OCR Text |
Show Market Hogs Early Says USDA Chairman "Push the pigs" Is the advice given to Iron County farmers by J. M. Palmer, chairman of the county USDA War Board. The faster fast-er farmers can push the pigs along, the better for everybody concerned. Ordinarily December and January Jan-uary is the peak marketing season. This year with the big increase in hog production to meet the food production goals, transportation and packing facilities will be overtaxed over-taxed unless the marketing season is spread out. Early marketing, says Mr. Palmer, is much preferable to late marketing, in other words, as many hogs as possible should be marketed before the peak season, but not by sacrificing weight. We have to depend on lard for about one-fourth of all our domestically produced fats and oils this year. in addition to spring pigs, many Iron county farmers have some small pigs that are on light feed and pasture. These "carrled-over" hogs can certainly go to market earlier. Price ceilings won't permit much if any rise In hog prices, in the opinion of Mr. Palmer, so there Is no point in waiting for higher prices. The danger point will start the lost part of November. If farmers wait until then to sell their hogs, they not only may have to take lower prices, but they may have to take turns In marketing. The June pig report shows a major ma-jor victory on the food front. The Nation's farmers are raising 62 million mil-lion head of spring pigs, and this year's total farrowlngs may be about 105,000,000 head. This would be an Increase of 23 percent over last year - and eighteen and one half million mil-lion head more than any previous year on record. It will mean that In 1943 we will produce about 2 billion pounds more pork and lard than we are producing this yea:. Pork and lard are two of the Important Im-portant foods In our United Nations' Na-tions' war larder. These figures are bad news for the Axis. |