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. Itwilllrll
you a lot of
l thinit that you
fought to know,
whether you in
tend In nut un
iUre thiiti tea
ton or not"
n l
1
i
. 3p3 1 it out evenly inside.
i'H I 1 B,onfJ' mnicer lor
H 1 1 anv armrai ifl
TiiM r - "bit ijCikKZL
'
I
Send me a copy of your free book, i
"WHY SILAGE PAYS" I
and complete Blizzard Catalog. '
j
Nam
HAtsTt inn I
aw :
opunciiie pgise
LIFE
HEALTH
ACCIDENT
Phone Main 2715
" One Policy
COM BINATION
ONTRACT J H J
Clip this Coupon and maULto the Haaaa
Office (or full Information. No
obligation Incurred.
Name:
Address:
Oooupation:
nearest birthday
: Insurance Suggested:
NSURANCE CO.
HOME OFFICE SEATTLE, U. S. A.