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About The gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925 | View Entire Issue (May 7, 1914)
HOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION Raising Fine Hogs in the Northwest A Convenient Piggery BY JAMES E. WITHYCOBIBE AND E. L. POTTEB. There has been no more ardent enthusiast of the hog than James E. Withycombe, nor has there been any greater friend of the farmer. The article below, the first of a series concerning hogs, we believe will prove of general interest. HOGS are correctly classed as "mort gage lifters," and after they have lifted all the mortgages from the farms they will assist in building up more modern farm homes and contribute more to the general upbuilding of a rural community than perhaps other animals upon the farm. In view of the fact that the hog, when properly han dled, is a profitable animal, it is a somewhat of a mystery why farmers in tha Northwest have not erven more attention to the (Trowing of swine. Market values for some time have been verv encouraging; in fact, the local supply does not by any means meet the demand. It is estimated that $6,000,000 worth of live hoes have been brought to the Northwest during the past year. This would seem to be almost a travesty upon the agriculture of the state, when we consider the abundant opportunities for the economical production of swine. Market conditions promise to be good for some time. The largo and modern packing plants at North Portland will always be an active factor in maintain ing a stable market for all of the hogs produced in the Northwest. Thus the farmer mav have little fear as to the ultimate outcome of the industry. Equipment Success in growing hogs does not de pend upon the expenditure of a large sum of money in buildings, neverthe less they should be kept comfortable and not be exposed to cold and rain. The hog is perhaps the most sensitive to cold of all farm animals. On many farms there are old sheds or other un used buildings which may be made to shelter a few bows and thus enable the beginner to get a start without in vesting any capital in buildings. Where the industry is conducted upon a large scale and is expected to be more or less permanent such makeshifts are usually unsatisfactory. They are in convenient and generally unsanitary, hence success in the industry without proper buildings is scarcely to be ex pected. Hog houses are of two classes, the large or centralized, and the in dividual, or colony house. The former is intended to shelter the entire herd, while the latter accommodates only one sow and her litter, and thus necessi tates as many houses as there are bows. There are many types of large houses, but the simpler ones are usually the better. Each sow in the herd should be provided with a tightly boarded pen inside of the house. Each pen should be about 8 by 10 feet, and should have a window and door opening to the out side. This door should be full height. Doors just high enough to admit the hogs are a nuisance. There should be no passage ways for hogs through which the attendant cannot pass with ease. Each pen should be connected on the inside with a feed alley, so that the feeding may be done under cover and without the necessity of entering the pens. There should be a door from the pen into the alley, and if this door can be of the same width as the alley, so that it will swing across to close the alley, so much the better, On the out side there should bo a small pen con nected with the inside pen, at least as large as the inside pen, and as much larger as can be made without too great an expense. In Western Oregon and Western Washington the long winter rains make it necessary to floor this outside pen, hence it must necessarily be quite small. In Eastern Oregon and Eastern Washington such flooring is not required, and the pens may there fore be quite large, even large enough to be called pastures. If the house can be built adjoining a good alfalfa field part of the pens could be made about an acre in size and the remainder merely small lots. It is not necessary, however, to have a separate pasture for each bow. Types of Buildings. In order to best meet the require ments set forth above, and at the same time make the cost of the building as small as possible, the style of building shown in the illustration is recommend ed. A house of this kind may best be constructed of what is commonly called "box" construction, that is, the walls are made of common lumber nailed ver tically. The only framing required is a 2x4 scantling crosswise at the top, bottom and center, together with a similar scantling placed upright on each side of the doors. In Western Oregon the cracks need not be battened unless on the exposed side, and then only rarely. The house will be sufficiently warm without battens and will be much better -ventilated., and ventilation is quite a problem in the rainy winters of Western Oregon and Washington, as the air seems to circulate slowly in the damp weather. In Eastern Oregon and Washington the cracks should be battened, in most cases. It is not neces sary to make the house warmer than this, however, as