HOMESTEAD HOG PRODUCTION
(Page 2 of 8)
From a dollar and cent angle, the hog is by far the most
valuable of farm animals, will reproduce and fatten rapidly
... surplus animals always find a ready market and have
done much to eliminate farm mortgages as well as helping to
pay taxes on non-commercial establishments.
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For the country liver who is not interested in producing
more pork than he and his family can readily consume it
might not prove profitable for him to maintain a sow and to
produce his own pigs. Instead he may find it more
advantageous to purchase one or two 40- to 60-pound pigs
(sometimes referred to as shoats), to fatten them, have
them butchered and then to start afresh with another pair
of young animals.
Yet, if one should have considerable feed on hand, and one
agrees with us here on Toowoomba that little pigs are a joy
and delight, then perhaps one should maintain a sow and
dispose of surplus pigs either at weaning time (about eight
weeks of age) or, if grains are readily available, to
fatten a dozen, as readily as one or two, and to sell off
the surplus as butcher hogs weighing in the neighborhood of
200 pounds.
The decisions as to whether one should feed just enough for
home consumption or to maintain a sow or two will be an
individual problem and will be contingent on amount of feed
available, price of such feed, price of finished porkers,
availability of alfalfa or clover pasture, time that one
wishes to devote to hog production, etc. Yet if the
agriculturist (either amateur or professional) should
decide to go into hog production from the womb to the
deepfreeze (as it were) then a short study of breeding
stock will not be amiss.
FOUNDATION STOCK
We have stated under Sheep Production (The
chapter on raising sheep from Mr. Widmer's book will be
printed in a forthcoming issue—MOTHER.)
that it is not always necessary, nor even advisable to
purchase purebred foundation stock. However, in the case of
hogs, it is recommended that the producer always invest his
capital in registered stock. Costs are not excessively high
and the advantages of starting with firstclass breeding
stock are tremendous over that of starting with inferior
sows and attempting to "breed up" over a period of several
generations.
As to breed purchased, this choice will be influenced by
two major factors: [1] the breed most readily available in
any given community and [2] the type of hogs that are to be
produced and the purpose for which they are to be used.
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