HOMESTEAD HOG PRODUCTION
(Page 7 of 8)
All pigs should be vaccinated against hog cholera at 10
weeks of age and all male pigs should be castrated while
still suckling their dams. At the babies' weaning time
(about 12 weeks) when they weigh about 35 lbs., grains fed
the sow should be cut down so that her milk supply will dry
up, while the pigs themselves are continued on their
self-fed grain until they have attained the weight of
butcher hogs.
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In the event that the sow's udder should become caked due
to the unwillingness of her milk supply to stop at weaning
time, she should be milked out once or twice by returning
her litter to her for a few minutes. It is seldom necessary
to repeat this operation more than twice.
For those who have purchased pigs rather than raising them,
the same general practices may be followed in finishing the
animals as with those home raised. Satisfactory gains can
be made from feeding 350 to 400 pounds of grain plus 25 to
35 pounds of tankage per 100 pounds of live weight gain,
and if hogs have this grain together with the tankage
available in self-feeders (or in one main feeder with two
compartments), they will balance their own diets by eating
exactly the proper amounts of both grain and tankage to
make up a proper ration.
The remainder of hog production is merely waiting until the
hogs show the proper and desired degree of finish. Hogs
that have been fed on peanuts or some other "soft"
concentrate, instead of grain, should be fed corn or some
other grain during the last three weeks of the fattening
program so as to harden the flesh. In lard hogs many
breeders permit their hogs to attain a weight of 250
pounds, while others, desiring more lean meat, prefer to
butcher below that weight. For bacon type hogs, we prefer
to butcher at no heavier than 220 pounds and have had ideal
results with our hams and bacons at that weight.
In the event that the breeder wishes to save some of the
gilts of the litter for replacements in the breeding herd,
he should separate them from the fattening stock before
they attain a weight of 150 pounds. They do not require as
much feed as a fattening hog (for after all we are mainly
interested in a growing ration), and a ration made up as
follows, and fed at the rate of 2-1/2 pounds of grain for
each 100 pounds of live weight, is ideal.
Corn or ground barley
...................................... 6 parts
Oats
............................................................
4 parts
Tankage
....................................................... 1
part
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