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About The gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925 | View Entire Issue (July 2, 1914)
HOME ANT) FATiM MAGAZINE SECTION Information on Raising Hogs in Northwest ' Greatest Returns Per Dollar of Investment "When Kept on Diversified Farms. George R. Samson. The following able article on S "8wine on the Diversified Farm" -was prepared for yam and Home Magazine Section by $ George B. Samson, swine special- ist of Oregon Agricultural Col- $ lege. SWTN'E have made the greatest re turn for each dollar invested when i kept in small numbers on the mixed or diversified farm. The reasons are not hard to discover when we consider the items of expense which enter into wine raising. The items of shelter, service, feed and fattening remain about the same pen pig regardless of the number of sows kept, with the possible advantage to the large scale producer in the ease of fattening pigs. But the cost of main taining the sow is much less in the ease of the small producer. On every farm is a certain amount of waste ot by product material, which in most cases is nearly adequate to the needs of one sow during part of the year; and on most farms there is suf ficient material to maintain two or more sows during part of the year, but not sufficient for one dnring the rest of the year. On the diversified farm, the waste products are naturally dis tributed a little more throughout a greater part of the year than on a specialized farm; and herein lies one advantage for the man with a mixed farm. Lessening Biak of Lots. Another item is the less risk of loss from disease in the ease of the diversi fied farm carrying a few hogs. More shifting of pastures is possible where bnt few pigs are kept, and thus less 1 - Poland Chinaa on Diversified Farm of Taos, W. Brunk, Baiem, .Oregon. hundred of live weight, of 50-pound pigs it would require 15 to consume the skim milk to the best advantage. This would be approximately two litters of Since the fattening pigs pay relative ly less for the skim milk than do younger pigs it is obviously advantage ous to have some younger pigs coming on as others are being finished for mar ket, and this is another point for the mixed farmer. His sows may produce two litters each year, with every chance of increasing the profit from the pigs. TJss Tor Small Potatoes. The farmer who raises a few acres of potatoes each year will find that the pigs will pay him a better price for small potatoes than any other stock or market While no great item, the 15 to 23 cents per hundred which the pigs will pay for an otherwise waste pro duet are in no wise to be despised. In the orehard, too, pigs will consume east fruit and destroy some insect pests which otherwise would live over to the next year to infest the new crop. Cull fruit9, pomace and fruit seeds are all eaten by mature swine and afford some nutriment, though swine should not be expected to subsist entirely on such stuff. In the fall of the year farmers who have more or less oak trees on their farms frequently find acorns in abundance, and these which but for the pigs are useless, are mueh relished, and very nutritious to swine. Around the straw stacks of threshing yards there is genorally moro or less grain which the pigs may secure and clean up better than any stock on the farm. The man who is engaged to a greater or less extent in truck farming gener ally finds that a greater or smaller quantity of material accrues from day to day which cannot be sold and which but for the pigs would be hard to get rid of. Practically anything which is good for human food is good for pig feed. Hence these waste products will retnrn something to their owner in stead of being a dead loss. The Specialixed Farmer. Prom what has been said it might at first seem that the specialized farmer engaged in any particular line of farm ing would have these same products and have them in greater quantities, hence the question may be asked why should not the specialized fanner en gage in pig feeding on a larger scale than a diversified farmer. The answer is dear. The specialized farmer has these products, but each of them comes dnring a comparatively short timo of the year. In the case of diversified farming one or the other of them oc curs at pretty nearly every time of the year, so that the maintenance of the sow may be decreased very materially, not through a short period of the year, bnt through the entire year, and since this item is the largest one to be con sidered in connection with pig raising it is evident that the diversified farmer has a very material advantage over the specialized farmer in producing pigs at a profit. tiklihood of pollution of the soil and pread of disease is encountered. The man who is depending on a few flairy cows for part of his income fre quently asks ns: " How many pigs will be most profitable to keep on a farm here five cows are milked and the Cream sent to the creamery, the skim Bilk being available for pig feeding! " Assuming