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Show PORK PRODUCTION IN THE '' INTERMOUNTAIN COUNTRY By W. L. Carlyte, Dean and Director l Idaho State University. ' Many farmers bollevo that It Is impossible im-possible to raise hogs, and product! perk In this Intermountaln country at a profit. Some, and perhaps tho majority ma-jority of them, believe that hoes can not be grown and fattened at a profit pro-fit In any country whero corn caunot bo abundantly and cheaply grown; hi fact, they are not backward In expressing ex-pressing their conviction thnt hogs cannot be grown and fattened without with-out corn. After some years' experience experi-ence In hog growing and fattening In this western country, wo aro convinced convin-ced that thesq men aro greatly mistaken, mis-taken, and we believe that this section sec-tion offers many advantages for pork production that arc not to be found In any other section of tho United States. It may be said that there are flvo prime factors thnt halo to do with profitable pork production In any country; these are, first, the ability, experience and taste of tho farmer; second, the naturo of tho climate; third, the character of the soil, and Its capacity to produce an ahundancu of suitable feed products cheaply; fourth, the prevalence of disense, and fifth and most Important, the demand for pork products or tho 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 tho first Instance, wo have as progressive pro-gressive a lot of farmcis as may bo found In any section of the country. It Is true that many, In fact, most of them have not that knowledge- and skill In the business of rearing and feeding swine that Insures success, but tills skill and knowledge can be secured In a very short time with a . llttla practical experience and careful care-ful study. It can, therefore, bo said that in so far as the first factor 13 ( .concerned that our conditions nro favorable As regards the climate, this section cannot he excelled In any other part of this continent for hog raising. This Is a broad statement, but I believe be-lieve the facts substantiate It. Tho weather Is uniformly dry, the seasons sea-sons are moderate, tho air pure and Invlgorntiug and the sunshine abundant abund-ant nnd strong. Tliero Is only ono serious objection to our cllmato from the hog's standpoint nnd that Is our extreme variation of tempcrnturo in each twenty-four hours, nnd this objection, ob-jection, while a very scilous one, If not guarded against, Is very readily oercome. Tho hog is by naturo a semi-tropical animal, ho has a light coat of very coarso 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 though ho be a semi-tropical animal natuinlly, is very easily overcome with heat. Most other ani mals, Including man, nre providentially providen-tially equipped with a means of cooling cool-ing the surfaeo of their bodies through the evaporation of tho perspiration pers-piration which uxudes fiom the open ports of their skin whenever tho tern-pernture tern-pernture of the body rises abnomally. This merciful provision of nature has been denied tho hog, consequently, when he Is exposed to tho burning hot suu during tho middle, of tho day, and his body becomes overheated, he should be- provided with some kind of shelter er shade; and with some means of supplying moisture for ev-i ev-i nporatlou from tliu surface of the I body. On the other !mnd, when the l sun goes down, and tho chill air ; from the mountains descends into tho vnlleys in the evening, or during the night, the hog having no adequate i covering of hair is very readily chll led. Tho aesult of which Is very apt to bo a serious loss from pneumonia ) and other pulmonary troubles, part' cularly In the caso of young pigs and very fat animals. In summer, It Is Im portant, therefore, that hogs should bo furnished with somo shelter In tho fields. We provldo small "A" shaped, eight-foot squaro hog houses. Those uro cheap, easily moved from placo to pla'co and answer every purpose, pur-pose, both for sbolter from tho sun and from the cool night air, providing thoy nro well ventilated. In addition to adequate shelter all pasture lots for hogs In summer should bo provided pro-vided with n "bath" In which tho animals can go at will, not so much to clean their bodies aa to cool them-i them-i selves. Hogs should not ho forced to . make a wallow In somo dirty, fllty, stagnant pol of water In order to cool themselves. Provldo eachpasturo . lot with n small tank eight by eight feet square and ten Inches deep, madc of plank or concrete, Bet Into tho ground, and have this supplied with fresh, clean viator anco or twice a week, which will not hold to exceed two or thrco barrels, and to this bath, i each week, jou should add about two quarts of some good coal tar dlslufce-itant. dlslufce-itant. It will be found nn excellent precaution against disease, and, particularly, par-ticularly, those of a parasitical natuio and is the most effective method that I know of, for keeping tho unlmals free from lice nnd vermin. With these minor protections against sudden sud-den extremes In temperature, this climate is certainly Ideal for hogs of nil ages. Concerning the soil, little need bo said for it is such in almost every section that it will produce a maximum maxi-mum jleld of all kinds of cereal grains, as well as peas, beans and other legumes, and In tho most f.i-vorable f.i-vorable sections coin crops can he very successfully grown .In addition to all tills, wo grow here tho mo3t valuable of all hog feeds In almost perfect form; namely alfalfa. With alfalfa, dwarf Essay rape and English kale for forage a minimum amount of concentrated high priced grain :s requited for bsst results. The trouble has been, In many Instances, to depend de-pend altogether too much upon alfalfa, al-falfa, necanse It Is a good forage people should not make the mistake mis-take of depending upon It alone for n 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, Intestines