F 973 C6 'py 1 ji dmpMl Price 50 1 - i i IMHHHMMHBHHi^' A Word to Farmers We believe we can safely say that this booklet contains a more com- plete program for fighting Hog Cholera than has ever before been pre- sented to the farmers of the Corn Belt. The amount of good you and your neighbors will derive from it, however, depends entirely upon what action you take on the advice herein contained. As Dr. Connaway aptly says, the eradication of Cholera "is primarily the farmer's problem." So long as there is no concert of action — so long as farmers are at the mercy of careless neighbors — just so long will this pestilence exact its annual toll of millions of dollars. The moment these booklets have been distributed in your neighbor- hood, steps should be taken for immediate action. Perhaps the best way will be to form an Executive Committee composed of 15 or 20 high-class farmers. Then let this Committee call a mass meeting of farmers in the town from whence the booklets were mailed out and at this mass meeting plans should be perfected to organize an "Anti-Hog-Cholera Club" in every school district in the surrounding territory. As soon as the school district work begins, a Membership Committee should be appointed in each district and the committee should see to it that every farmer within the district joins the Club. If there are districts which are slow to act, pressure should be brought to bear in order that there may be no "infec- tion spots" left. In this way, the "clean up" work will soon reach out in every direction and the results are certain to save hundreds of hogs. If there is a County Agent in your county, naturally he should lead in the organization work. Also, possibly the Agricultural College or State Vet- erinary Department may be able to send you a good man to assist. How- ever, if such outside aid is not available farmers should proceed on their own initiative! — for the campaign herein outlined comes from one of the greatest Hog Cholera authorities in the United States and is so simple that the farmers of any community can easily put it into operation them- selves. The main thing is to act quickly and thoroughly! Doubtless also, the Bank or Commercial Club which mailed out these booklets will be glad to render every possible assistance. The great purpose which has prompted us in publishing this booklet is to give farmers a program for fighting Hog Cholera which can be put into immediate effect in any community without outside assistance — for this task is so herculean that no Agricultural College or State Veterinary Department can possibly furnish half enough men to lead this "clean up" and "prevention" work which, in the last analysis, must depend upon farmers themselves. As in many other things, the actual beginning is more than half the battle. All signs point to a bad cholera season throughout the Corn Belt. Un- doubtedly the floods of the past summer have carried the contagion into many communities which were free from it last year. Again, the lack of hot sunshine will make the germs unusually virile. There is therefore not a moment to lose. The splendid results in Johnson County described by Mr. Ellis on pages 42, 43 and 44 can be obtained in any community where similarly aggressive organization work is put into effect. The main thing is to act! Once the school district Clubs have been organized, weekly meetings should be held until the situation is well in hand. If something comes up which you do not understand, write at once to your Agricultural College or State Veterinary Department. In conclusion, we feel sure you will appreciate the kindly interest of those who, at considerable expense, have placed these booklets in the hands of yourself and the other farmers of your community and whose only purpose is to contribute their share toward a happier and more pros- perous farm life. The time has come when all interests and forces must ioin hands in the great crusade for better farming methods upon which ihe walfare of the entire Nation so completely depends. THE MISSOURI FARMER, Columbia, Mo. Stamping Out Hog Cholera By J. W. £onnaway, D. V. S., M. D, Veterinarian College of Agriculture and Experiment Station University of Missouri Supplemented with articles on Methods of Breeding, Feeding and Caring for Swine by F. G. King, Indiana Experiment Station, and L. A. Weaver, Missouri Experiment Station Copyrighted and Published by THE MISSOURI FARMER Columbia, Missouri .06 A Word to Swine Raisers Few men realize the enormous loss the live stock industry sustains annually from disease, most of which is preventable under proper sani- tary measures and treatment. According to Secretary of Agriculture, D. F. Houston, the swine raisers of the United States lost in 1913 "over 6,000,000 hogs valued at more than $60,000,000." (See Year Book 1914, p. 19). For some reason there has been an enormous increase in hog cholera losses. According to the same source of information, Secretary of Agriculture, Jas. Wilson, in his report for 1912 (see Yearbook 1912, p. 169) estimates the annual loss from cholera at $18,000,000. These offi- cial figures are alarming to those interested in the swine industry and bear in mind this increase in hog cholera has been going on in spite of the increased efforts of the United States Department of Agriculture and about twenty-eight state departments which are trying to save the hogs. In the absence of other causes it seems safe to assume that the cause for this abnormal increase of hog cholera is due the planting of the seeds of the disease by the use of virus in the vaccination of hogs. The Department of Agriculture estimates the number of hogs, value and losses for one year from all sources for the eight leading states as follows: No. Hogs in State Total Value Loss from Disease fowa 8,720,000 $104,640,000 $16,742,000 Illinois 4,315,000 45,308,000 6,343,050 Missouri 4,087,000 34,740,000 6,079,412 Nebraska 3,798,000 43,297,000 4,752,692 Indiana 3,709,000 36,348,000 5,452,230 Ohio 3,399,000 36,709,000 3,156,991 Kansas 2,611,000 27,154,000 3,258,528 Texas 2,493,000 20,941,000 942,354 United States 61,178,000 603,109,000 $66,439,470 The above losses are from all sources but as cholera accounts foi about 90 per cent of the total losses of hogs it leaves the loss of the whole country for one year, from cholera alone at $60,000,000. As further evidence that hog cholera has made an abnormal increase during the period that simultaneous vaccination has been developed we submit the following cfficial figures showing the number of hogs received and the number condemned on account of cholera at the markets where Government inspectors are maintained: Cholera- Hogs Year No. Hogs Received Condemned 1910 27,731,627 7,677 1911 29,920,261 10,721 1912 34,966,378 56,931 1913 32,287,537 88,547 1914 33,289,705 116,107 The above figures show only ?, normal increase in the number of hogs inspected for the five years but they show an alarming increase in the number of cholera cases — more than 1500 pdr ce nt. What other intelli- (2) jp ^ ' ©C1.A426980 •JAN I U 1916 9l I , gent reason can be given for this abnormal increase in cholera except that we have been deliberately sowing the seeds of hog cholera by the use of virus in the simultaneous process of vaccination? THE MISSOURI FARMER believes the best thing farmers can do is to put prejudice aside and unite their efforts to get rid of cholera. It does not seem reasonable that we can ever get entirely rid of this very contagious disease so long as we keep on scattering infection by the use of the virus method now used and recommended by so many veterinarians. The virus method may protect the man who uses it persistently but it exposes his neighbors' hogs and many new out- breaks are traced to this method. The serum-sanitation method outlined in this book by Dr. J. W. Connaway, Veterinary Department, College of Agriculture, University A Missouri, is along the same lines as those adopted by the National and various state boards of health in the control of contagious and in- Dr. j. w. connaway fectious diseases among people. Dr. Connaway has spent the best- years of his life in developing this method of hog cholera control. Hundreds of tests and experiments have been made in the veterinary laboratories of the State University, thous- ands of hogs have been used for making'the experiments, and in addition Dr. Connaway has visited many counties where hog cholera was raging and has studied the various ways by which the disease is spread from farm to farm. He has organized the farmers in several counties in Mis- souri that were at the time badly infested with cholera, into "Anti-Hog- Cholera Clubs" where his methods of sanitation and a limited use of serum have been thoroughly tried out with the result that hog cholera has been practically wiped out of these counties. "What has been done in these few counties can be done in any county or state in the Hog Belt by adopting the plan set forth in this book. No treatise on hog cholera has ever before been written by a man so competent to give correct advice as the author of this book. In co-opera- tion with the Texas Experiment Station Dr. Connaway's first great work was in perfecting the process of immunization of cattle against Texas Fever which enabled breeders to immunize their cattle and ship them into tick-infested areas with perfect safety. Aside from Dr. Connaway's experience as a veterinarian in the Missouri Experiment Station and among the live stock owners of the state he has studied in the leading universities of Europe, and because of the unselfish interest he has shown in the welfare of farmers and live stock owners, what he has to say in the following pages should be accepted as thoroughly reliable and most valuable advice to follow. THE PUBLISHER. (3) CONTENTS How to Control Hog Cholera 5-44 (By J. W. Connaway, D. V. S., M. D., Missouri Experiment Station) GENERAL DISCUSSION 5-7 QUARANTINE 8-9 PUBLICITY 10-11 METHODS OF DISINFECTION 12-14 CONTROL OF INFECTION CARRIERS 15-21 STOCK CARS AND STOCK YARDS 18-21 PARASITES OF SWINE 22-27 WORM REMEDIES 26 LICE 27-28 FOOD AND WATER 28-30 HEALTHFUL HOUSING 31 HOW TO KNOW HOG CHOLERA 33-38 VACCINATION, WHEN AND HOW TO DO IT. 38-42 ORGANIZATION FOR CONTROL 43-44 Profitable Pork Production 45-66 (By F. G. King, Indiana Experiment Station) FEEDING GROWING PIGS 45-48 CARE OF SOW 49 SOW AND LITTER 50-51 FEEDING HOGS ON PASTURES 52-61 DRY LOT HOG FEEDING 62-65 PREPARATION OF GRAIN 66 Modern Systems of Swine Management 67-80 (By L. A. Weaver, Missouri Experiment Station) SYSTEMS DISCUSSED 67-69 PRODUCING THE PIGS 70 KIND OF HOGS 71 CORN SUBSTITUTES 72 CORN SUPPLEMENTS 73 FORAGE CROPS 74-75 HOGGING DOWN CORN 76-78 SELF-FEEDERS FOR FATTENING SWINE 79-80 (4) How to Get Rid of Hog Cholera J. W. CONN AWAY. D. V. S., M. D., VETERINARY DEPARTMENT. COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AND EXPERIMENT STATION, UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI A plan to get rid of hog cholera and to prevent its recurrence on the farms of Missouri was formulated some two years ago by the Veterinary Department, in co-operation with the Farm Management Department of the University, and has been put into practical operation in several counties of the State with good results. This plan will be extended to other counties of the State, as rapidly as possible, through the newly organized department of Agricultural Ex- tension by means of which the departments of Veterinary Science, Farm Management and Animal Husbandry have been co-ordinated for more effective team-work, on the educational and demonstration phases of the problem. This plan provides for the co-operation of state and local police agencies, when the enforcement of official police measures are required. Fortunately experience has shown that drastic measures are rarely necessary. The plan which was formulated is simply an adaptation to stock farm conditions of old and well established principles and practices of sanitation that long experience has shown to be essential and affica- cious in the control of epidemics of disease affecting the human family. Let us consider for a moment what would be done if smallpox should break out in your neighborhood; or if scarlet fever or diphtheria should attack some child attending your schools. The first thing that would be done would be to isolate the infected person in such a manner as to prevent the spread of the disease. The patient would be kept in strict quarantine until the disease runs its course and until no danger exists from the release of the patient. All persons who have been exposed would be either quarantined, or disinfected and kept under close sur- veillance, until the incubation period of the disease has passed and they are found to be free from the disease and not dangerous as carriers of the infection. Visitors, though immune to the disease, would not be admitted to the isolation hospital where infected patients are being cared for on account of the risk of carrying away infection on their clothing. The people of the neighborhood would have prompt notification of the presence of the disease by spread of the news from neighbor to neighbor or through the public press; besides, the infected houses and quarantine quarters would be marked with yellow or red flags, or with placards to give warning to the public of the presence of a dangerous, infectious disease. During the course of the disease, proper measures of disinfec- tion would be applied, particularly to all excretions. And before the quarantine of the premises is raised, the patient and the clothing, bedding, utensils, and the building would be properly disinfected to prevent the spread of the disease. And where railroad coaches, cabs, depots, hotels, school houses or other public buildings have been exposed to the infec- tion, these would also be thoroughly disinfected. In addition to the foregoing measures vaccines or serums are em- ployed to some extent in certain diseases as in small-pox and diphtheria. (5) 6 HOW TO CONTROL, HOG CHOLERA And it cannot be denied that such preventive and curative measures have been of inestimable value in the saving of human life. It must be re- membered, however, that some infections, for which no vaccines exist, have been controlled in an effective manner by sanitation alone. The workers who dug the Panama Canal were saved from yellow fever and malaria by sanitation and not by vaccination. Bubonic Plague was eradi- cated from our coast cities without vaccination. In the control of typhoid fever, health officers are still zealous in applying sanitary measures, not- withstanding the efficacy of anti-typhoid vaccination. Public health will still demand a pure water supply, uncontaminated by cess-pool drainage; and still demand a clean, nourishing, healthful food supply. Sanitary measures are employed to prevent the parasitic infestation of children and adults by such parasites as tape worms and hook worms and the common round-worms which lower the vitality of the human host and lessen the resistance to infectious disease. The modern science of Sanitary Engineering is an aid to the main- tenance of human health, and the prevention of epidemic contagions; for it helps in building dwellings and public buildings that are healthful as well as convenient, and the more that public attention is directed to healthful housing the simpler becomes the problem of the control of infectious diseases. Success in the control and eradication of epidemics of human mala- dies has not been the work of a day. It has been of slow development, and has been built upon scientific investigations that have given to the world a better knowledge of the nature of infections and how to control them. It has also come from the popularization of knowledge concerning these matters; and the value of the latter cannot be over-estimated, for in this way only can a forceful community-sentiment be developed that will result in proper organization and co-operation to do the things that should be done. For in the control of some human infections much is still to be desired, nevertheless the outlook is encouraging. Summarizing the essentials given above we have: (1) isolation or quarantine; (2) notification or publicity; (3) disinfection; (4) control of infection carriers; (5) prevention of parasitic infestation; (6) vaccina- tion; (7) pure water supply; (8) clean, nutritious food; (9) healthful housing; (10) scientific research; (11) popular education concerning health matters; (12) organization and co-operation. The question arises: can such a programme be applied successfully to the prevention and eradication of hog cholera? If so, how can it be done in the most effective and most economical manner? Who shall do the work? And, in the outline given above, where should the greatest emphasis be placed? During the past few years considerable effort and considerable money have been expended by the Federal Department of Agriculture, the Colleges of Agriculture, and the State Boards of Agri- culture and Live Stock Sanitary Boards, in laboratory and field experi- ments on hog cholera control work; all of which will be helpful in the final solution of what to do, and how to do it as well as what not to do. The lack of proper co-ordination and co-operation of the different agen- cies, due to various causes, has to some extent prevented better results. ERADICATION IS A FARMER'S JOB Cleaning Up Filthy Hog Pens It is probable tbat in some instances each' official agency has exaggerated its own importance in the matter and has overlooked, or minimized, the importance of another group that has not been mentioned; namely, the swine raisers themselves, who are more vitally interested in the eradica- tion of hog cholera than the scientific and educational and the veterinary police agencies can possibly be. Some of us who have been working on this difficult problem think we have discovered that the main work of eradicating hog cholera is the fanners' job; that is, the practical details of the things that are most essential to prevent or eradicate cholera must be learned and applied by the swine raisers themselves! They are the "nurses" who are always on the job. It is important that they should become "trained nurses" who will carry out in a proper manner the sani- tary measures that must be applied and which no one else will do for them, nor should do for them, for they are the prime beneficiaries. The efforts of those who regard the eradication of hog cholera as essentially a veterinary problem, to be handled exclusively by a large veterinary police force, and by the extensive application of anti-hog-cholera serum (and "virus") are doomed to failure. Sufficient evidence from practical trials is on record to show that this is true. The eradication of hog cholera is essentially a "farm management problem," and I for one believe that groups of farmers can soon be taught what is essential for them to do, and can be organized into an effective "sanitary force" that