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Show COST OF GROWING VTGS. By A. .1. JiCgg, W'i'Bt Virginia. A fow years ago I was talking to a farmer and business .man who said that he always thought that it cost nearly twenty cents per pound to produce pro-duce pork. At that timo he had not had much exporionco with hogs und I could not give him any definite figures on the subject but it put me to Investigating. I put a 31-pound grade Chester while pig in a pen, led him and mixed ground fiod such as the farm produced pro-duced mixed with water. When the pig was tlvo months old ho wan slaughtered and weighed 10.T pounds. Tho pig had eaten 3St pounds of food at 51.00 por hundred poundc. If the pig is valued at $2.00 at tho time the feeding began It vould muko tho pork c.ost ?0.056 per pound. jast spring I weighed and kept an an account oi me iceo. required, lor two lirood sows with twolvo pigs. Tho feeding began about a week beforo the 1)lgs wiro farrowed and continued until tho pigs were eight weeks old. At tho end of the period I found that tho pigs avorngod thirty pounds each .and that I had fed them the following fol-lowing ration with tho retail value that prevailed here at the time. 5?3 lbs. wheat middlings, $1.70 per 100 ? 9.10 lli bushels of corn, $1.00 . bushel - 1.25 102 lbs. mixed feed, $2.00 por 100 2.04 50 corn meal. $2.00 per 100... 1.00 2 V4 bu. potatoes, $0.40 por bu. . 1.00 Total $14.30 If wo dlvido 31 -1.30 by twelve tho nuniborof pigs, wo find that tho "food bill 'coht practically $1.20 each for tho pigs. A fair estimato of the labor caring for tho sows -nd pigs and feed for the sows during tho gestation per- , lod would likely add $1.00 per head to tho cost of the pigs which would put the cost up to $2.20 each. They would havo sold readily at , from $3 to $i each right from the farm. I sold nine of them for breed- ; Ing stock for $52.50 and have on hand ono of the best ones for a brood sow and two of tho smaller ones for killing. kill-ing. Tn all the pigs aro conservatively valued at $C5 at eight weeks old. |