Intes-tines nnd wholo system of digestion nnd assimilation is almost a counter-pait counter-pait of the human, and as a lesult bo cannot thrive on coarse, bulky or ei) rihurous food It is a good rule to follow in hog raining hi all particulars, parti-culars, to put youi self In the other fellow's placo Wu"iro jou would tluivc and n fat, Mr Hog will also al-so think that he has entered hos 1 heaven You would not long maintain I your health and strength on such a food us alfalfa, either green or In tho 1 form of hay, nor will the hog do hU 1 best I know that it is a common practice prac-tice to turn brood sows "and young pigs into un alfalfa lot nud there let them range during tho most of tho summer without additional feed This is a very serious mistake; at no time in his life history can as cheap gains bo made on the hogs n slit tho early stages of his life In an experiment conducted under my direction at the Wisconsin Kx-perlmcnt Kx-perlmcnt Station, a number of years ngo, It was learned that the'piopor-tionate the'piopor-tionate food of -support or maintenance, mainten-ance, to total feed In a flO-pound pig was IS pel cent; with a lOOpound pig, 2 pel cent; 1 .'0-pound pig, 27 per tent; and a 200-pound pig, 30 per cent. Ficin this it will bo seen that It takes twice as much of the total pcicentago of the food eaten to make up the food or support between a ."0-pouud pig and a 200-pound pig Again, It was found that in tho case of a ."i0 pound pig. It required 221.1 pounds of dry matter In feed to produce 100 pounds of gain; In the lfiO-pound pig, It required 312.2 pounds of dy innttor to produce 100 pounds gain, and In a 200-pound pig, it required 305.8 pounds of dry matter mat-ter to produce. 100 pounds of gain. From this It will bo seen that tho earlier In life the pig can ho Induced to eat largely of grain tho greater the returns thnt may be secured from u given amount of feed; and, this Is particularly truo when the grain feed enn bo fed In combination with nlf.il fa pastures, As a maintenance, ration, alfalfa will Just about support a pig without allowing anything additional for gain in weight. Tho moro grnln, therefore, that n hog can be Induced to cat when on alfalfa pasture tho moro rapidly the gain and tho greater tho profit. With barloy, mill stuffs, wheat peas, rye, oats and n small amount of corn, such as can ho grov;n In this country, wo hnvo all of tho grains necessary for tho most profitable production of poik (t may ho said, however, that these grains must ho fed In proper combination to r1 " pnlntablllty pi'd to Bupply tho vn'-ous vn'-ous nutriments and other elements In proper proportion for growth nnd development v 'thout nny wasto. During Dur-ing tho winter months, roots nnd tu hers such ns beets mangels, turnips, carrots and potatoes, all of which may ho readily grown In this country, coun-try, will bo found very valuable as supplemental feeds to tho grnln ration ra-tion In addition to this, we have a rap-Idly rap-Idly growing dairy Industry ,nnd the by-products from tho dairy In tho form of sklm milk, wo havo another valuable food supply which can best bo utilized when fed to hogs Concerning tho matter of dlscuso thero is no largo section of arablo land in the United States that Is ns freo from tho many diseases to which tho hog Is holr as Is this intermoun-Continued intermoun-Continued on Pago 3. PORK PRODUCTION IN THE 1NTERM0UNTAIN COUNTRY (Continued from pa't-.seven; tain country. The sunshine Is so bright and strong, and tho' atmosphere atmos-phere is so raro that all kinds ot germ diseases have a poor chance for development. As to the last and most Important factor, which Is the demand, or tho markets, wo have every evidence that in this respect this section of tho United States is nt the present time particularly favored. Tho last census report for 1910 gave Utah a population of 373,351 people. The samo census gave Utah a total ot 04,241 hogs, including young pigs, or a trlflo over ono hog for every flvo and one-halt persons on the average, and this would require that every hog in the state would have to bo slaughtered during the year; whereas, a large percentage ot them are kept over for breeding stock. In the caso of Idaho, with a population of 325,594, we havo a hog population of 178,241; In which case, we have a Httlo over one-half a hog for each person .providing all wove slaughtered. It can be readily seen that thcBo two states do not In themselves them-selves produce nearly enough pork for their own supply. The sheep men of this Intermountaln country csti-mnto csti-mnto that it requires three pounds of pork products a day for each one of their employes, which would mean that for each employe on the sheep ranches, It would require over four average sized hogs annually. In addition addi-tion to our local demands, for which wo pay the highest prices, we huvo to tho west of us a number of largo cities, particularly Spokane nnd Portland, whore large packing plants have been established .and for which they havo found It necessary to go to Kansas and Nebraska for their hogs; which thoy secure In largo num hers each month, paying the freight addition to tho market prices In order or-der to got their supplies. These mnr-kcts mnr-kcts belong to our people. It has been learned through tho railroad agencies that to supply the markets west of tho Ilocky mountains It required in 1910, approximate $'8,000,000 worth 0 fmcat products shipped from tho eastern markets. The lcrger bu k of 1 his, perhaps 05 per tent, consisted of poik products .Hiiro'v, then, we ha 'o for many years (o come one of the best unlimited ;!t'il;ets In tho conn-li. conn-li. With nil posslblo things In our tn-vor tn-vor ,lt Is not too much to hopo that this Intermountaln country will soon become ono of tho greatest pork pio-ducing pio-ducing centers In America, and such I Is destined to become ns soon ns our farmers avail themselves of tho advantages presented to them for pork production |