will be able to eradicate hog cholera from any 8 HOW TO CONTROL HOG CHOLERA neighborhood or county in the state. Such a force is not expensive to the state, they are willing to do the work, without salary and traveling expenses, for they are working for themselves and their pay comes in the increased production of swine on their farms and the freedom of their herds from cholera, as well as immunity from the increasing and burdensome tax of vaccination. This "sanitary force," however, must have sound instruction, proper organization and wise leadership. It is manifestly the duty of the Colleges of Agriculture of the various states to organize and carry on, through the departments mentioned, this instruc- tional work, which will teach the farmers what they can and should do for themselves, and how to do it. In developing the outline given above I shall also point out what I consider to be the proper relations of other official and non-official agencies to the work of hog cholera eradication. For no one should be released from his rightful responsibility in this im- portant work. First of all, I desire to impress upon the farmers the fact that the control and eradication of hog cholera is not dependent upon the large use of anti-hog-cholera serum; and least of all upon the large use of the "serum-virus" or "simultaneous method" of vaccination. The great em- phasis that has been put upon vaccination by serum producers, and by a few over-enthusiastic veterinary officials has retarded progress, by diverting the attention of the swine raisers from the more important essentials of hog cholera control. In the words of an official veterinary sanitarian of a neighboring state: "It is high time to quit scattering hog cholera with both hands and both feet and begin to use sense and sanita- tion." The part I have borne in the development of the production and use of anti-hog-cholera serum, should be sufficient proof that I do not under-value the importance of this valuable agent which indeed I regard as one of the most important discoveries that has been made, so far as veterinary science is concerned. But it is a fact, to be deplored, that its over-exploitation and misuse have led many swine raisers to distrust it. In a right system of hog cholera control it should be placed secondary to the more essential things of sanitation. Practical trial on a sufficiently extensive scale in several counties of this state has demonstrated that the principles and methods outlined about (for the control of contagions af- fecting the human family) , can be applied with success to the eradication of hog cholera. I shall now discuss their adaptation to stock-farm con- ditions and shall try to so simplify the application of the methods that they will not be burdensome nor expensive and will be accepted as a part of a proper system of farm management — so that the "prevention of hog cholera" may, in the main, become an incident to a better system of farming, and not be a cumbersome and expensive system of itself. ISOLATION AND QUARANTINE Since the diagnosis of cholera in the early stages is not always easy and positive it is a wise precaution for the swine raisers to separate every sick hog from the herd promptly on the first appearance of any signs of illness. One or two small pigs may have contracted the disease from picking up the infection from the highway that runs alongside the ISOLATE SICK HOGS Cleaning Stock Car and Disinfecting with Lime farm. These smaller shoats are more difficult to keep within bounds than the older hogs, hence are more liable to contract the disease. If they are taken away from the main herd promptly, before they have developed a diarrhoea, the probabilities are that the feed lots Avill not become in- fected through their excreta; and the disease may not go further than the first few sick animals. But if they are left with the herd several days, on the supposition that they are probably suffering only from intestinal worms, Ihey have an opportunity to spread cholera infection through the dung and urine to many parts of the feed lots and thus expose a large number of the older hogs. This may result in disastrous losses to the owner and spread the disease to neighboring farms. Hog cholera has been frequently introduced onto a farm by means of imported breed- ing stock, boars or sows, that have come from infected farms or have become infected en route; or by the "show herd," that has been exposed on the fair circuit. Such animals should never be put with the main herd until all danger of transmitting the disease has passed. They should be put into "temporary quarantine" for three weeks or longer. Such precautions will often save the owner many dollars and prevent the spread of the disease to neighboring farms, as instances I can cite will show. At the price of one or two fat hogs, a good isolation shed and pen can be built, that would serve the excellent purpose of a swine hos- pital, or quarantine station, for holding and treating sick hogs affected with ordinary troubles; and during a cholera epidemic would be worth thousands of dollars as an aid in controlling the disease. 10 HOW TO CONTROL, HOG CHOLERA These isolation or quarantine sheds and pens need not be expensive. The essential requirements are that they shall be located as far as possi- ble away from the breeding and feeding pens; and where the drainage will not flow in the direction of these pens, or toward a neighbor's hog lots. Good dimensions for a cheap and suitable shed are: front 6 ft. high, rear ft., depth 10 or 12 feet — and any length desired. Rough boxing will serve to close the ends and back. The lower half of the front should also be boxed, but the upper half should be left open to admit sunshine, but over the opening, one-inch mesh chicken-wire should be tacked to keep out birds. Rough boxing and tarred roofing paper will make a good water-tight roof of sufficient durability. For the floor, coal cinders tamped to a depth of 8 or 10 inches answers the purpose, especially if protected by laying woven wire over the surface to prevent the hogs from rooting up the cinders. At a slight increase of expense the front half of the floor can be covered with a 4-inch layer of cement for a feeding floor. This can be separated from the sleeping quarters at the back by a 2 by 5 inch scantling set on edge. The cinder floor is better for sleeping quar- ters than cement. For convenience in handling the hogs the individual pens should not be larger than 10 by 12 feet. Two such pens, under one roof, are usually sufficient for the ordinary farm. If more space is re- quired the shed can be made longer. The open side of the shed should face the south. A strong door with lock and key should be provided to keep out visitors. As a further precaution it is advisable to build a six foot heavy close-mesh woven wire fence (bull fence) around the quaran- tine shed, with an intervening space of 10 or 12 feet, to prevent the close approach of infection carriers, like hogs or dogs and persons. This outer fence should have a good door, with lock and key. A shallow ditch should be shoveled out on the inside of the enclosure near the fence. This ditch should be partly filled with fresh lime as occasion may demand. These pens will be found useful for other purposes than that of isolating cholera infected pigs. They are also very convenient for holding litters of pigs under treatment for intestinal worms. The great advantage of such pens in isolating cholera infected hogs is that the infected excreta is confined to a small space and can be completely destroyed by the appli- cation of a small quantity of quick-lime, or other reliable disinfectant. Moreover, in the case of valuable breeding animals, better nursing can be given in these isolation quarters than if left with herd. The quarantine or isolation measures, recommended and urged, are "voluntary measures," which every farmer should carry out for his own benefit. The neglect of the same may not only cause him serious losses, but so endanger the herds of the neighboring farms, that an official quarantine of the entire farm by the State Veterinary officials may become necessary. IMPORTANCE OF PUBLICITY Publicity is a necessary and important aid in the prevention and control of hog cholera. And it is the duty of every swine raiser to prevent the spread of the disease from his own premises in every way he can, if the disease should attack his herd. The owners of adjoining farms should be notified of the danger in order that they may take all the precautions possible against the disease. The simple precaution of removal of a herd to another part of the farm may not only prevent PUBLICITY AN AID IN PREVENTION 11 Stock Car After It Has Been Cleaned and Disinfected losses in a neighbor's herd, but prevent the formation of a new focus of infection for the further spread of the disease. A neighbor may have a lot of fattening hogs that are almost ready for market and prompt noti- fication of the danger may save the neighbor hundreds of dollars by showing him the advisability of marketing his hogs a few days earlier, or by removing them to safer quarters in the case of his breeding hogs and vaccinating them if that seems advisable. In the past, many farmers neglected this matter of notification of the neighbors, although the law prescribes that it shall be done. The spirit of co-operation that is de- veloping among the farmers to help one another is rapidly correcting this matter. Notification of the Veterinary Department of the College of Agricul- ture that hog cholera serum is needed for the control of the outbreak will bring a response from that department with sufficient serum for the purpose, and such instruction and official aid as lie in the province of that department. The new $50,000 serum laboratory here in Missouri will enable the department to meet promptly every proper demand for serum. In the event of the infraction of the laws, relating to the disposal of hog cholera carcasses, or when services, requiring the application of offi- cial quarantine or veterinary police measures are necessary, the State Veterinarian should be notified; as it is the function and duty of this officer to investigate and prosecute such infractions! Or the prosecuting attorney of the county may be notified. Every neighborly effort to correct 12 HOW TO CONTROL HOG CHOLERA illegal and dangerous practices, or negligence, should be exhausted before resorting to drastic measures. Our experience with the plan we have in operation shows that resort to law is rarely necessary. METHODS OF DISINFECTION One of the first and most important matters for the farmers to consider in the work of preventing and eradicating hog cholera is that of "disinfection." Precautionary measures in the way of a frequent "clean-up" of the feed lots and hog houses, and a proper disinfection of the same are advisable, and especially at times when cholera is prevalent in the district. The destruction of the seeds of the disease, or virus of hog cholera, is essential to success in eradicating hog cholera. The oldest and most efficient means of destroying disease germs is fire, and it is especially recommended for the destruction of hog cholera infection. The carcasses of hogs that have died from cholera are particularly dan- gerous as disease producers and should be destroyed by fire. It is obli- gatory under the law to burn all hogs that have died of any disease! The law presumes that they are capable of producing outbreaks of some con- tagious disease. The old law that permitted the burial of hog carcasses was repealed by the Legislature two years ago. Not only should the car- casses of hogs be burned, but the carcasses of dead animals of all kinds should be burned, since they attract infection carriers like dogs and buzzards that may have fed upon a carcass of a hog that has died of cholera on a distant farm. The destruction by fire of the carcasses of hogs is not difficult it is easier than to bury them. The essential thing is to have a good under-draught which can be secured by scooping out a shallow trench and placing across it a few bars of scrap iron to hold up the carcass; an old mower wheel or a discarded iron harrow frame an- swers the purpose well. A small amount of wood and kindling put under the hog, and a little kerosene poured over it is all the fuel that is needed. Several longitundinal cuts should be made through the skin and fat, and the belly and chest cavities opened so as to expose the internal organs to the heat, turning the belly down. The fat in the carcass adds fuel to the flame. Fire however cannot be applied under all circumstances as in the case of infected barn yards and feeding pens. Chemical disinfectants, therefore, have an important place. Among these, caustic lime has the highest value for practical purposes in the destruction of hog cholera infection. It is cheap and easily applied and when used freely is very effective. The lime should be purchased in the barrel, in the form of the unslacked burned limestone, and should be used freshly air-slacked. The head of the barrel can be removed and the lime-rock emptied on a dry place under shelter, then sprinkled slightly with water to start the slacking process. When slacked sufficiently to admit of scattering freely with a shovel it is ready for use. Infected feed lots should be disinfected as follows: Pieces of boards, rails, corn stalks, cobs and other rough litter lying around in the infected feed lots should be piled up on the middle of the lot and burned. Then lime should be spread thickly over the ground so that the ground will look as if covered with a light snow. If large feed lots are to be covered, a lime spreader may be used. But a wheelbarrow and shovel answer the purpose well enough even for large LIME AND OTHER DISINFECTANTS 13 An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure feed lots. Keep stock off the ground for a few days, then scrape up the manure into "windrows" by means of j a two-horse board scraper (home- made). Scatter more lime on the windrows and shovel the manure and lime into rounded piles, sprinkle more lime over these piles, and let them stand for a few days. The addition of a little water to these piles is ad- visable if the barnyard manure is dry. This will start the slacking and heating process which will effectually destroy the hog cholera germs. The eggs and embryos of five or six different kinds of worms that com- monly infest hogs, and occur in hog dung will also be destroyed by the lime. The manure and lime will help to sweeten and fertilize the soil where you intend to start an alfalfa or clover field. The money spent for lime is not wasted. The cleaned feed-lots should be covered again with another dressing of lime. The hog houses, cots and fences should be white-washed inside and outside with a hot lime-wash. The Compound Cresol Solution made according to the United States Pharmacopeia has been found by laboratory tests at the United States Bureau laboratories to be one of the most efficient chemical disinfectants for destroying hog cholera germs and may be applied in the form of a spray. Mix 1 pint to 3 gallons of water. This is useful in disinfecting wagon boxes and hog houses. Lime, however, seems to be preferred by most farmers, espe- cially for use on the grounds and its reliability has been thoroughly demonstrated both by laboratory and field use. Besides it has an ad- vantage over the cresol, and the ordinary carbolic stock-dips, in being of value to the soil instead of harmful. I may mention that one of the 14 HOW TO CONTROL, HOG CHOLERA best swine breeders in the state was able to restock his breeding quarters within sixty days after having had severe losses from cholera. He used nothing but fresh air-slacked lime, but he did a thorough job. An experi- ment was made by the Veterinary Department of the Experiment Station in the disinfection of an infected pen, in one of the local railroad stock yards; ( pen in which a number of hogs had died from cholera) this pen was treated to an application of fresh air-slacked lime. In a few days six pigs were turned into the pen and fed there for three weeks. They did not receive any medical treatment nor special care and no symptoms of illness had developed at the end of the period. These same pigs were put in a clean pen for a few weeks at the State Farm for further observa- tions; none showed any signs of cholera. Then, as a test of their sus- ceptibility, they were exposed to infected pens at the serum plant. They promptly took the disease and nearly all died. This experiment demon- strated that quick-lime or freshly air-slacked lime is an efficient agent in disinfecting badly contaminated hog lots in the stock yards. The ordinary carbolic dips and disinfectants are not as efficient in destroying hog cholera infection as the Compound Cresol Solution, ac- cording to tests made by the United States Bureau of Animal Industry. The thorough disinfection of large fields, pastures, and woodlands by means of chemical disinfectants such as lime and Compound Cresol Solu- tion, is of course impracticable, yet such fields can be made safe for sus- ceptible hogs. If hogs are kept out of infected fields for a sufficient time, the germs of the disease die out. The germs do not seem to have the power of growing outside of the body of the hog. Although the life of the germs may be conserved for awhile outside of the body if conditions are favorable. It has been observed that the hog cholera infection dies out more quickly in open fields well exposed to the rays of the sun than in moist, shaded places. The cholera germs on exposed grounds are killed quicker during the summer months than in winter. Strong sun- light is a good disinfecting agent for a number of disease germs and among them hog cholera. It is advisable to put cattle, horses or sheep on the cholera infected pastures and let them crop the grass closely, so as to give the grounds a good exposure to the hot rays of the summer sun. Hogs are not so liable to contract cholera in the large fields as in the smaller feed lots, since the infection would not be so concentrated, so far as the droppings from sick hogs are concerned. The most thor- ough disinfection of the large fields and pastures can be assured by making a search for carcasses of pigs and for the bedding places that sick hogs have used. Fire and a little lime can be used to advantage in destroying the cholera germs in these. The time required for the cholera infection to die out on large fields and pastures will vary with the conditions of weather and soil and ex- posure to sun, as well as the degree of infection. Under the most favor- able conditions large fields that have become infected will probably not be entirely safe for susceptible hogs under 90 to 100 days, though cases are reported where infected fields were apparently free from the infec- tion in less time. Every possible effort should be made to prevent large fields and pas- tures from becoming infected with cholera germs. CONTROL OF INFECTION CARRIERS 15 The Local Stock Yards — A Source of Infection THE CONTROL OF INFECTION CARRIERS The most dangerous infection carriers with which the farmer has to deal are the sick and exposed hogs. The driving of sick hogs upon the highways to market is prohibited by law; but the law is sometimes broken by those who are ignorant of the provisions, and sometimes by those who know the requirements of the law, but ignore therr and have no regard for the rights of their neighbors. Sick hogs should never be removed from the farm, but should be closely quarantined until they have recov- ered, or have died. And the infection and infected carcasses should be destroyed. This shipment of sick hogs to market, even when hauled to the shipping station, spreads the disease and increases the dangers at the local and large central stock yards as well as being a source of danger to the farms lying along the railroad lines. Healthy hogs that have been exposed to sick hogs in the same feed- ing pens may transmit the disease from contamination of their feet and bodies and should not be driven over the roadways to market. They should always be hauled to the shipping station. If driven to market the farms along the highway are endangered. Streams crossing the highway and passing through one or more farms may become sufficiently contami- nated from the feet and bodies of the hogs to start an outbreak. Only healthy hogs from clean farms, should be driven to market; and it is probably a good practice to haul these, on account of the shrinking in weight from driving. 