additional warmth cannot be secured except at the ex pense of fresh air. Wealthy stockmen sometimes build houses of stone, con crete, brick, double boards with saw dust between, and similar forms in tended to afford the greatest possible amount of warmth and to exclude the wind. Then in order to prevent the hog from suffering from foul air they put in such an extensive ventilating system that the building is no warmer than if it had been more simply con structed. In other . words, they have wasted their money. It mnst be dis tinctly understood that there is a limit to the warmth that may be obtained in a building not provided with artificial beat and still maintain a satisfactory circulation, and between cold air and foul air the cold air is the lesser evil. Concrete Is Cold. A perfect floor for a hog house is yet to be discovered. Concrete Is clean, sanitary and durable, but is cold, en tirely too much so to be satisfactory. An over-lay of boards is sometimes put on the concrete in the sleeping pens, but this is no better than the plain board floor and much more expensive, oards are rather hard to keep clean and rot out quickly, but are quite com fortable for the hogs. For Western Oregon and Washington the two-inch hoard floors are recommended. The small outside pens should be floored with the same material, and the floor maae continuous witn tnat or tne in side pen. The entire floor should have about four inches slope from the. cen ter to the outside. This will facilitate drainage, and in cleaning, the floor may be swept from the inside pen to the outside pen. In Eastern Oregon and Washington the floor for the outside pens is unnecessary, while for tot in side pens boards will ba about the best, although where the ground is well drained and the hogs are not too close ly confined, a dirt floor will do very well. It., is much less expensive and much warmer than any sort of artificial floor. Where hogs are allowed consid erable freedom they will usually leave their droppings outside of the house, and thus the house will require very little cleaning. One pen at the end of the house may be partitioned off for the storage of feed. The small individual houses are large ly used in the corn belt where tnere is much danger from disease, especially cholera. By having a number of these houses in different pens any outbreak of disease will be confined to one lot, and will not affect the entire herd. Arrangements have just been made for the sale of 40 million feet of tim ber on the Tongass national forest in Alaska. This forest is cut up by bays and inlets, some of which give an op portunity for taking the timber from the mill to the decks of oceangoing steamers. The Tongass forest is now self-supporting, its lumber product be ing used largely in local industries, much going into boxes for canned salmon. TYPEWRITERS RENT a Typewriter from the menufaetnrers, (5 for three months; Remington No. S or No. 7 ; Smith Premier, No. 2 or No. 4 ; visible Remington, Monarch, Smith Premier, $8 per month delivered anywhere. Rebuilt machine! sold on easy payment!. EEMINGTON TYPEWRITER COMPANY. 88 roadway, Portland, Oregon. Hotel Benson Carl Stanley, Manager 0. Kirks Drury, Asst. Mgr. AFIEE and element proof hotel with every modern convenience and equip ment. Central location. Two beautiful dining rooms. New buffet. Sample rooms. Bates no higher than those in in ferior establishments. A n 1 0 busses meet all trains. Bend for beautifully illustrated booklet. PORTLAND, OREGON. The Hum of the Blizzard Makes Me Smile "The louder she hums the more I smile it means the filling of my silo of stuff my cows like and thrive on it means that my crop is being rapidly put away where weather does not bother. I don t nave to wait for good weather like you do and run the risk of losing my crop. That hum is music to me aorta seems like the old Blizzard it sing ing over the good work it's doing. Yea, it's a Blizzard. Why? Well, Sir, just watch it a few minutes and you won't need an answer. See the boys hustle. They have to, to keep up with it. The Blizzard hardly ever chokes, cause the throat ia so large and clear. No, there is no danger. 1 he gears are all shielded and a pull of that lever near John a hand instantly stops, starts or reverses the Iced roll and feed table. The blizzard ia different from most silo fillers. You see the Blizzard people started to build silo fillers before any on else and decided to build an simple and a good a machine 6s possible. Most cutters have a separate cutter, fly wheel and fan. but the Dlizzard people combine thee in one. which makes less wearing; parts and takes less power to run the machine. Ano herthing that made me take to the blizzard is that no rime ia lost in edjusting the kniveeto the shear plnte. There is a device on the main htt by which this is done while they are running full blast No. th boys don't worry ebout the silo. The Dlizzard wind blast shoots the silage up any distance and (he new distributor spreads . JJ.. lull you its . iJtsfv-J- 1 ij i a iirisrmaawn b JaA uid write for "WHY SILAGE PAYS" Sand one of their j complete cats 'lots. 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