an average of 15 pounds of ikim milk daily from each cow, we nave 75 pounds of skim milk per day. Biiice weanling pigs make the greatest return for skim milk and since these make most satisfactory returns when Jeceiving not to exceed 10 pounds per Method of Feeding "At the Oregon station," self feeders containing balanced rations are fed and in several tests li.ivo given gains more economical than has hand feeding. The system has been tried with a mixture of barley and tankage, wheat and tank age, and shorts and tankage. The sav ing in labor over that of hand feeding was a considerable item in producing a hundred pounds of pork." Fattening Experiment Williams Bros., of Wallowa, Ore., have largo scales on their farm, and with these weighed their hogs and the grain fed to them during a recent fattening experiment. This was done in the fall of the year. Using mainly ground barley they found it required approximately five pounds of this to make a pound of gain. Next they fed white French sugar beets in connection with the barley. In the fall they put up one hundred and sixty head of hogs and fed them for sixty days. With two and one-third pounds of barley and what beets the hogs would eat cleanly, they made one pound of gain. In another similar ex periment with eighty-six head of hogs fed twenty-one days, with 2.32 pounds of barley and 5.46 pounds of beets, they got one pound of gain. Showing that hogs can be profitably fed, a number of farm records in feed ing were quoted by Mr. Hunter. Upon November 7, 1911, Mr. W. H. Steen put in the fattening pen ninety-nine head of hogs. The feeding period extended to January loth. During this period of sixty-nine days, 3.92 pounds of rolled wheat wore required to make oue pound of gain. The wheat fed was worth 73 cents per bushel, this being the price received for the balance of the crop. At the price for which he sold his hogs $6.40 a hundred Mr. Steen received 98 cents a bushel for the grain he had fed During the winter of 1911-12, Mr. Steen fed ninety September pigs. The feeding period extended from weaning time, November 24, to February 9, or seventy-seven days. These were fed chopped wheat in a self-feeder. The amount of grain necessary to produce pound of grain was 3.44 pounds. With hogs worth 6 cents a pound, this gave him $1.04 a bushel for his wheat. Dur ing the last three weekB of the feeding period, the hogs had a little alfalfa hajr, in addition to the grain. In the fall of 1908 October 24th Mr. P. W. Cox, of Whitman county, put 182 head of hogs after weighing theul in a small lot to fatten. They were fed ground red wheat in a self-feeder. On November 20th they were sold and were again weighed, the gain being 14y 268 pounds. At five and one-half cent a pound, the price of pork then, the increase was worth $784.74. Seven hundred and forty-one bushels of wheat wore fed. After deducting $9.50 for coal used in chopping the wheat, a prof it fo $1.04 a buBhel was the result. This estimate does not take into considera tion the labor used in chopping the grain. There is just one automobile in Damascus. Everything a Man Needs $1 Complete Shaving Outfit $1 10 Articles 10 To advertise our Universal Shaving Outfit and Universal Products we will for a limited time only, send this well worth $3.00 Slaving omm for $1.00. We sell our products to the consumer direct, and, therefore, yon save all agents' profits, which, as you know are very large. 1 Hollow Ground Saxoi. 1 5-inch Lather Brush. 1 Razor Strop, Canvas Back. 1 Nickel Easel Back Mirror. 1 33-inch Barber Towel. 1 Bar Shaving Soap. 1 Box Talcum Powder. 1 Decorated China Mug. 1 Aluminum Barber Comb. 1 Bristle Hair Brush. Each outfit packed in neat box $1.00. Coin or Money Order, postage 10c extra, UNTVXESAL PBODUCTS CO. Dayton, Ohio. ffljl HE self-feeder is a result of an attempt to decrease the labor cost incident to pork produc tion," says Professor G. E. Samson of the animal husbandry department, Ore gon Agricultural College. "The in creased eost of labor is an added prob lem in profitable swine feeding. In deed the problems have increased so fast there are as many for us to solve as there were for our grandfathers. "By use of the self-feeder a correct ration can be put into the bins to last a week or more as soon as the lot of pigs are on full feed. But slight atten tion need be paid to leeoing tnem ior several days. An extension of the sys tem has been made with a view to eli minate the labor of mixing feed. Sev eral self-feeders are provided in which the eronnd grains and tankage are placed so that the pigs are allowed to balance their own rations, mis a Good idea for the pigs make as economi cal use of theii feed taken in this cafeteria stvle as the frugal New Eng land house wifo makes of her limited larder. Mr. Merchant! Since "TIMES ABE HARD," now is the time for you to realize a profit on your old bundle of freight bills that you have perhaps regarded as nothing more than waste paper. 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