16 HOW TO CONTROL HOG CHOLERA Cattle that have been fed in feed lots where hogs have been dying from cholera may also carry the infection on their feet when driven to market and spread it along the highway, from whence it may find its way to adjacent farms. The feet of cattle may be easily disinfected by driving the animals through the dehorning chute, in the floor of which every farmer should have a shallow vat, preferably of concrete. The vat should be the full width of the chute and 8 or 10 inches deep. This vat is serviceable in the treatment of sore feet in all farm animals, particu- larly cattle and sheep. A strong solution of copper sulphate (blue stone), or a 5 per cent solution of the Compound Cresol Solution should be used to clean and disinfect the feet of cattle that have been on cholera infected grounds. The danger of a recently purchased lot of feeding cattle carrying the disease from an infected stock yard to the farm should not be overlooked and proper precautions should be taken to disinfect the animals' feet before hogs are exposed to them. Dogs: It is well known that dogs serve as carriers of cholera infec- tion. It is therefore advisable, during outbreaks of cholera in the neigh- borhood, to keep all valuable dogs in quarantine, especially at night to prevent them roving about and visiting cholera infected farms where carcasses may have been left unburned. Worthless stray dogs should be destroyed. Barnyard Fowls: The infection is easily carried by chickens and turkeys from the roadway along which diseased hogs have been driven, or from an infected pen to clean pens, on other parts of the same farm. These fowls should be shut away from the hog lots during outbreaks of hog cholera on the farm, or in the neighborhood. A few dollars spent in poultry netting will be less expensive than buying serum; and will often save hundreds or thousands of dollars to the neighborhood. Pigeons are more dangerous as infection carriers because of their habits of flying to neighboring farms and feeding with hogs that may be suffering from hog cholera. The pigeons should be destroyed or should be kept in confine- ment when cholera is in the neighborhood. Buzzadrs and crows should be dealth with by shot-gun quarantine. "Simultaneous" and repeated at- tacks upon the roosting camps of these undesirable birds, by "Farmers' Clubs" or "Anti-hog-cholera Clubs" will soon rid a neighborhood or county of these infection carriers. Undesirable Persons: The traveling hog-doctor, with his "sure cure" and "preventive" for hog cholera, and all other ills to which swine are subject, should not be a welcome visitor — for he is liable to be an infec- tion carrier. His business takes him to diseased herds; and as a rule these business parasites are not careful to thoroughly disinfect their contaminated shoes and overalls after treating (?) a diseased herd. The itinerant "vaccinators," and the local "farmer-agents" for serum compa- nies are also undersirable visitors; they are more interested in the "com- missions" and "fees" than in sanitation; and more likely to spread cholera virus on your farm "with both hands and both feet," than they are to give relief from a threatened danger from other sources. The local stock buyer is a valuable go-between for the farmer in marketing HOW CHOLERA INFECTION IS SPREAD 17 Prowling Dogs Spread Cholera Far and Wide small lots of hogs; but tie becomes a nuisance and menace if he forms the bad habit of seeking for bargains in diseased and badly exposed herds. He thus aids in maintaining infected pens at the local stockyards and carries infection on his shoes to healthy herds and clean farms. The owners of healthy herds should keep stock buyers out of their hog lots if they have come from infected premises and have not properly disin- fected their shoes. Stock buyers should join the farmers' "Anti-hog- cholera clubs" and do everything they can to aid in eradicating cholera by applying proper sanitary measures. It will serve their own business interests in the best possible manner. Teams and wagons: Cholera infection may be carried to healthy herds and farms by teams and wagons. Threshing outfits that go from farm to farm should be careful to not drive through cholera infected hog lots, or in fact through healthy hog lots. Inquiry should be made as to the presence of cholera on the farms where threshing is done. And every precaution should be taken by every man on the force to avoid coming in contact with the infection and to prevent the teams and wagons from doing so. When hogs are hauled to the local stock yards it is a wise precaution for the farmer not only to disinfect his shoes but also to disinfect the feet of the team and the wheels of the wagons before returning to the farm. Especially if sick hogs have recently been un- loaded in the local stock yards. Also disinfect the inside of the wagon box, and the litter it may contain. (See "Chemical Disinfectants" — under Disinfection). Streams: Hog cholera infection may be carried from one farm to another by the water courses that run through them. It is not the fault lg HOW TO CONTROL HOG CHOLERA of these streams if they become polluted and carry disease, but the fault of the farmers through whose farms the streams run. For by co-opera- tion and," by observing the precautions given above it will be rare for a stream to become polluted. We cannot change the general course of the streams nor stop them from flowing; but we can protect them from pollution with hog cholera infection. Sick hogs must not have access to the streams; dead hogs must not be permitted to rot in them; and cholera infected litter and manure must not be allowed to wash into them; these things we can control. But when danger from such a source does occur, losses can be avoided by removing the healthy herds to other fields away from the infected stream. Or the stream can be fenced off from the field occupied by the hogs. In our county organization plan (see "Organization and co-opera- tion") every member of an "Anti-hog-cholera club" regards it as a special duty to notify the owners of farms whose herds may be endangered by the drainage from his infected farm and this practice is recommended to farmers in counties not yet organized. Ponds: On farms where the stock water is supplied from ponds, these ponds may become sources of danger, if not protected from pollu- tion. The pond should be fenced in so as to prevent the hogs from wal- lowing in it. One sick pig may endanger the whole herd by infecting the pond. Dogs should also be fenced out — for roving dogs have a fondness for stock ponds, as well as for cholera carcasses and may infect the pond. The fence should be made of woven wire of proper height and the top should be guarded by a couple of barbed wires. Watering troughs, set at a level lower than the pond, and at any distance desired, can be kept full of water by means of water pipes and automatic "cut-off." It is also a wise precaution to protect the drainage area above the pond by fencing out the farm stock, particularly the hogs, since the drain- age will carry some of the droppings into the pond. These droppings, even if free from hog cholera germs, often contain great numbers of in- testinal worms and their eggs. The drainage area should be put in meadow grasses for hay crops. Stock Cars: Stock cars that have transported diseased hogs may carry hog cholera infection long distances if the litter and cars are not properly disinfected. The recent experience of a number of states with foot-and-mouth disease calls attention strongly to the danger of spread- ing disease by means of stock-cars. Provision has been made by the Federal Bureau of Animal Industry for disinfecting cars that have carried hogs to the large markets for slaughter, whenever an interstate shipment is found to contain sick hogs. And a number of states have regulations requiring a "health certificate," and proper disinfection of the cars, for hogs shipped into the state. Ade- quate provisions, however, have not been made in many states at least, for the disinfection of cars that have carried hogs from one locality to a distant part of the same state. This is a matter that is left largely to the discretion of the shipper and consignee. And the neglect to disinfect the car at the starting point before loading the hogs, and again at the destination after unloading has, at times, resulted in the spread of CO-OPERATION OF SHIPPERS AND THE RAILROADS 19 Poland China Sow cholera. The transportation of infected hogs across the state can scarcely be accomplished without the dropping of infected litter along the right-of-way and at the terminal station. Many outbreaks of cholera, which have spread widely over a neighborhood have originated from the shipment of feeding hogs from a distant part of the state, or from an ad- joining state. Even shipments of supposedly immune hogs (serum-virus treated) have carried cholera long distances; in one instance, from Mis- souri to Indiana. Shippers, consignees, and railroad agents should co-operate to lessen the dangers of spreading cholera through infected hogs and stock cars, even if no official regulations governing the matter are in force. For the business interests of all three will be promoted by getting rid of cholera. Simple, pi'actical measures of prevention can be applied that will obviate, to a large extent, the dangers mentioned, if the shipper, railroad man and consignee will co-operate; (1) to prevent the shipment of hogs, for feeding purposes from infected yards and farms; (2) to see that they are not collected in infected shipping pens; (3) nor shipped in cars that have not been properly disinfected; (4) and not unloaded enroute in infected feeding pens; (5) nor in an infected pen at the terminal station. And all this can be done without much expense. The money saved through the prevention of cholera will meet the expense many times over. The disinfection of a stock car is not an expensive nor difficult task. Caustic lime (freshly slacked) and Compound Cresol Solution are cheap and efficient disinfectants and are easily applied. If lime is used it should be sprinkled freely over tbe floor of the car before the removal of any manure or bedding. Water should then be sprinkled over the lime and litter and the whole scraped up and removed 20 HOW TO CONTROL HOG CHOLERA from the car. This manure and litter should be dumped in some pro- tected place where hogs cannot come in contact with it; and where it can lie a few days to heat, after a further application of lime. After the car has been made tolerably clean with shovel and broom, more lime should be scattered over the floor and moistened by means of a spray pump or sprinkling can. And the walls of the car should be sprayed or mopped with a hot lime-wash made by adding unslacked lump lime to a bucket or tub of water. A handful of salt dissolved in each bucket of water before adding the quick lime increases the efficiency of the solu- tion. A car thus cleaned and disinfected will carry hogs from one part of the state to another without danger of infecting them with cholera. The car should be properly bedded with clean straw. Ordinarily a bushel to a bushel and a half of quick lime will be sufficient to disinfect a 36-foot stock car with floor space of 300 sq. ft. And the cost of the lime will not exceed 50 or 60 cents. And even if it should require a full barrel, its use would be a wise precaution, as insurance against the loss from cholera of a good part of the shipment and against spreading the disease to other herds. If the Cresol Compound (Liquor Cresolis Compositus) (U. S. P. form- ula) is used it should be diluted with water to make a three or four per cent solution. One gallon of the undiluted solution will make up 33 gal- lons of a 3 per cent solution or 25 gallons of a 4 per cent solution. Sprinkle or spray the litter and dung thoroughly with the disinfectant before scraping it up and removing from the car. Then spray and scrub the floor and wash down the walls of the car with the same solution. For the disinfection of stock cars used for interstate shipments of swine the regulations of the United States Bureau of Animal Industry specify the use of "4 ounces of Cresol Compound U. S. P. to each gallon of water." That is a 3 per cent solution. They also advise the addition of iy 2 pounds of lime to each gallon of the diluted solution to show where the solution has been applied. (See Amended order 210, effective Feb. 10, 1915). The Government regulations referred to do not require that the litter and manure shall be disinfected before removal from the car. This may not be so important at the large market centers and especially where there are "reducing plants" for incinerating the litter and dung from the cars and stock yards. But at shipping stations in the rural districts the litter and manure should always be well mixed with a good disinfectant before removal from the car. Such a precaution will aid in keeping cholera away from the farms in the neighborhood. As already mentioned, carbolic acid and most of the coal-tar stock dips are less efficient for the purpose of destroying hog cholera infection than the Cresol Compound Solution. The market price of the undiluted liquid is about $1.25 per gallon. The Local Stock Yards : It is a matter of much importance in the con- trol and eradication of hog cholera to maintain sanitary shipping yards in the farming districts. And this is not an impossible task, nor ex- pensive if the work is properly apportioned. An attempt is being made to solve this problem in the counties that have organized Anti-hog-cholera clubs. Proper care of the healthy and sick herds on the farms, by DISINFECTION OF LOCAL STOCK YARDS 21 Duroc Jersey Boar methods already recommended will lessen the opportunities to carry in- fection to the shipping station. The shipments of sick and dead hogs is illegal, in some states, and should be made so in all states. It would work a great hardship, however, if swine raisers and feeders were not permitted to ship healthy "exposed" hogs that have not. developed symp- toms of the disease. But such hogs should be hauled to the station in tight-bottom wagon boxes, and should occupy a special pen at the stock yards while awaiting shipment. And a separate chute for loading should be provided. A slight re-adjustment of existing stock pens can be made at small cost that will meet the requirements. The spraying of hogs with bad smelling chemical disinfectants when these hogs are destined for immediate slaughter is objectionable. It is therefore all the more desir- able that exposed hogs, though healthy, should be provided with a sepa- rate pen; since the hair, skin, and feet of these hogs may carry infection, from the cholera infected farm, to the local stock yards. It also happens that in separating the apparently healthy hogs from an infected herd for shipment to market, a few hogs that are not visibly sick may develop symptoms of illness before they are loaded on the car. The excitement and fatigue of the infected animal, caused by the handling and hauling from the farm to the shipping station often hastens the development of the cholera symptoms and a hog that was thought to be healthy when it was hauled from the farm may prove to be affected with cholera. These acute cases of cholera are liable to badly infect the local yards, if the affected hogs have access to the general pens and alleys; while if put in the special pen for "cholera exposed" hogs, the danger of spreading the disease to other farms would be greatly lessened. Farmers from other neighborhoods would not run so great a risk of carrying the cholera in- 22 HOW TO CONTROL HOG CHOLERA fection back to their farms, by contamination of their shoes with mud and dung from cholera infected pens. The cholera virus would be con- fined to a smaller space where it could be destroyed at less expense and labor. A cement floor in this pen is desirable to facilitate the cleaning and disinfection. And it will pay any farming community to put it in. Two or three good sized fat hogs will pay the cost. In fact it will pay any farmers' club, or "Anti-hog-cholera club" of 25 or 50 members, who use the same shipping pens, to put concrete floors in ail the pens at their own expense, even if the railroads would not bear a portion of the cost. The loss from cholera to individual farmers have in many instances ex- ceeded the cost. And infected shipping yards have often been the source of the trouble. The railroad industrial agents of a number of roads have shown an active interest in the hog cholera eradication work as outlined herein. And in Knox County, where through the University Agricultural Extesion Department, and the County Farm Bureau of this county, a series of meetings was recently held and sixteen Anti-hog-cholera clubs organized, the Superintendent of traffic of the Santa Fe Railroad issued instructions to the local agents to co-operate with the University and the Farm Bureau, and to keep on hand a sufficient quantity of quick lime for the purpose of maintaining sanitary stock pens. The farmers and shippers belonging to the Anti-hog-cholera clubs, co-operating with the County Farm Adviser, will attend to the disinfection at sufficiently frequent in- tervals. In Johnson, Dade, Bates and Cass counties where a large number of farmers have also organized "Anti-hog-cholera clubs," the local agents of the railroads have shown a ready willingness to co-operate with the clubs and to do all they can to help keep the local stock yards free from hog cholera infection. PARASITES OF SWINE It is a matter of common observation that herds of hogs that are badly infested with worms and lice are less resistant, to cholera than herds that are kept free from such parasites. The percentage of loss from cholera is greater in wormy herds, and the serum treatment is less effective. And when such herds are vaccinated by the serum-virus method, a larger per cent of the animals contract cholera in a fatal form, than in herds that are practically free from worms. Worms when present in considerable numbers, in the stomach, intes- tines or lungs produce an irritation of the mucous membranes which frequently results in local congestions or inflammations that are favor- able to the passage of the hog cholera germs into the blood. There are a dozen different kinds of worms that infest hogs. But the ones most often found, and that cause irritation and inflammatory conditions that increase the susceptibility of hogs to cholera are the fol- lowing: (1) Common round worm (Ascaris suis) ; (2) Thorn-headed worm (Echinorhynchus gigas) ; (3) Lung worm (Strongylus paradoxus) ; (4) Kidney worm (Stephanurus dentatus). The first named worm, the common round worm, when full grown, is from 6 to 7 inches long and about 3-16 of an inch thick. But smaller PARASITES OP SWINE 23 Pig's Intestine Clogged with Worms specimens, of different sizes, are often found in large numbers in the same hogs. These worms are most frequently found in the small intes- tines, but occasionally a few crawl into, the stomach, and even into the oesophagus and out of the mouth, causing violent coughing from tickling the throat. A few of these worms when quite small may also pass from the small intestine up the gall-duct and into the liver. They sometimes completely obstruct the gall-duct and prevent the bile from passing out into the small intestine, thus producing a very yellow or jaundiced con- dition of the skin and fat of the affected hog. This yellowness of the skin is so noticeable in white skinned hogs, that the presence of these worms in the gall-duct and liver can often be predicted before cutting into the carcass. These worms are sometimes so numerous in pigs as to cause severe digestive troubles, and even obstruction of the bowels. I recall finding over fifty worms in a 35-pound pig; and a mass of worms had obstructed the bowel at one point. The "thorn-headed" worm, about the same size as the common round worm, also infests the small intestine; but it fastens itself to the wall of the gut, where it remains until fully matured. The head of this worm is provided with barbs or hooks pointed backward, so that when the head is thrust into the wall of the gut, the worm cannot be detached without considerable force. The irritation caused by the rough barbed head of this worm produces a small fibrous tumor, which is quite noticeable on the outer surface of the small intestine, as a white, raised lump, from a fourth to a half inch in diameter. The head of the worm is imbedded in these tumors. Sometimes a dozen of these worms will be found attached 24 HOW TO CONTROL HOG CHOLERA to the wall of the small intestine. Hogs thus infested are less resistant to cholera, because of the irritated bowels. When cholera attacks hogs with worm-infested bowels the signs of the disease are often found in this location, in the form of haemmorhages or an acute inflammation of the mucous membrane — or in the chronic form of ulcerations. It is therefore a wise precaution to prevent hogs from becoming infested with intestinal parasites. The next worm mentioned is the "lung worm" (Strongylus paradoxus). This is a small thread-like worm an inch to an inch and a half in length and is usually found in clumps of a half dozen or more in the smaller bronchial tubes, in portions of the lungs that show evidences of inflam- mation. On cutting through the inflamed or solid portion of lung so as to cut across the small air tubes, masses of the worms are sometimes exposed, protruding from the small bronchi. A better way is to cut along the trachea by means of a heavy pair of scissors, and follow the air tubes down into the inflamed area. Masses of mucous and worms will be easily found, if a serious infestation exists. This lung infestation is sometimes found in apparently healthy hogs that are butchered — the animal having shown no loss of appetite nor evidences of illness, except possibly an occasional slight cough. Yet when the animal is slaughtered the lungs may show small areas of solidification as large as a hen's egg or larger. And the worms mentioned may be found in these small local- ized areas of broncho-pneumonia. Should herds thus infested with lung- worms be exposed to cholera, or be vaccinated by the serum-virus method for protection against cholera, the already irritated lung would supply a favorable condition for the development of acute cholera with serious pneumonic complications. Hence the importance of keeping the hogs free from these lung parasites. The ''kidney worm" (Stephanurus dentatus) has never been accused of carrying cholera; but when we consider that this is a worm that bores through the tissues of the hog and finds its way to various parts of the body, the kidney fat and sometimes into the kidney and liver, producing abscesses in these organs, it is not at all improbable that in the migrating stage of this parasitic worm it produces minute lacerations and inflamma- tions in the intestinal walls, which are favorable to the passage of hog cholera germs into the blood. At any rate the presence of these parasites in the tissues of the hog cannot help but lower the vitality of the animal, and every precaution should be taken to prevent the pigs from becoming infested with these worms. There are other worms that infest hogs that are not regarded as dan- gerous to the health of the animal, unless present in excessive numbers. There are four and possibly five kinds of small parasitic worms that infest the stomach. Some of these lie free on the mucous surface — and probably subsist on the food contents without irritating the walls of the stomach. One, however, forms small cysts in the walls of the stomach; and another is a blood sucker (Strongylus rubidus) which causes severe inflammation of the stomach walls. Fortunately this latter parasite is rare in America, and on that account has but little significance for us so far as cholera is concerned. There are also three or four small parasitic worms that infest the PREVENTION OF WORM PARASITES 25 '21 '3! '41 '51. '6! Worms from a 45-pound Pig. Portion of Small Intestine at Center intestines, but which do not appear to cause any serious irritation of the intestinal walls. Of these I will mention the whip worm (Trichocophalus crenatus) found in the large intestine and caecum. This worm is from 1% to 1% inches long. But the greater part of its body is so slender that the worm is easily overlooked, when the mucous surface is examined. The head portion resembles the lash of a whip, while the pos- terior portion, short and thick (containing the ova) represents the handle of the whip. The head of these worms is imbedded in the mucous coat of the caecum or large intestine. And the possibility exists that they may, if present in large numbers, cause sufficient irritation to produce favorable points of entry for the hog cholera infection into the blood. It is in this region that haemmorhages and chronic ulcerations often occur in cholera. Sometimes pin worms (small white worms V2 inch long) occur in considerable numbers in the large intestine. Trichina and tape worm cysts are so rare that their possible relation to hog cholera, as contributory causes, scarcely needs mention. Prevention: No one believes that any of the worm parasites men- tioned are in any way beneficial to the hog. And their destruction is to be desired. This can be accomplished easiest by good sanitary farm management. It is better to keep the worms out of the hogs than to try to kill and expel the worm after the hogs are badly infested. The latter task is sometimes a difficult one. Nearly all these parasites pass a part of their existence outside of the animal body, in the barn-yard manure and litter. And if these barn yards are given proper attention most of the worms and their eggs can be destroyed, so that the pigs will not become badly infested. The same disinfection that was recommended to destroy the germs of hog cholera, on the hog lots, will also destroy the worms, eggs and embryos of all these parasitic worms, when they have escaped from the body of the hog. The free use of fresh lime on the hog yards is the best worm medicine known, the hog does not have to 26 HOW TO CONTROL HOG CHOLERA take the dose; the worms and the eggs and embryos get it instead. The water supply should also be protected to prevent hog dung, worms, and worm eggs from washing into the ponds. "Worm remedies: Prevention of worm infestation is more desirable than treatment; and the measures recommended for hog lot sanitation will be a great aid. But occasionally internal medication will be neces- sary. The following remedies and measures are recommended. (1) A mixture of equal parts of salt, sulphur or hyposulphite of soda, Glaubers' salts and copperas (iron sulphate) and a double portion of wood charcoal is a good laxative tonic, which also has vermicidal properties. It is helpful in destroying the eggs and embryo worms in the stomach and intestines in the early stages of infestation. The mixture is relished by hogs and it can be kept in a trough under shelter where the hogs can partake of it at will. The ingredients should be thoroughly pulverized and well mixed. Experiments made at this Experiment Station showed that "blue stone" (copper sulphate) was more efficacious in destroying the thorn- headed worms than other drugs that were used. It can be substituted for the "copperas" in the above mixture, using half the quantity. (2) Turpentine is useful as a vermicide. It can be given in table- spoonful doses to a hundred pound shoat. It should be fed in greasy slop or milk. Turpentine is absorbed to some extent, and eliminated in part through the lungs, as well as the kidneys. It stimulates the mucous secretion of .the bronchial tubes and aids in the expulsion of the "lung worms." (3) Santonin is one of the most efficient worm remedies but is somewhat expensive. It can be given to hogs in doses of four to six grains, to the 100 pounds of live weight. It is usually combined with calomel and bicarbonate of soda; santonin 6 grains, calomel 4 grains, bicarbonate of soda, 1 drachm. By adding powdered areca nut, in 1 drachm doses, the quantity of santonin and calomel can be reduced a half. When giving this combination the pigs should not have access to the first mixture containing salt — since calomel and salt may combine and form corrosive sublimate, which is very irritant and liable to salivate the pigs, and ulcerate their bowels. Before giving the worm medicine, the pigs should be grouped into bunches of ten to a dozen, according to size, so that the smaller pigs will not be robbed by the larger ones of their proper portion of the medicated food. The pigs should have no food except water for twelve to eighteen hours, so as to empty the bowels. The quantity of the medicine necessary for each lot of ten or twelve pigs can be calculated with sufficient accuracy, from a rough estimate of their combined weight, the medicine should be stirred into a thick slop made of shorts and water. In order to insure its more even distribution through the slop the dry powders should first be thoroughly mixed with a handful or two of dry meal and this can be sprinkled into the slop while it is being stirred. After feeding the slop, keep the pigs in the quarantine pen for twelve hours, or longer, so that the expelled worms will not be scattered over the hog lots. Some of the expelled worms will LICE AND HOG CHOLERA 27 r Duroc Jersey Boar not be killed and may contain numerous fertile eggs. Scatter air-slacked lime over the floor of the quarantine pen to destroy the expelled worms and their eggs. It is a good practice where coal is burned, to keep in the corner of the hog lots a pile of coal cinders. The bits of unburned coal and the iron and other salts contained in the ashes, are better worm remedies, than many of the "hog powders" which the farmers pay out money for. If a half bushel or more of crushed lime rock is added occasionally to the cinder pile it will be helpful in strengthening the bone of the pigs and brood sows that eat of it. No coaxing is required to get the hogs to attack the cinder pile. But a little salt and shelled corn thrown upon it makes it more attractive. LICE AND HOG CHOLERA In combatting hog cholera, the herd that is kept free from lice, is less liable to contract the disease than a herd that is badly infested with these irritant blood suckers. The resistance of lousy pigs is greatly weakened and the losses from cholera in such herds is usually quite heavy. The following measures of prevention and treatment are recommended: Kerosene Emulsion is very effective in destroying lice. It is made as follows: Dissolve a half pound of hard soap in a gallon of hot water. The soap is dissolved more quickly by cutting it into thin slices. When the soap is completely dissolved, add two gallons of kerosene. The kero- sene is added little by little and the mixture is stirred vigorously until a permanent creamy emulsion is formed. The mixing is made easier by churning up the fluid, by means of a hand spray pump. The emulsion 28 HOW TO CONTROL HOG CHOLERA thus made can be kept for a considerable time by pouring it into jugs and corking tightly. For use in killing lice on hogs this emulsion is diluted with 15 to 20 volumes of water. It is stirred or churned into the water so as to make a uniform mixture. The diluted emulsion is applied to the hogs by means of a sprinkling can, or a spray pump. The hogs that are to be treated should be put in a pen that is small enough to crowd them well together so that the rubbing of the animals against one another will insure a thorough smearing of the emulsion into the hair of every hog. The bedding places should be thoroughly sprinkled or sprayed with the emulsion. It is a good practice to clean out and burn the hog bedding frequently. Crude petroleum oils: the lighter oils are now finding favor with many swine breeders and feeders. It is a cheap and effective means of destroying lice — and can be applied in the same manner as the Kerosene Emulsion. The heavier oils are objectionable because they "gum up" the hair. When sprinkled over the hog beds, the crude oil not only kills the lice but it keeps down the dust and prevents bronchial irritation and the resulting cough and makes the hogs less liable to contract cholera. Dipping tanks may also be utilized by rilling them to a proper depth with water and adding a layer of oil 3 or 4 inches deep. Where concrete hog wallows are in use, it is advisable to pour in a little oil occasionally. The grade of oil recommended will cost from $3.50 to $4 for a 50- gallon barrel, and probably less when several barrels are purchased by farmers' clubs. FOOD AND WATER For the maintenance of health in all animals the food and water supply should be of good quality and free from contamination with disease producing organisms. The water supply was discussed to some extent under the section "streams" and "ponds" as disease carriers. Surface water if kept free from pollution is not objectionable, in fact often preferable to the deep- well water of certain sections. But the deep-well water is not so liable to become polluted with cholera germs, and if free from objectionable mineral substances, as salt, sulphur and excess of lime, is much to be preferred on account of the smaller danger of carrying cholera infection. The food supply is rarely a carrier of cholera infection. But corn that is hauled in a wagon box, that was used a short time previously to haul "sick and exposed" hogs to the shipping station, will certainly be- come contaminated with hog cholera virus, and give the disease to hogs that eat of it, unless the wagon box has been properly disinfected. Waste food in corn fields that have been partially hogged down may be con- taminated with hog cholera virus if some of the hogs that were first turned on the fields were infected with the disease. Other hogs turned into the fields later may contract cholera, if not previously vaccinated. Sick hogs should not be allowed to run in the fields where corn has been cut and shocked — as their feeding and bedding about the corn shocks is liable to infect the corn and fodder and transmit the disease to other hogs. The question is often asked: "Is "tankage" ever a carrier of hog WHOLESOME FOOD AX IMPORTANT FACTOR 29 Poland China Sow cholera infection — since, many cholera infected hogs are "tanked" at the packing houses. There is but little danger of transmitting cholera by feeding tankage. The tankage is subjected to a high degree of heat and germs of all kinds are destroyed. And if it is subsequently handled in a manner to prevent it from becoming contaminated with the germs of hog cholera there is no danger in feeding it. Special care should be taken by the men who sack and handle the tankage to avoid carrying cholera infection into the tankage storage room of the packing houses. The men assigned to this particular work should not handle cholera carcasses, they should not go from a cholera infected pen into the storage room without first changing their shoes. Proper precautions in these respects will prevent the tankage from becoming infected, after it comes from the tanks. Quality of the food: Hogs are sometimes fed on immature, moulded or worm-eaten corn that is rejected as food for horses and cattle. But hogs so fed will not thrive as well as when fed on corn of good quality. Such food is liable to contain, or form, poisonous products that cause irritation of the digestive tract and disturbance to digestion. Diarrhoea may result. The poor quality of the food is thus liable to render the hogs less resistant to cholera, if they should become exposed to the virus of that disease. This also applies to the feeding of new corn, if fed in excess. The starch in new corn is not fully ripened and is softer and more fermentable than in old corn, that is well cured and hardened; hence it is more liable to cause digestive disturbances and a lessened resistance to cholera. New corn never creates cholera but is can easily produce conditions in the hog that render the animal more susceptible to the disease when exposed 30 HOW TO CONTROL HOG CHOLERA to it. Care should be taken to not crowd the new corn too rapidly to a full feed; but to mix with it old corn and proper protein supplements. Balanced Rations: Hogs are fed for