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Show BENEFITS OF EXTENSIVE, INTENSIVE AND PRETENSIVE PLANS OF FARMING Former Newspaper Reporter, Now Operating Farm Near Springfield, Spring-field, 0., Relates Graphic Story of His Early Start and of the Trials and Tribulations Which Ultimately Lead to SuccessSuccessful Suc-cessSuccessful Improvement of Live Stock ,Based on Principles of Heredity. , (By G. H. ALFORD, State Farm Demon-j Demon-j atratlon Agent, Maryland.) Riverdale farm, near Springfield, O., comprises 354 acres in two sections, one of 256 acres and the other of 98. This being a river bottom farm, and one peculiarly adapted to the growing of corn and alfalfa, these are the chief field crops. The schedule for 1916 calls for 168 acres of corn, 60 acres of alfalfa, 30 acres of oats seeded to alsike and 15 acres of barley seeded to alfalfa. The remainder of the land is utilized for permanent pasture, buildings, lots, gardens, etc. Thirty acres of the corn is raised on shares by farmers living nearby. TLe balance of the regular work is done by the hired men. Mr. Robbins normally employs two to three men during December, Janu- "There is considerable misunderstanding misunder-standing on the part of the general public regarding purebred cattle. It is not unusual for a customer to say to us that he is raising hogs for pork and does not want fancy stock. This is an appellation that I detest. I consider that there is no such term as "fancy stock," or at least that such a term cannot be rightly applied to our farm animals. Good Points of Hog. "It might seem to some that the eyes, ears, feet and coat of a hog were fancy points, since they have no place in the pork barrel which is his ultimate ulti-mate end. However, a good and comparatively com-paratively large eye is almost invariably invaria-bly accompanied by a good disposition, disposi-tion, and good eyesight is essential, especially to the brood sow in caring Filling Automatic Waterer From Road. confused with atavism, or the reappearance reap-pearance of a characteristic once dominant dom-inant in the ancestry, but for several generations recessive or dormant. "In 1904 we started with a herd of Duroc brood sows. By 1907 we had replaced re-placed our grade herd with the progeny of these. Our present herd consists of 65 registered sows, with a normal annual production of about seven hundred pigs, all eligible to record. ' "Each brood sow in the herd has a number. For identification purposes an aluminum band, stamped with her number, is placed in each of her ears. These seldom have to be referred to, but they are there if we want them, . and make our breeding operations in-. in-. dependent of any one man, including myself. i "A carefully tabulated record is kept of the conformation of every animal ani-mal in the breeding herd, covering in all over thirty physical characteristics. characteris-tics. "Before the breeding season each sow is listed on a separate form in a loose-leaf book. This form is designed for the keeping of a complete record j of the sow and her litter from the time she is bred until her pigs are weaned. ) "Her name, age and herd number . are entered, together with the date of . listing, and her weight and condition . at that time. Then, after careful con-. con-. sideration of her pedigree, conformation conforma-tion and the results of previous mat- - ings, we decide to what boar she shall be bred This is indicated on the form, and also a second choice if deemed advisable. Subsequently the date of breeding is recorded. Acts as Dally Tickler. "After the sows are all bred and safe in pig the pages of the loose-leaf book, which have- heretofore been in numerical order, are rearranged chronologically with reference to the dates on which the sows are due to farrow. It then acts as a daily tickler as to when1 we may expect litters, when we shall mark pigs, when turn them out and when to wean them, etc. "Just before the sow farrows, her weight is again entered. We are thus able to tell just which sow gains the best on a given amount of feed. We keep our sows gaining an average of a pound a day each during the 112 to i 118 days of gestation. We can accom-r accom-r plish this by proportioning the amount 3 of feed to the weight of the sows, 3 which are carried in bunches of about - twenty. However, there is a consid-i consid-i erable variation in individual gains. .. Of course, the sows lose in weight at 3 farrowing and during the time they . suckle their pigs. 1 "There is always an attendant with i the sow when she farrows, which is a frequently at night. All circumstances - are noted, especially the number of 3 pigs, and how many, if any, are far-p far-p rowed weak or dead. The pigs are - weighed when they are one week old, 3 at which time they are also marked. 3 We mark each pig by punching and - nicking the ears in such a way that . we can read the number of his dam - almost as easily as if it were branded 3 on his side. A nick at the root of the 5 right ear means one, at the middle ' two, at the outside tip three, at the in-t in-t side tip four, and a hole punched in 3 the center five. A combination of the s hole (5) and any one nick (1, 2, 3 i i ' Royal E. Nuff. f or 4) means six, seven, eight or nine. . By using this same system for tens in j the left ear, as well as for digits in the . right, we can get any number to one . hundred without having more than two . marks in each ear. System of Marking. "This is our own system of marking, j and I believe is the only one that 11m-( 11m-( its the number of marks in an ear to j two and does away with the necessity of referring to a key. It is not necessary neces-sary to identify pigs otherwise than with the number of the dam up to the time they come to breeding age. "A history of the litter as such la kept up to the time the pigs are eight weeks old, when they are weaned, particular par-ticular attention being paid to trouble or losses of any sort. There are about a thousand and one things that can adversely ad-versely affect a pig, and the elimination elimina-tion of these requires constant study. "At weaning each individual pig Is