, to total feed in a 50-pound pig was 18 per cent; with a 100-pound pig, 25 per cent; 150-pound pig, 27 per cent; and a 200-pound pig, 36 per cent. From this it will be seen that it takes twice as much of the total percentage of the food eaten to make up the food of support between a 50-pound 50-pound pig and a 200-pound pig. Again, it was found that in the case of a 50-pound pig, it required 224.4 pounds of . dry matter in feed to produce 100 pounds of gain; in the 150-pound pig, it required re-quired 312.2 pounds of dry matter to produce 100 pounds gain, and in a 200-pound pig, .it required 395.8 pounds of dry matter to produce 100 pounds of gain. From this it will be seen that the earlier in life the pig can be induced to eat largely of grain the greater the returns that may b secured from a given amount of feed; and, this Is particularly true when the grain feed can be fed in combination combi-nation with alfalfa pastures. As a maintenance ration, alfalfa will just about support a pig without allowing anything additional for gain in weight. The more grain, therefore, that a hog can be Induced to eat when on alfalfa pasture the more rapidly the gain and the greater the profit. I 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 pro-duction of pork. It may be said, however, how-ever, that these grains must be fed in proper combination to give palata-bility palata-bility and to supply the various nutriments nut-riments and other elements in proper proportion for growth and development develop-ment without any waste. During the winter months, roots and tubers, such as beets, mangels, turnips, carrots and potatoes, all of wnich may be readily grown in this country, will be found very valuable as supplemental feeds to the grain ration. In addition to this, we have a rapidly rap-idly growing dairy industry, and the by-products from the dairy in the form of skim and butter milk, we have another valuable food supnly which can best be utilized wTien 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 intermoun-tain country. The sunshine is so bright and strong, and the atmosphere atmos-phere is so rare that all kinds of eerm diseases have a poor chance for development'. As to the last and most important factor, which Is the demand, or 'he markets, we have every evidence th.tt in this respect this section of ilia X'nited States is at the present time particularly favored. The last census report for 1910 gave Utah a population of 373,351 people. The same census gave Utah a total of 64,244 hogs, Including young pigs, or a trifle' over one hog for every five and one-half persons on the average, and this would require that every hog in the state would have to be slaughtered slaught-ered during the year; whereas, a large percentage of them are kept Over for breeding stock. In the case of Idaho, with a popfllation of 325,594, we have a hog population of 178,241; in which ca3e, we have a little over one-half a hog for each person, providing pro-viding all were slaughtered. It can be readily seen that these two states do not in themselves produoe narlv enough pork for heir own s-ii!v. |