profit and the farmer desires ] to get the greatest profit possible out of the feed that goes into the hog. That is, he desires that as much of the food as is utilizable shall be con- , verted into permanent tissue, flesh, fat and bone ; and that none, or but little, of the nutritious elements of the food shall pass through and be lost with the indigestible waste products, or lost in other ways. But in the matter of feeding, the best results cannot be attained without some knowledge of the "science of feeding." Many farmers have studied these matters and are profiting by them. And it is true that many farmers know how to put a large number of pounds on their hogs in a short period of time, without knowing anything about "balanced rations," and by following a fixed plan of their own. But in the case of these, it frequently happens that in getting their good gains in a short time, they have not done it in the most economical way; and have lost some of the profits that could have been saved. It is well, therefore, for every feeder to study the i matter of "balanced rations"; for this is the key to profitable feeding. I It is not my purpose, however, to go into the details of this subject, and to give specific formulae for rations, of the various mixtures of food stuffs that should be fed to the breeding herd, the growing shoats, and the fattening hogs. That phase of the work belongs to the Animal Nutri- tion Department. But it is proper to mention in this connection that the natural resistance to cholera is greatest in an animal whose physiologi- cal functions are kept at their best, and proper feeding is one of the essentials. Some mention of the principles of feeding is therefore perti- nent, and this I shall present in the simplest and most elementary way. The food stuffs upon which the animal subsists must necessarily, as a whole, contain the same chemical substances found in the animal body. The animal body requires three kinds of food substances: (1) Protein (or nitrogenous materials) for the building up of the muscles and other active tissues. (2) Energy and heat producing foods, as fats, occuring in the oils; and carbohydrates, in the starches and sugars. (3) Inorganic foods (water and mineral salts). The animal body simply appropriates as much of the available chemical substances in the foods as it, for the time being, needs, or is able to store up for future use. The excess of these chemical substances in the food eaten is eliminated from the body. And it not infrequently happens that this excess of food material that can not be used by the animal and is eliminated as so much waste material, are in fact high priced food elements which the feeder is losing because he does not understand the physiological needs of the animal. To illus- trate this matter roughly: Let us suppose that a lot of fattening hogs, on full feed, were left for a week in charge of a simple minded conscien- tious lad who knew nothing about feeding, but was told the quantity of corn to give but misunderstood the instructions and gave them daily, twice as much as they could possibly eat. The result is easily seen; a gross waste of corn, trampled and soiled in the mud and manure of the feed lot. But the same thing happens in a less degree, and in a different way, when hogs are fed on an unbalanced ration all the feed they will clean up. The feeder thinks that because the pigs eat up all the food SHOULD FEED A BALANCED RATION 31 Berkshire Sow given, and they are taking on weight, the ration given meets the proper needs of the animals — while in fact they may be wasting considerable food for the owner, and wasting some of their own energy in the labor of eating, digesting, absorbing, and trying to transform into body substace an excess of one class of food material in securing enough of another class, and expending further energy in eliminating from the body the excess of this good but unusable food material. This physiological mis- treatment of the hogs is not good for the owner's pocket-book, nor is it good for the health of the hogs. Certain organs of the body are over- worked and the animal becomes less resistant to cholera. An example of this is sometimes seen in hogs that are fed exclusively on corn — a highly carbonaceous, starchy food, a fat and heat producer. Corn con- tains some nitrogenous, or proteid substances, but not in sufficient quan- tity to properly balance the ration. Hence a greater quantity must be eaten in order to supply the proper quantity of protein. And the result seems to be that the vital tissues are lacking in tone and resistance be- cause of unbalanced nutrition. The tissues are over-fat and flabby, and the death loss in such herds is usually large when infected with cholera. If a proper amount of protein is added to the ration, in the form of tankage or oil meal, soy beans, alfalfa, etc., less corn will be required, the expense of fattening will be less, and the animals will be more healthy and vigorous. HEALTHFUL HOUSING The common ailments that are caused by weather changes, and undue exposure to cold and wet, are just as liable to occur in hogs as in other animals. They contract "colds," influenza, sore throat, bronchitis and 22 HOW TO CONTROL HOG CHOLERA diarrhoea just as children, calves and lambs do when "chilled through and through" by exposure to cold and wet. The thick coat of fat of hogs furnishes them fuel for heat and gives some protection from cold; but it is neither healthful for the hog nor economical for the owner, to burn too much hog fat to keep the herd half way comfortable on cold nights. It is quite important to prevent, as much as possible, the common ail- ments mentioned above, in order to more successfully combat hog cholera. The congested an inflamed condition of the air passages, and the alimen- tary tract produced by exposure to winter storms, are conditions, espe- cially favorable to contracting cholera, if the herd should become exposed to that disease. The resistance of the body is not only lowered so that the hog contracts cholera more readily, but serious complications are more liable to result, such as rupture of blood vessels in the lungs or bowels, and the development of an extensive pneumonia, or a severe type of bloody dysentery that will prove fatal to the animal. Nothing can be much worse than to allow the hogs to sleep on ma- nure piles and around straw stacks. The overheating of some of the hogs, and the subsequent exposure to cold can hardly fail to give them a severe attack of pneumonia. Anti-hog-cholera serum will not prevent deaths from cholera in such cases. Proper housing and sanitation will in most cases save the hogs and prevent the expense of the serum bill. The financial losses from lack of proper shelters, in many instances greatly exceed the cost of providing these essentials to successful hog raising. The practical requirements in supplying shelters for swine on the average farm are that the shelters shall be comfortable and sanitary, as well as convenient and not too expensive. The first two requirements relate particularly to the health of the animals. The hog shelters for winter should be constructed so as to prevent cold winds and rain from blowing in upon the hogs. A leaky roof, wet floors, and cracks in the walls on the windward side that permit cold draughts to blow directly on the hogs, invite lung troubles and losses from hog cholera. Wherever it is possible, advantage should be taken of natural wind-breaks in locat- ing the winter shelters. A strip of timber, or an orchard, at the north, and a sloping southern exposure of the grounds are advantageous. The shelters should be built so as to permit good ventilation, and access of sunlight in abundance to all parts of the interior. The aim should be to insure a moderate degree of warmth, dryness, and a proper supply of fresh air. The shelters should also be constructed so as to be easily cleaned and disinfected; otherwise they will not be kept in a sani- tary condition. If the essentials mentioned, which are necessary for the maintenance of health, are kept in mind, it does not matter so much about the style of the hog house or the materials used. Cheap structures that have been used for other purposes can at times be converted into comfortable hog sheds without much expense. Plans and detailed speci- fications for the different forms of movable and permanent hog houses that have found lavor with practical hog raisers can be obtained from the Animal Husbandry Department or from the office of the Agricultural Extension Service. TWO TYPES OF HOG CHOLERA 33 HOW TO KNOW HOG CHOLERA Diagnosis. — In the control of any contagious or infectious disease the early recognition of its presence is of prime importance, in order that prompt action may be taken before it has gained great headway. This is particularly true of hog cholera, which is one of the most infec- tious of the animal maladies. The common impression among farmers and many veterinarians is that hog cholera presents a definite, unvarying train of symptoms, and that the "post-mortem" appearances in one case give a fair picture of what may be seen in all other cases of this disease; but the fact is that scarcely any other disease shows such a variety of symptoms, and disease changes in the internal organs, as is shown by cholera, including its complications. Types of Cholera. — There are two general types of the disease, acute and chronic. In the acute form a number of animals of a herd may die suddenly or after a very short illness; while in the chronic type the animals often live for several weeks, become very thin in flesh and die, one or two at a time. The cause of the disease is the / same in both types; the only difference being in the degree of virulence of the infection, or the differ- ence in the resistance of individual animals, or herds. In many outbreaks and especially in the slow lingering type the disease first appears ameng the pigs and shoats. The very acute type often appears first in the heavy, fatten- ing hogs. Symptoms. — The follow- ing symptoms will be ob- served in nearly every out- break of cholera, but not in every individual hog affected with the disease. Animals that succumb to the acute form of the disease show but few symptoms before death. They may eat well at night and be found dead the following morning. In other cases they may have a profuse diarrhoea, greenish, black or bloody in character; vomiting may occur, and bleeding from the nose, a reddening of the skin of the belly and legs may be seen. All these external signs may, however, be lacking in individual cases, but a "post-mortem" examination of such cases will as a rule show plain evidence of cholera. In the more chronic type of the disease the sick hogs cease to eat heartily, are sluggish, show an Blood Shot Spots on Lung in Acute Cholera 34 HOW TO CONTROL HOG CHOLERA inclination to burrow into the bedding and shiver as if cold, even in pleasant weather. After a few days the hair becomes rough, the skin becomes scaly or may show a reddening, either diffuse or in spots on the under surface of the belly. In prolonged cases of the disease ulcers may appear on the skin, especially about the joints. The tips of the ears in some cases slough off. The eyes become watery or show a "mattery" collection at the inner corner of the eye. The eyelids in some cases are glued together. Animals suffering from the chronic form fall off greatly in flesh, they become weak, especially in the hind quarters, and have an unsteady wabbling gait. Some of the sick animals develop a cough, and may show increased respirations; some affected in this manner bleed at the nose, some vomit, some have a profuse watery diarrhoea, the discharges in some cases being of a yellowish or ochre color, resembling the typhoid stools of man; in other cases the dis- charges are greenish or black in color, and at times quite bloody. Con- trary to common opinion, many hogs affected with cholera suffer from constipation; and at death the large intestines may be found packed with hard lumps of almost dry dung. Hogs suffering from cholera have an inclination to eat dirt and gravel, and in some cases the stomach and intestines contain a large quantity of this material. "Thumps" is a symptom often seen in cases of cholera. The temperature runs high — 104 to 107 degrees. The younger animals of a herd often contract the disease first and appear to be less resistant than adult hogs. This may 6e due to the fact that the pigs are more difficult to keep in an inclosure and consequently range more widely than the larger hogs and are more liable to come in contact with the infection from neighboring farms, and ingest a proportionately larger amount of infection than the larger hogs. Importance of Post-Mortem Examinations. — Since some of the symp- toms which have been given are common to other ailments, it is important to not rely wholly on these symptoms for a diagnosis. I cannot impress too strongly the importance of farmers and veterinarians making a post- mortem examination of the hogs that die; since an accurate diagnosis of cholera can by this means be more readily made; and the sooner it is made the better. Too many farmers are inclined to think that because they have not had a medical training it would be useless for them to make the examina- tions suggested. In this they are mistaken, for some of the best descrip- tions of diseased conditions I have read were written by farmers who described in plain English the appearance of the diseased organs as they saw them. They did not know the meaning of the changes described, but it was easy for me to make a diagnosis from their accurate descrip- tions. Every farmer knows the common name and the natural appear- ance of the internal organs of the hog, and they should make themselves familiar with the changes that occur in cholera, since expert veterinary aid may not be available at the time when most needed. If uncertain as to the nature of the disease, they can refer their descriptions to an expert for interpretation. If the diagnosis is made on the first few pigs that become sick, much time will be saved in combating the infection. I shall now attempt to describe as clearly and as simply as possible MAKING A POST MORTEM 35 the methods of examining the carcass of a hog, and the appearance of the organs that show disease changes due to cholera. It is essential to examine the carcass soon after the death of the animal, in order to avoid being misled by the ordinary decomposition changes that occur in the internal organs within a few hours after death. First, examine the skin; observe whether there are any eruptions, ulcers, patches of redness on the skin of the belly ("blood-shot" spots or patches showing through the skin). The presence of these signs with the symptoms already given are indications of cholera. The animal may, however, have cholera without showing any eruptions or other noticeable changes in the skin. Make a cut from the point of the chin back- ward along the midline of the neck, chest and belly to the tail, cutting first only through the skin and underlying fat. Peel the skin and fat well back on each side, examine the fat be- neath the skin for hem- orrhages, or "blood shot" discolorations. In the acute hemorrhagic type of tbe disease the subcutaneous fat is often the seat of numer- ous hemorrhages. In the fat of the flank region the hemorrhage is sometimes extensive. Mild cases of cholera show no disease chang- es in the subcutaneous fat. At the angle of the lower jaw beneath the skin will be found rounded glands, called Speckled Kidney in Acute Cholera lymph glands, which in the acute hemorrhagic type of cholera are often engorged with blood, giving to them a reddish, or even black color. In mild or chronic cases of cholera these glands may be enlarged, dropsical and of a normal grayish color. A few inches back of the glands mentioned other glands are located which may be highly engorged with blood. Tolerably large lymph glands are also to be found in the flank; observe whether these are engorged with blood and of a color varying from red to black. In some cases but little change occurs in these superficial lymph glands. Next cut into the abdomen and expose the stomach, liver, intestines, etc. Before displacing any of the organs observe whether there are any o 6 HOW TO CONTROL HOG CHOLERA hemorrhages on the inner surface of the walls of the abdomen; note whether the intestines, large or small, show any spots of hemorrhages. In the acute type of cholera it is not uncommon to find portions of the small intestines thickly covered with small points of hemorrhage; and more frequently quite large "blood-shot" spots on the large intestines, and in the fatty membrane which binds together the intestinal coils. The outer coat of the stomach, in some cases, is also the seat of hemorrhages. The spleen may be enlarged and softened, or may be about normal size and show small blood spots on the surface, especially on the under surface. The changes that occur in the liver are not such as would attract the attention of the average observer. The kidneys in very acute cases frequently have numerous small blood points scattered over the surface, giving to the organ a speckled, "turkey egg" appearance. These small hemorrhages are more numerous on the lower surface. On cutting into the cavity of such kidneys, blood clots are often found. In mild or chronic cases the kidneys appear normal. The bladder may also be the seat of extensive hemorrhage, especially on the mucous surface. In some animals which have died in the same herd, as those showing the hemorrhagic conditions mentioned, the outer surface of all organs examined may appear quite normal, and no suspicion of cholera would be aroused; but on examination of the mucous surface of the stomach and intestines positive signs of cholera are often found. Remove the stomach and intestines and make an examination of the inner walls. This is best done by stripping away the fat which holds the coils of intestines together, then with a knife or a pair of scissors cut open lengthwise portions of the large intestines, beginning with the blind gut and continuing some distance along the large intestine. Wash away the dung carefully, without scraping the surface of the gut. The mucous surface of these parts in some animals that die of cholera appear to be in a healthy condition; in other cases, however, there will be seen, scat- tered here and there rounded ulcers varying in size from a fourth to three-fourths of an inch in diameter. The wall of the intestine at this point is thickened and the surface of the ulcer is elevated slightly above the mucous surface of the gut, and resembles a flat circular button, hence the term "button ulcer," which is applied to these ulcers. The presence of these ulcers can often be detected before cutting into the gut by the presence of a circular inflamed area on the outer surface. The thickened margins of the ulcer can be felt through the walls of the gut. In other cases there is a thick, yellowish, tough, cheesy-like exudate (diphtheritic membrane) covering the wall of the large intestine over considerable extent, and very firmly adherent. This is the result of a diffuse inflamma- tion of the mucous and submucous membranes. The walls of the intes- tines in such cases feel thick and leathery. In the acute hemorrhagic type of the disease, extensive hemorrhages into the large and small in- testines sometimes occur. So that on opening the gut, clots of blood, almost filling the cavity, are found. On opening the stomach the mucous membrane in many cases appears MAKING A POST MORTEM 37 Utc>: v normal, in other cases it appears greatly inflamed, and sometimes blood clots are found. Next examine the organs of the chest cavity. This cavity can be opened best by removing the breast bone. Cut through the cartilages where the ribs join the breast bone, press apart the ribs and note the condition of the lungs. In health they have a light pink color and col- lapse when the chest cavity is opened, and are soft and pliable to the touch. In many cases of cholera the lungs have a normal appearance. In other cases the lungs present a wide range of disease changes, varying from a few minute hemorrhages, on one or two lobes, to an almost com- plete solidification of both lungs. Frequently there is an extensive, straw- colored, coagulated exudate covering one or both lungs. This coagulum causes a slight ad- hesion of the lungs to the ribs; this adhesion is, how- ever, easily broken down by the fin- gers. In prolonged chronic cases of cholera, white fi- brous bands "pleu- ritic adhesions" are sometimes found binding the lungs very firmly to the jibs. These lung complications are often mistaken by farmers and by veterinarians for an ordinary pneu- monia or pleurisy, and have also been called "swine plague." The heart, in many cases, shows no signs of the dis- ease. In others the walls are the seat of numerous spots of hemorrhage. These occur more often on the outer wall than on the innpr snrfapp an H Lar 9 e Intestine Ulcerated mnei SUrrace, ana Chronic Cholera T c C e c eS C e L. » V r- fcjO CD O 3 « 0> ■V 5 ° o O o u « si u P *- fc a .a t- £ g =2 v C4 a m o q fc a Corn Milk Fresh clover Fresh alfalfa Bluegrass Bran Middlings or shorts. Linseed oil meal.... Tankage (variable) 10.6 1.5 10.2 70.4 5.0 2.2 87.2 .7 3.5 4.9 3.7 70.8 2.1 4.4 13.5 1.1 8.1 71.8 2.7 4.8 12.3 1.0 7.4 65.1 2.8 4.1 17.6 1.3 9.1 12.3 5.9 16.0 53.7 4.0 8.1 12.1 3.3 15.6 60.4 4.0 4.6 9.2 5.7 8 to 20 32.9 60. 