weighed, as well as the sow. The conformation con-formation of each pig is tabulated on the attendants' record, and a score is given to the litter. "We replace about one-fourth of our herd each year with younger animals, and it matters not how much we may think of a sow, she goes to the butcher - if her production record puts her in - the chute list. I "While this is useful in eliminating the least profitable breeding animals, - its greatest value to us lies in its ap- plication to the scientific study of pedi- - j grees in the selection of those that re- - ' place them." ary and February, and five the rest of the year, not including threshers, corn cutters and huskers. Cost of Labor. To the regular farm help he pays more than the usual wages, but is careful to employ only the best men obtainable. His cash cost as shown by the pay roll averages only 14 cents per hour of labor. The actual cost is always over 20 cents, the difference differ-ence being taken up by house rent, milk, garden, meat, potatoes and other perquisites allowed to employees. In making advance estimates on work to be done, or the saving that may be accomplished ac-complished by the installing of new devices and methods, he uses 25 cents per hour of labor as the basis figuring. He considers it to be one of the privileges priv-ileges of operating a farm, that the boss is able to keep in close touch with the individual men who work with him. It is his observation that if a man does his work right and is paid fairly, he and his family live rightly. Right living is the most that there is to life anyway. He firmly believes that men who are employing as many workers as they can, teaching them to accomplish accom-plish as much as possible, and treating them fairly, are each and everyone doing do-ing more for humanity than all of the fool agitation and misguided legislation legisla-tion in the world combined. Interesting Statement. The following is a very interesting statement by Mr. William H. Robbins, the owner: "It has been said that there are three kinds of farming: extensive, intensive in-tensive and pretensive. All three have their advantages and I am inclined in-clined to the belief that the greatest appertain to agriculture of the pretensive pre-tensive variety. There is nothing that I would like better' than to be able to run a model farm and not have to muke it pay. "Probably the less said regarding my earlier career as a farmer the better. bet-ter. My father presented me with a part of what is now Riverdale farm for her litter. For this reason, we dc not want the ear of the hog to covet the eye so as to Interfere with th vision. Likewise the fact that a hog's ears are muscularly well under its con trol is, to my mind, an indication of s well-balanced nervous organization Good hearing is in itself necessary tc the efficient brood sow, for if she inad vertently lies down on a pig, she wil get up at once when she hears bin: squeal. It is also convenient to have hogs come when they are called. Re garding the feet, the hog that has good strong pasterns and is right ut on his toes will willingly take the ex ercise which is necessary to his health, while a hog with weak pasterns will not. Also, the feet are an indica tion of the quality of the entire hog It is difficult to clean properly the carcass car-cass of a curly-coated hog, curly coats showing under the microscope the corollary characteristic of viciously barbed roots. This last is a fact not generally known to hog men, and is by way of being a trade secret of one of the Chicago packing houses which saves money by discriminating in favor fa-vor of smooth-coated hogs. I merely mention these minor matters in a general gen-eral way. At first thought they might be termed fancy, but they are not. "I want to differentiate between animal ani-mal breeding as it is generally understood, under-stood, even by many so-called breeders, breed-ers, and what I term constructive or statistical breeding as it is practiced by us. Improvement of Stock. "Successful improvement of live stock is based on distinct principles oi heredity, several of which I will mention men-tion in passing, without taking up the known and speculative biological reasons rea-sons for them, or going into their discovery, dis-covery, which is exceedingly interesting interest-ing and romantic. "First, we have the principle of variation, vari-ation, which is that in the mating of animals of dissimilar characteristics some of these will appear in a part of the offspring, and others will appear in -C GlH W ' ' -. j I ryy Mjfc " JJ Fall Pigs at Self-Feeders. when 1 was nineteen years old. I did not want it. What I did want was to continue working at reporting, which had been my job for over a year. However, How-ever, he rather adroitly got me to promise to give up the newspaper work and handed me the farm at the same time. I found after I started in that it was a good deal like being pushed off the dock and told to learn to swim. His First Venture. "My first venture was a trip through Iowa buying stock cattle. It was a sad experience, and one that I cannot think of to this day without a feeling of deep pain. What they did to me was certainly a plenty. However. How-ever. I learned several things, among them how to tell the difference between be-tween steers and heifers. the rest, so that a breeder can. In successive suc-cessive generations, retain those characters char-acters which are desirable and discard the undesirable. "Second, the principle that like produces pro-duces like, whereby man is enabled to mate animals of similar characteristics characteris-tics with a fair assurance of perpetuating perpetu-ating them in future generations. "The two foregoing principles are simple in their conception and easily understood, but the practical application applica-tion is quite complicated, and you will find that they are utilized by men w-hc buy and mate even high-class animals and sell the produce. They are not constructive breeders because they never get beyond their starting point, "Third, we have mutation, which is the appearance of an entirely new hereditary character, and is not to be |