35.4 7.9 8. 8.9 In studying this table the fact should be borne in mind that it is the proportion of ash and protein to starch and fat that determines the nutritive ratio instead of the actual per cent of each nutrient. While the laxative effect cannot be reduced to figures, the relative power is well known. The feeds, excepting the green grasses, all of which are laxa- tives, stand in the following relation to each other as to laxative effect, the more laxative being placed at the head of the list: Linseed oilmeal, CARE OF THE BROOD SOW 47 Chester White Boar bran, milk, tankage, shorts. Corn instead of being a laxative is some- what constipative except when fed in very large amounts. It will be noted that our principle feed, corn, is lacking in protein, ash, bulk and laxative effect, all of which are necessary for the best development in breeding and growing stock. This defect, however, can be easily remedied in summer by a good pasture of clover, alfalfa, and to a great extent, by bluegrass; and iii winter by the use of other feeds in connection with corn, such as leguminous hay, milk, bran, oilmeal, and shorts or tankage, the last three of which, however, are lacking in bulk for brood sows not having access to pasture or bulkier feeds. Another factor that often means success or failure, is that of exercise for the brood sow and litter. It is almost impossible to keep in good condition the digestive and reproductive organs of breeding and growing stock that do not have sufficient exercise. It not only tends to cause them to fatten, but it also leaves the digestive tract closed and leads to constipation and other disarrangements of the system which, occurring in the pregnant sow, cause weak and sickly litters to be farrowed. Or- dinarily it is no trouble to get sows or pigs to take sufficient exercise, except in very bad weather, especially if a winter pasture, such as wheat or rye, is provided. But should a sow become sluggish and refuse to take a fair amount of exercise, some means of compelling her to do so should be resorted to. The Unbred Sow. — Until the sow is bred the care and management is *rery simple. She is in a state of storage, so to speak, for future useful- ness. If she has not been suckling a litter or for any other reason is in medium flesh, she requires very little grain if on a good pasture and this grain may consist almost entirely of corn provided the pasture is of a leguminous nature. If there is no pasture available the feed should con- 48 PROFITABLE PORK PRODUCTION tain some bran or shorts or from 5 to 10 per cent of oilmeal or tankage or meat meal. The sow should not be in very heavy flesh but be gaining when breeding time conies. It is easier to get a sow to take the boar and to conceive if she is in only medium flesh and gaining in weight when bred. If a sow is producing two litters yearly barely time is given be- tween weaning of pigs and breeding time to get her to gaining well before breeding, so that there need be no material change in her feed after the pigs are weaned. The Pregnant Sow. — From the time the sow is bred until a few days after farrowing time is the period when she exerts her greatest influence over the offspring. The feed during this time should, therefore contain the material to form the muscle and bone of the young undeveloped pigs and at the same time not get the brood sow so fat that she becomes sluggish. Corn is too cheap and common to be entirely omitted from any ordinary feeding ration, but the cheapness of corn, which is a fattening rather than a growing feed, must not over-balance everything else. The effect of a ration of corn upon the development of the internal organs has been shown to be that of a fattener rather than a developer. In a trial to test this matter the heart, liver, spleen, and kidneys did not develop as well and the amount of fat deposited upon them was greater when a ration of corn alone was fed than when bran or cowpeas was added to it. Animals made fat on corn alone contain more internal fat than those fattened on a more nitrogenous ration. Therefore, brood sows may be kept much fatter on a mixed ration without injury than on a ration of pure corn. It is a well known fact that farmers who feed sows very little except corn, prefer to have their sows in a much thinner condition than those who feed a ration containing more protein in proportion to the starch in the food. The ration for the pregnant sow should consist if possible of a good pasture. If pasture is good, a limited ration of corn alone will keep the sow in good condition. Feed of this kind is good in that the pasture, if leguminous, furnishes bulk, protein, and laxative effect, while the corn gives a concentrated ration. One of the best methods of management is to have a rye or wheat field or bluegrass pasture to use in winter, thus getting the sows to take sufficient exercise. If no pasture is available a mixed feed containing some bulk and lax- ative constituent should be fed with corn. A few good rations are: Corn 60-65%, shorts 30%, tankage 5-10%; Corn 60%, shorts 30%, oilmeal 10%; Corn %, shorts Vs, bran y 3 ; Corn y 3 , shorts %, oats y 3 . These rations have proven very satisfactory and are examples of how the feeds should be mixed. No matter what other feeds are used if alfalfa, cowpeas or bright clover hay is available, it should be kept before them at all times. It is best to keep this hay in racks much the same as for sheep except that the racks rest on the ground so the hogs can get to the hay. Good alfalfa hay and corn alone make a good ration for brood sows especially when they are not being kept in very high condition. The houses should be dry and well bedded and the sills low enough that the belly of the sow passes over them without difficulty. If there CARE OF SOW AND LITTER 49 Poland China Boar is no pasture over which the sow roams to get exercise, the house or cot should be at the opposite end of the lot from the feeding place, thus, making the sow take exercise. Care of Sow at Farrowing Time. — The care and management at far- rowing time is very important for then is one of the most critical periods in the production of pork. This is especially true if the numbers of sows kept is so large that they are crowded in the least for room. The care at this time depends very largely upon the animal and the weather condi- tions. If the sow is in good health and vigorous, there is usually no trouble to be feared. She should be placed in her farrowing quarters a few days before she is due to farrow in order to let her get accustomed to them. The feed should be limited for a day or two before farrowing, and should be of a laxative nature so as to prevent any tendency toward constipation. Ordinarily it is better to leave the sow to herself than to try to help her, which in her fevered condition excites her and often causes her to trample upon or mash the pigs. The mashing of the pigs is the most serious danger to be feared at this time. It is impossible to entirely prevent the loss from this cause, but the conditions that will reduce it to a minimum are to have the sow in good physical condition; let her receive only a small amount of warm laxative feed for a day before farrowing and have her placed in quiet, comfortable quarters. In the farrowing pen, from which the other hogs 50 PROFITABLE PORK PRODUCTION are excluded, there should be a rail set eight inches from the floor and six to twelve inches from the wall. This prevents the sow from lying too close to the wall, and gives the pigs a chance to creep under the rails for protection. The floor should be smooth and level and have only a small amount of bedding which should be fresh and clean. A large amount of bedding prevents the pigs from moving freely to escape the sow and also works under the protection rail. If the weather is not cold the sow should be left alone. If cold, a lantern in the, individual house keeps it much warmer. It sometimes proves useful to have some way of warming the pigs, such as a warm blanket with a jug of hot water or a hot stone wrapped in it. The pigs can be placed in a basket and wrapped in this blanket until the sow has finished farrowing and then placed to the teats and be warmed by the milk. The after-birth should be removed from the pen because it is believed that some sows are started to eating pigs by first eating the after-birth. Sow and Litter. — From the time the pigs are born until weaned the sow is under the heaviest strain and needs a pretty good feed to prevent her from getting poor. For a few hours after farrowing, the sow needs no feed other than water which has been warmed enough to have the chill removed. After twelve or twenty-four hours she should receive a warm feed of medium to thin slop of some ground feed, or milk. Very little corn should be fed at this time as it is very heating and may in- crease the fever. The feed should consist as nearly as possible of the same ingredients as was fed before farrowing. The feed should be in- creased as fast as the pigs can use the milk. The feeding of cold feed or water to newly farrowing sows often causes indigestion or chill that retards the flow of milk. Too heavy feeding for the first few days may result in too sudden stimulation of milk flow, which scours the pigs and causes their death or injury. Pigs that have been scoured by too heavy flow of milk or by fevered condition of the sow very seldom make as good growth as if they have not been thus injured and are often killed outright. After the pigs are large enough to use all the milk, the more milk producing feed used the better. The rations mentioned for the pregnant sow do well for the sow at this time. The milk producing feeds should be reduced as the pigs get near weaning time and more corn used in the ration, which should be greatly reduced, thus gradually causing the sow to "dry up." While the pigs are small, care should be taken that the quarters are clean, as dirty quarters as well as too heavy feeding cause scours in pigs. Exercise is also essential as lack of it with heavy feeding usually causes constipation which leads to thumps. For this reason the sow and litter should not be confined to a small pen or be fed at the same place as quartered. The benefit to be derived from short walks from the house to the feed trough is surprising. Getting the sow and pigs into the sun- shine is very essential to proper growth during the spring and fall. Until the pigs have reached the age of three or four months they should not be made excessively fat, especially if they are of a very early maturing type, since they may become fat and "chubby" before they have reached a desirable size, and after reaching such a condition it is usually unprofitable to try to carry them to a very much heavier weight. For FEEDING YOUNG PIGS 51 Yorkshire Boar this reason it is desirable to make young pigs grow rapidly rather than get too fat. Therefore, there should be an abundance of muscle and bone producing feeds and a large amount of exercise. This is especially true if any of the young stuff is to be kept for breeding purposes. When the pigs are about three weeks old they will begin to use feed other than the dam's milk. At first they nibble at grass or taste of the sows food until soon they are eating a' large enough quantity to justify giving them some feed of their own. Shelled corn is one of the easiest feeds with which to teach pigs to eat but should not be their sole feed when they have learned to eat well. The pigs show their greatest re- sponse to a balanced ration before they have reached the weight of 125 pounds. Milk is about the best feed that can be given pigs. A slop of corn meal, shorts, and tankage or oilmeal give very excellent results. The rations should be compounded of some of the following feeds, always using corn as the basis: Corn not more than 90% Shorts or shipstuff not more than 50% Milk no limit Oats not more than 33%% Wheat not more than 50% Oilmeal not more than 20% Tankage not more than 10% Meat meal not more than 10% Bran not more than 33%% These feeds should be fed in a small enclosure near where the sow is fed but with openings in it too small for her to enter. The opening or creep should be so that the pigs go between vertical boards rather than under horizontal ones. Also, by all means, a pasture of clover, alfalfa, cowpeas, bluegrass and white clover, rape, or other green feed 52 PROFITABLE PORK PRODUCTION should be furnished. No other investment pays like a good pasture for hogs. When weaning time comes the pigs must be eating well. Remove the sow from the pasture and place her in dry lot with very light feed of corn for a few days to stop the milk flow without caking the udder. She may be returned once a day for a few days to let the pigs milk her out well. A few of the runt pigs may be allowed to go with her or the large pigs may be removed to another pasture and leave the sows in the pasture with the small pigs. The weaning should usually be done when the pigs are 8 to 10 weeks old. No matter how the weaning is done the feed of the weaning pigs should be of practically the same nature as was fed before weaning. If good pasture is available more corn can be used than otherwise but if dry lots are used as in the case of fall pigs a mixed feed is essential to best results. Often in dry lots the gains can be doubled on weaning pigs by feeding corn 60%, shorts 30%, tankage 10% instead of corn alone. When a slop is fed the best results can be secured only when the pigs of the same size are fed together, otherwise the larger ones crowd out the smaller ones that soon become runts. A creep for the small pigs helps some in a case of this kind but is not entirely satisfactory. Always keep the trough clean. The pigs do better if the troughs are clean and do not run as much risk of getting disease. Give them a dry place to sleep. A large amount of bedding is not necessary if the shelter is dry. The houses should be free from dust which is very detrimental to pigs. Give plenty of exercise, pasture and sunshine. PASTURE FEEDING OF HOGS The fattening of hogs may be safely divided into two periods — dry lot and pasture feeding. The cheaper time is that when pastures can be secured. Probably as large a loss as occurs in the fattening of hogs is in the failure to provide the proper kind of pasture for the fattening or growing hogs. Numerous trials have shown that the gains received from a bushel of corn can be increased from 20% to 50% and in some cases 100% by the use of a good pasture. The best kind of pasture to use is shown by the answers to a ques- tion submitted by the author to the best hog raisers of the state as to what they considered the best forage crop to grow for hogs. Of 159 replies, 114 gave either clover, alfalfa, or cowpeas as the most profitable forage, and 21 other replies mentioned one of these three in connection with some other crop, leaving only twenty-four stockmen preferring non- leguminous crops. Of these twenty-four twelve preferred rape alone and three others rape in connection with some other crop. Next in favor after these four forages came bluegrass and white clover. Pasturing Clover or Alfalfa. — Clover is a good hog pasture. It fur- nishes an abundance of excellent pasture that supplies the necessary nutrients lacking in corn; it fertilizes the ground while growing; and it fits perfectly into a ration where corn is the principal crop. The gen- eral distribution and popularity of clover as a forage crop is due to its great adaptability to the conditions found in most states and there is no serious drawback to it as a hog pasture. There are, however, some pre- CLOVER AND ALFALFA FOR HOG PASTURE 53 I * Yorkshire Sow cautions to be taken with it. It is, in addition to being a biennial, more easily killed by heavy pasturing than is bluegrass or timothy. If heavily pastured when small, the hogs eat off the crown and kill the plant, and too heavy pasturing at any season of jthe year may cause serious injury. If the clover is to be pastured heavily, the hogs should not be turned in until it is several inches high. Clover is at its best for hog pasture when heading or blossoming, but if the hogs are not turned in until the clover reaches this stage it will take a very large number to keep the pasture from getting too ripe. After the heads are ripe the plant is so woody that the hogs do not relish it as a pasture. When the plant is in this stage it should be cut and a new and succulent growth allowed to spring up. The clover can be pastured heavily enough to keep from getting woody but, when this is done, a dry spell is apt to cause its death. Alsike clover is better in some regions than red clover, especially in low moist ground. It will supply almost as much pasture as the red variety, if sown at the same time and furnishes pasture for about the same period. Alfalfa is a feed of the same character as clover but is shown by the experience of its users to be somewhat superior to the latter as a hog pasture, both as to quality and amount of feed furnished. "While an acre of clover will pasture from 8 to 12 hogs averaging 75 to 125 pounds, the same area of alfalfa will pasture 15 to 20 head of the same sized hogs. Alfalfa comes earlier in the spring than clover, and if kept from heading will make a green, succulent, nitrogenous forage from spring until heavy freezing comes in the fall. Not only does this plant give a good forage during the growing season, but the hay, especially the last cutting, will 54 PROFITABLE PORK PRODUCTION furnish a high class roughage for hogs in winter and anyone who has used alfalfa hay for this purpose never fails to recomemnd it very highly. The same precautions should be taken when pasturing alfalfa as when pasturing clover, i. e., the hogs should not be turned on before the pasture is well started, should not be pastured while the land is very wet, nor so heavily that the plant does not grow well, and should not be allowed to grow large enough to get woody. If the purpose is to use the alfalfa solely for pasture, the field should be divided and one part pastured while the other is growing. The common practice, however, is to allow enough pasture so that about two crops of hay are harvested each year while the hogs are using it for pasture. By cutting the halves of the field a few days apart, one part is furnishing pasture while the other is being cut. for hay. In this way pasture is furnished for a large portion of the year. Feeding on Clover or Alfalfa Pasture. — The composition and charac- ter of forage furnished by clover and alfalfa are so nearly the same that the best methods of feeding for one will apply equally Avell for the other. As neither of the two plants furnish enough seed for any considerable part of the ration, their feeding value as pasture rests on the forage alone. Both plants furnish an abundance of protein for the growing hog and make the very best material to balance a ration of corn. For well grown hogs a ration of corn alone on clover or alfalfa pasture gives probably as cheap gains as any ration that can be fed. The class of hogs to which this applies is usually fall pigs that are well grown and not requiring a great amount of muscle production. The effect of feeding a supplement to corn on alfalfa pasture is shown by the results given by Nebraska Experiment Station in Bulletin No. 94 where three lots of ten 145-pound fall pigs were finished on alfalfa pasture, beginning May 14th and fed for 56 days on corn alone or different proportions of corn and tankage, which is probably the best of supplements to corn. Ration with Pasture OS bo Soaked corn Soaked corn 95% Tankage 5% Soaked corn 90% Tankage 10% 216 229 230 71 1.26 416 85 1.51 371 86 1.53 366 These results, as was expected, show a more rapid gain where a sup- plement like tankage was fed with corn, than with corn alone, thus mak- ing the hog come to a good marketable weight at a somewhat earlier age. It will be noted, however, that corn alone and alfalfa pasture made a gain of V-k pounds per day for a period of 56 days. The corn and tankage made a gain of little more than iy 2 pounds per day. The grain required to make 100 pounds of gain was much less when tankage was fed with corn than when corn alone was used, the amounts being 366 pounds for one-tenth tankage ration, per 100 pounds gain, 371 pounds for one-twen- tieth tankage ration, and 416 pounds for corn alone. With the price of corn SUPPLEMENTS TO CORN TO FEED ON PASTURE 55 A Bunch of Hampshires at 60 cents a bushel, and tankage at $44 per ton, the cost per 100 pounds gain, not counting pasture, was $4.45 for corn alone, $4.18 for nineteen- twentieths corn, and one-twentieth tankage, and $4.33 for nine-tenths corn and one-tenth tankage, thus showing & slight saving by feeding a small amount of tankage with corn. This experiment shows that if the extra work of providing and feeding tankage is not too great, and more espe- cially when pastures are not very strong and corn is high priced it may pay to feed some kind of supplement with corn to hogs on clover or alfalfa pasture. . As a general proposition, however, the margin in favor of a supplement to corn on clover or alfalfa, is not enongh to justify the extra labor of securing and feeding it. This is not the case, however, with small pigs. They cannot con- sume sufficient roughage to balance the corn they should eat in order to make the most rapid growth. For this class of hogs the best farmers have found that they get much faster and cheaper gains by adding a supplement to their corn. This, of course, entails the expense of extr.a time and labor but more than pays for the cost of extra gains. This is especially true where a rapid growth is desired. Of course, as the pigs get larger and more able to consume large amounts of roughage, corn alone can be more extensively used. The time at which the hogs are to be marketed determines largely the best ration to feed young pigs on clover or alfalfa pasture. When it is desired to grow hogs only, without trying to fatten them, it is best to feed only an ear or two of corn daily per pig; when it is the purpose to "push" them from weaning time until finished they can be full fed 56 PROFITABLE PORK PRODUCTION on pasture without the danger of too early fattening that there is where grain has to be depended upon to make the greater portion of the gain. An excellent example of the two methods of feeding young hogs on clover or alfalfa pasture is given by a trial at the Nebraska Experiment Station where 90 forty-two-pound pigs were divided into three equal lots and fed for four months on light, medium, and heavy grain rations and then full fed until fat in dry lot. The results of this trial as reported in Bulletin No. 99 are as follows: a to , .,_> ftfi Lot a w Cfl fH no £y c ta.g '3 t* !> » Is to CO A) O ft ft . go OS Grain to fatten a from wea ing time 1. Light fed 230 42 233 191 .83 377 12.86 bu. 2. Medium fed 221 42 236 194 .87 391 13.54 bu. 3. Heavy fed 165 42 228 186 1.13 395 12.80 bu. Note that when the pigs were fed one pound of corn per 100 pounds weight for 119 days, and then full fed, it required 230 days to get ready for market; whereas, the pigs of the lot fed two pounds of corn daily per 100 pounds live weight for 119 days, and then full fed, required 221 days; and the pigs which were fed 3% pounds of corn daily per 100 pounds live weight for 119 days and then full fed, were ready for market in a total of 165 days, or 5% months from the time they weighed 42 pounds, thereby finishing the pig at seven months old, weighing about 225 pounds. It will be noted that the finished weight of the hogs of these three lots varied only 7 pounds. The average gains made daily were .83, .87, and 1.13 respectively. The grain required per pound of gain was 377 pounds for the light fed lot, 391 pounds for the medium fed lot, and 395 pounds for the heavy fed lot. This means that 12.86 bushels of corn was required to fatten a pig under the system of light feeding for the first four months after weaning, 13.54 bushels for the medium feeding system, and 12.80 bushels for the system of rather heavy feeding from weaning time. Under the three systems of feeding, then, we find that very light feeding on pasture and then heavy feeding at fattening time gives somewhat cheaper gains, pound for pound, than a heavy feed from weaning time, but that it takes two months longer by the first method to get the hogs ready for market. The time to have the hogs ready for market would depend on market conditions, prevalence of disease, etc. Moreover, the difference is so small that an expensive season for finishing hogs, such as the cold months of winter or the hot months of summer, can profitably be avoided by forcing the hogs from the start. Pasturing Bluegrass and Timothy. — Bluegrass, in conjunction with white clover, and in some cases red clover, is a pasture that is found on practically every farm in central and north Missouri. Its popularity rests on its hardiness and the fact that it is a perennial, and once estab- lished is hard to kill out, and also makes excellent pasture. Neither is there the danger of scouring among hogs on bluegrass pasture that there is in some other kinds, such as young clover or alfalfa. Bluegrass also BLUEGRASS AND TIMOTHY PASTURE 57 Duroc Jersey Trio comes early in spring and furnishes good fall and fair winter pasture. It should be pastured heavily enough to prevent any extra growth, be- cause bluegrass that has become rank and growthy gets woody, and when in this condition is not a satisfactory pasture for hogs. There is a period of from two to three months during the summer just after seed- ing, when bluegrass is in its resting stage and is too dry and woody to give good hog pasture, and has to be supplemented with some other crop, such as clover, sorghum, rape, etc., that can be sown in spring and be ready for pasture by July. The resting period of bluegrass, coming at the time of year when the hot weather makes a green pasture all the more necessary for success in hog raising, is one of the most objection- able features about bluegrass as a pasture for hogs, and every farmer should prepare for this period by providing some other kind of pasture. The value of timothy as a pasture is hardly as great as that of blue- grass, for the reason that bluegrass is suitable for pasture much earlier in the spring and will last much longer in the fall, and also contains white clover, which is seldom found in timothy. The timothy, however, does not get as tough as the bluegrass and will spring up sooner after being cut, thus shortening the period of rest in mid-summer. Timothy, however, when it begins to joint, gets woody unless cut when very green, and when managed in this way is not long lived. Feeding Spring Pigs on BInegrass and Timothy. — The feeding value of the two grasses as a pasture are so near the same that the best method of feeding on one kind will apply equally well to the other kind of pasture. Both timothy and bluegrass are lacking in protein, which is used to form muscle and bone. Clover, however, is well supplied witt 58 PROFITABLE PORK PRODUCTION this material, and when mixed with timothy or bluegrass, makes a well- balanced pasture. Corn, which is also lacking in protein, does not make the best feed for hogs on a pasture' consisting wholly of timothy or blue- grass. Clover in the pasture, however', furnishes the necessary nutrients for growing stock. When there is not enough clover in a pasture to furnish a large proportion of the forage, there is a need, especially with shoats, for a feed consisting of more than corn alone. The amount of clover available determines to a large extent the needs for these sup- plemental feeds. This is shown very clearly in an experiment, conducted at the Iowa Experiment Station, with the hogs running on timothy pas- ture and fed corn and supplemental feeds, and another lot on clover pasture and fed corn alone. The summary of the experiment is given below in Bulletin No. 91, Iowa Experiment Station: Pasture. Grain ration. _5tfC '3 be bj a a TO 0) Ofl u 0) ftfi cr'S .5 to a 5* "3 Op, Timothy Timothy . 59.9 103.4 0.923 451.4 4.17 Corn 2, shorts 1 . 59.8 125.5 1.120 409.9 4.59 Timothy Corn 1, shorts 1 . 59.8 133.2 1.180 398.0 4.74 Timothy Corn 5, meat meal 1. . . 60.1 138.5 1,237 409.6 5.07 Timothy . 60.1 153.9 1.374 398.4 5.48 Clover . 59.9 133.7 1.193 4]6.1 4.97 It will be noted that the gains made on clover pasture and corn were faster than those made on timothy pasture and corn and shorts, but not as fast as those on timothy pasture and fed corn and tankage or corn and meat meal. Based on this data, corn alone fed on a clover pasture is equal to a ration of one-half corn, one-half shorts on timothy pasture, and superior to a ration two-thirds corn, one-third shorts on the same kind of pasture. The value of feeding some grain containing an excess of protein, to hogs on timothy pasture, is shown by the more rapid and more economical gains made by the pigs fed corn and shorts, and corn and meat meal or tankage. The rate of gain was increased 30 to 50 per cent by using a meat by-product, and from 12 to 20 per cent by using shorts with corn. The above results are borne out by the results secured by the best hog raisers of the state who use bluegrass and timothy for hog pasture. These results are for the time just following weaning when the pig is being started to growing well after being weaned. As the shoat gets larger, it is a good policy to increase the amount of corn and in most cases to decrease the amount of slop fed or to stop feeding it altogether. While in general it gives faster gains to feed a supplement to corn, a pig that has received a ration containing sufficient bone and muscle-forming food until six months of age, will with good pasture do very well until ready for market on corn alone. In order to secure best results with pigs before they are six months old, however, it is necessary, unless a COWPEAS AND RAPE FOR PASTURE 59 Chester White Trio good clover, alfalfa, cowpea, or rape pasture is available, to feed some- thing in addition to corn. Cowpeas as Hog Pasture. — The cowpea is a quick growing plant and furnishes an abundance of pasture in the fall. It requires 70 to 100 days to mature, and if planted May 15 to June 1, will be ready to pasture by the middle of August or sooner, by which time the pods will be ripening. An acre of well-grown cowpeas turned on when the pods are ripening will often furnish pasture for 15 to 25 one-hundred-pound pigs for from one to two months, and when corn is fed in connection with this pasture the rate of gain is very rapid and the cost of gain very small. For fall pasture cowpeas are more popular in some localities than clover. One of the greatest uses of cowpeas is in connection with corn to be "hogged down." They can be mixed in the planter box with an early variety of corn and planted with the corn. They can be sown broadcast and covered with a cultivator at the last cultivation, or they can be drilled between the corn rows after the corn is "laid by" with either a one-horse corn drill or a one-horse grain drill. An acre of such mixture has been known to make as high as 1000 pounds of gain on hogs. It requires a season with good late rains, however, to make satisfactory growth with cowpeas in corn and a dry season may result in an unsatis- factory growth of the cowpea. Rape for Pasture. — On the best regulated farms there are times during the year when regular pasture is short. On such occasions a rapid growing plant is in demand. Rape comes nearest to filling the need of any plant available. It has been found to be almost as valuable for producing gain as clover and will be ready for pasturing in about 6Q PROFITABLE PORK PRODUCTION six weeks after being sown. It can be sown early in the spring and it will endure a pretty severe frost in the fall before it is injured. It is a gross feeder and requires a very fertile soil to make a satisfactory growth. Barn lots are the most common places for growing this plant but it does well on any fertile soil and in corn fields when sown at the last cultivation. It requires a well prepared seed-bed, but can be sown either broadcast or in drills. When broadcasted it requires about 3 to 5 pounds of seed per acre and when drilled about 2 to 3 pounds per acre. It can be sown so as to furnish forage at any time of the growing season, and if necessary can be used as the principal pasture for hogs. It must not, however, be pastured too closely and must be given an opportunity to get well started before being pastured. The amount of land sown to rape need not be large, because it is worthless except for pasture or soiling, and one acre will pasture fifteen to twenty hogs for a period of two or three months. Oats as a Hog Pasture. — Another plant that can be sown for a time of pasture shortage is oats. Early sown oats will do to pasture early in the spring, when the hogs have to be taken from the rye or wheat. It may also be sown with rape and make more forage than with oats alone, but there is the danger of the oats getting too woody and being trampled down. Oats can be pastured lightly from the time they are three or four inches high, and continued until heads are forming, when the hogs should be removed until the grain is in the milk, when if desirable, they can again be turned in and allowed to harvest the grain crop. Oats are especially good for sows and pigs, and for furnishing early pasture. The composition of the oat plant is such that it does not furnish the proper nutrients to balance a ration of corn alone for growing hogs; hence on oat pasture the hogs should have a limited amount of nitrogenous sup- plement, such as shipstuff, linseed oilmeal, or a small amount of tankage or meat meal. Sorghum or Cane. — Sorghum deserves a good place in the list of useful short-lived forage crops for hogs for hot weather and drouths. It is especially useful on account of the large number of hogs it will pasture, furnishing enough forage for twenty to thirty hogs per acre. It is not as palatable and nutritious as the other forage crops mentioned, but is used by many as a dry weather crop. It can be sown in May and be ready for pasture in July. It will last during July, August and Sep- tember, and often later, and is especially useful during the dry months. The composition of sorghum is also such that it requires a supplement to the corn fed to obtain the best results. Winter and Early Spring Pasture. — There is probably no greater loss to the hog raisers of the state than the lack of suitable pasture for hogs in winter. Of course, there are times during the winter when it is en- tirely impossible for hogs to get anything green to eat, but during a large part of the winter the weather is such that it is possible for them to graze upon some kind of pasture. Pasture in winter and early spring serves not only the purpose of furnishing a green feed, but also induces the hogs to take exercise, which they would not otherwise do, both of which will tend to keep the shoats in a healthy, vigorous condition. With some kind of green forage to pick at, pigs will take sufficient exercise WINTER AND EARLY SPRING PASTURE 61 Berkshire Trio that practically all danger of thumps will be removed. As is well known, two of the worst things that the hog raiser has to guard against in winter are thumps and constipation, both due, to a large extent, to a lack of exercise or some laxative food, and which can be remedied by a green pasture during as many of the winter months as possible. Of course, it is impossible to furnish the best of pasture for three months, from December 15 to March 15, but even during these three months a field of rye, wheat, or bluegrass makes an excellent place for hogs to forage. For early winter pasture, the succulent forage may do well until freezing weather. Clover, alfalfa, etc., if of good growth may last that long. Rape will make good pasture sometimes as late as Christmas. Cowpeas can be pastured late in the fall, and give a large amount of forage; but from freezing time until grass comes in spring, any green forage for hogs requires a special crop. Rye, wheat and bluegrass are about the only plants that are of much value for the winter months. If the bluegrass has a good growth in the fall it makes excellent pasture in winter and early spring. If pastured close in the fall, however, this grass furnishes little pasture during the winter. Wheat is in general use as a winter crop for pigs, and can be sown at the right time to make a good crop of grain the next summer, and at the same time furnish good pasture in either winter or early spring. Rye is in more general use as a winter forage for hogs than any other single crop. For winter pasture it can be sown any time from August to October, and give good returns. It may be sown in the corn and pastured after the latter is gathered and often good results are secured when it is put in after corn has been hogged down. Rye will make an early start in spring and furnish green feed until clover, etc., will do to pasture, or until some early spring sown crop, such as oats or rape, are ready for use. One of the worst features about using rye as pasture is that it is hard 62 PROFITABLE PORK PRODUCTION to prevent it from mixing with wheat and injuring the latter. It should be sown in a place that is to be plowed up in the spring and planted to corn, so as to kill any rye that may have escaped the hogs. Clover can be sown in rye, and the entire crop pastured. Artichokes also make a good winter pasture when the ground is not frozen. DRY LOT HOG FEEDING Feeding hogs when no pasture is available offers one of the greatest and also one of the easiest sources of improvement in the production of pork that can be found by the Corn Belt farmer. Pastures which give variety of feed, laxativeness and needed food nutrients to a ration of corn are not available at all seasons of the year and in a large majority of cases the latter feed is relied upon to give the best and cheapest gains on hogs. Of course corn must of necessity comprise by far the largest per cent of the ration and any other feeds used must be considered as only supplementing corn and not as replacing it. There are conditions under which it is the best policy to use corn alone for hogs even when they are in dry lot, but there are many other times when to use corn alone would be at the sacrifice of time as well as profit. The factors that determine the value of a ration are: First, the ones that aid in the increase of the feed consumed; and second, the ones that more nearly offer the food nutrients demanded by the animal's body. The importance of increasing the amount of food consumed is readily realized when we consider that the maintenance requirements are very little greater per 100 pounds for a hog that is on full feed than for one that is on a maintenance ration which merely prevents a loss of body weight. If the food consumption is only large enough to maintain the animal, no food would be available for gains. If the food consumed is two pounds daily more than maintenance there would be twice as much available for making gains as if it is only one pound above maintenance. In other words, the feed above maintenance may be compared to the profits above the expenses of running a business. The larger the income above expenses the greater the profit; the greater the food above mani- tenance the greater and more economical the gains. Although there is a point in food consumption where the digestion is not as thorough as when less feed is eaten, in general the above statement is true. Chief among the factors influencing the food consumption is the bulk of the feed. The stomach of the hog is of such a nature that a large bulk of feed cannot be consumed. No other animal will make more eco- nomical use of the food eaten than the hog but its capacity is not large enough to allow a large quantity to be eaten. Forcing a hog to consume a bulky feed is the same as limiting the ration to the same degree as is the bulk of the feed eaten. No one would think of compelling fattening hogs to consume a large amount of hay or rough feed, yet oats, bran, cob meal, etc., are of somewhat the same nature. Best results cannot be secured with hogs if a very large proportion of bulky feed is used. Palatability. — Another factor that influences very largely the amount of feed eaten is the palatability of the ration. Careful trials have shown that more complete digestion takes place when the food is well liked by the animal than when it is impalatable. The digestive juices are secreted DRY LOT FEEDING 63 in larger quantities when the appetites of the animal are keen and when the desire for food is strong. It is a matter of common observation that animals that do not relish their food are not as thrifty and do not make as rapid gains as others that are not eating any larger amounts of feed but do have a keen appetite. And not only is the digestion better but the actual amount of food eaten by the animal will be larger. This is, of course, one of the essential features and one that will show most marked results. Any feed or mixture of feeds that is very palatable thereby increasing the digestibility and consumption will produce a larger gain on the hogs than a feed of equal food value but not relished by the hogs. The question of getting the proper food nutrients into a ration can be easily settled, for there are numerous feeds containing the food con- stituents lacking in corn. The great problem is to find the one that will give the best results for the least cost. This depends, of course, on the amount of each supplement to corn required to balance the ration, and the relative cost of the same. The lower the price of corn, the less is the financial benefit to be derived from the supplement. When hogs are to be fed in dry lot there is little doubt of the advisa- bility of adding a supplement to corn. This is especially true of small hogs. If the pigs have been well grown on grass or behind cattle, before they are placed in dry lot to finish there is less benefit to be derived from a supplement than if the hogs are young and need growing ma- terial. A well grown hog weighing 175 pounds or more will finish almost as well, though not so rapidly, on corn alone as on a mixed feed. Hogs of smaller size (the smaller they are the greater is the effect of the sup- plement to corn) however, not only make a more rapid but also a more economical gain. Young pigs in dry lot should certainly receive more than corn alone. The question of the proper supplement to use depends for its solution on the conditions as to availability of the different feeds and on their relative price. Milk. — Whenever this feed can be secured, it must be considered the best supplement to corn for young pigs. Containing as it does all the essentials of an ideal feed for growing animals it can be used to supple- ment corn for either growing or fattening animals. There is a limit, however, to the amount that can profitably be fed. About one-half gallon of milk to each pound of grain eaten is the amount that should be fed to small hogs. The amount of milk to grain should be gradually de- creased until only half as much is being fed when the hogs are finished. Too large quantities of milk especially after the hog has reached some size has a tendency to cause pot bellies. Such conditions should not be permitted. There is practically no difference in the form of the milk, whether whole, skimmed or as buttermilk when fed with corn because the corn supplies the food nutrients removed in skimming. Sour milk usually gives as good results as sweet milk but care must be taken that the souring is not accompanied by decay or bad results will follow. Tankage and Meat Meal. — These two feeds are so closely related that they may be treated under the same head. They are both a refuse product from the packing houses and are very high in protein and therefore require only a small quantity to balance a ration of corn. An average 64 PROFITABLE PORK PRODUCTION of six feeding trials at the Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, and Indiana Experi- ment Stations gave the following results: K c c d oS - 5J0 hot. 4> cd 0) be be to a Ration ■oS £*, ■ulna Jo ° So Corn alone Corn and tankage. .72 lbs. 1.31 lbs. 586.2 lbs. 427.3 lbs. $5.23 4.47 It will be noted that tiie gain was increased quite appreciably and that the cost of gain was reduced from $5.25 per 100 pounds in the case of the corn alone to $4.47 per 100 pounds for corn and tankage. The costs are based on corn at 50 cents per bushel and tankage containing 60% protein at $44 per ton. These trials were made with varying amounts of tankage and do not show the maximum effect. It should never be fed in greater amounts than one part of tankage to 9 parts of corn and this only for young hogs. For hogs weighing 125 pounds only about one part of tankage to 12 of corn should be used and large hogs do not require a greater proportion than 1 to 15 and very good results are secured by using only one part of tankage to twenty parts of corn. The tankage or meat meal can be fed either dry or as a slop. When ground feed is used, it should be mixed and fed with the other feed. When only whole corn is used, the tankage can be fed either dry or as a thin slop. In either case, however, a tight trough is needed because a small leakage represents a large per cent of loss on such a small quantity of feed. Linseed Oilmeal differs very little from tankage in its effect on hogs. It is not as high in protein, however, and requires about double the amount to produce the same results as could be secured if tankage were used. It is not so high in price and is preferred by many feeders because it is free from the disagreeable odor found in tankage and to some extent in meat meal. A summary of four years' work at Purdue Experi- ment Station to determine the relative value of tankage and linseed oil- meal is as follows: Feed per 100 lbs, sain 4) '5 a £ beta "o fe >> • c ■ a . eS • >'5' Q OP ?4 OP Ogcj dh-) UJ 0QM ^J oSta Corn meal. Tankage Corn meal. Linseed oil meal . 1.61 1.49 370 364 241/2 46 3941/2 410 4.09 It will be noted that the gains were somewhat less rapid and the grain required to make 100 pounds gain was more when linseed oilmeal was used and that the cost of making gains with corn at 50 cents per bushel, tankage $45 per ton and linseed oilmeal $36 was $0.21 per 100 pounds cheaper by use of the former feed. There is such little differ- ence, however, that the two feeds are considered of practically the same SUPPLEMENTS FOR CORN IN DRY LOT FEEDING 65 feeding value. Linseed oilmeal should not be fed in larger amounts than one part of meal to five parts of corn. The proper proportions of oilmeal for hogs of different sizes will be secured by doubling the amount of supplement recommended under tankage. The same method of feeding is employed as when tankage is used. Shorts or Middlings.— These two by-products of flour mills are so nearly the same in feeding value that they can be considered in the same discussion. They are the most common and abundant of the sup- plementary feeds for dry lot hog feeding. It requires such a large amount of these feeds to balance a ration of corn that the cost of gains is greater when they are used as the only supplement than when milk, tanttege or oilmeal is used. The following table compiled from ten trials at the Missouri and Illinois Experiment Stations gives the effect of adding shorts or middling to corn in dry lot: Feed per 100 lbs, gain c c s be oe to In . O tO ft- Ration 0>« 10 £« 3« r 5 a ^'S^ 0* j=ja 0,0 £0 C o 3 c -* — y ni CO' £ to 2? to ej ° . 3 Steers (average) 32 Sheep (avg. for sheep and lambs) 11 Swine (average; 277 (67) 242 7.40 122 7.20 1,385 3.29 gg MODERN SYSTEMS OF SWINE MANAGEMENT If the above results are trustworthy, it is seen that a little more than one-half as much digestible organic matter is required to produce a pound of gain in live weight of swine than in case of cattle or sheep. (In this connection it is conceded however, that cattle and sheep are able to utilize a greater amount of roughness than can the hog). Nor does the food required to produce a pound of live weight tell the whole story. Another part of this same table shows the food require- ments to produce 1 pound increase in carcass and also the requirement to produce 1 pound increase in edible solids. Digestible organic substance producing IB T3 IB >o 'S ' C IB c -5 Kind of 3 0> aj M V 3 ^ £ O K m animal 0) CS ft cs a> 4 "... *? Ljy JM ■»■■■ 1 '".-.*... r SK^^^Bl'; g£ v ' ? ~'' Rape Is One of the Most Profitable Pasture Crops high priced grains. In the first place they are cheaper. They are also more efficient, since they supply the bulk and succulence demanded in the ideal ration for breeding animals. They are a great help in maintain- ing the health of the breeding herd, since the hogs are in this way in- duced to take exercise and they also make it possible to scatter the hogs over a larger area, the importance of which has already been discussed. Then the result of being able to make better use of the manure fur- nished must also be kept in mind. If the above suggestions regarding the feeding of the breeding herd are followed, much will have been done toward decreasing the cost of the pig at weaning time. The question of feeding is not the only consideration at this time, however. Careful management during the breeding season, care of sow while pregnant and at farrowing time, the care of the sow and litter and the successful weaning of the pigs, all have an important bearing upon the matter. The successful management of the pigs up to weaning time probably calls for more skill than any period during the hog's life. The expensive part of the process of pork making, however, is from weaning time until they are marketed. This is true or the reason that as the shoats are fed longer and as they become larger and fatter they require much more feed. The cost of fattening depends upon several factors, some of the most important are: (1) the quality of the hogs, (2) the age or weight, (3) the time of year, (4) the kind of feeds used, (5) the method of feed- ing. Kind of Hogs Used. — The importance of using the best type of hogs 72 MODERN SYSTEMS OF SWINE MANAGEMENT has already been taken up somewhat in detail so it is perhaps not neces- sary to discuss the matter further. The same thing is true in regard to the question of age or weight. It has been brought out that the most profitable feeding is the one which is produced by using only hogs of improved breeding, and that the younger the hog ordinarily the cheaper are the gains. It should be always borne in mind however, that regard- less of the quality or the age of the hogs, they should be kept in the best of health and thrift, if economical gains are to be secured. This means keeping the herd free from lice and worms, and supplying a conditioner of some kind in order to keep the bowels of the hogs in proper condition. Methods of doing this are discussed in the preceeding sections. Time of Year. — As a rule, most feeders find that the most economical gains are put on during spring and early summer and during late sum- mer, fall and early winter. This merely emphasizes the importance and value of making the hog comfortable and argues strongly for adequate quarters in winter and summer. If the hogs have proper shelter from the extreme cold and heat the gains put on in winter and summer would, no doubt, approach, in economy, those put on during the other seasons of the year. The hogs must be comfortable to do well. Kind of Feed Used. — There is perhaps nothing which controls the cost of gains so much as does the kind of feed used. There are two ways in which the cost of gains may be decreased during the fattening period : (1) by feeding more economical grain rations and (2) by the substitution of forage crops for high priced gains. The grain fed to hogs may be divided into two classes: those like corn, wheat, rye, barley, oats, kafir corn, etc., and which are termed carbohydrates. This class economically furnishes the nutrients neces- sary to supply energy and the material from which the fat is produced. The other class is called protein feeds and is used by the animal to produce muscle and bone. Examples of protein feeds are feeds like tankage, linseed oil meal, middlings, bran and skim milk. In order to feed economically these two classes of feeding stuffs must be combined in the proper proportion in order to supply the nutrients needed by the hogs. However, since there are several different feeds under each class it is necessary to know the relative feeding value of each in order that, taking price into consideration, the one may be used which gives the most for the money expended. CORX SUBSTITUTES In the past relatively little attention has been given to the feeds used to supply the carbohydrate part of the ration, since corn was, without question, king in this respect. Taking the price per bushel, and the feeding value into consideration, corn was a more efficient fat producing food than any other similar grain. In other words, the problem of select- ing an economical ration consisted merely in selecting a protein supple- ment to feed with corn. The relatively high price of corn during the last few years, however, has complicated the matter somewhat, so that a corn substitute was of interest as well as a corn supplement. In many sections it ofen happens that wheat is cheaper than corn and this is perhaps the grain most commonly used as a corn substitute. SUBSTITUTES FOR CORN 73 Early experimental work comparing the feeding value of these two feeds furnished some data upon the subject. This work, however, was carried on some time ago and the experiments were, for the most part, with wheat alone and corn alone. In some of the early tests a low grade or frosted wheat was also used which made the data obtained hardly com- parable with results obtained from the use of a good grade of grain. The conclusions drawn from the early experiments were to the effect that corn and wheat have about the same feeding value. Until recently no data was available to show the results of a combined ration of corn and wheat or a wheat ration supplemented with some feed high in protein and ash. The Missouri, Nebraska, Kentucky and Ohio stations have re- cently obtained data which furnishes much more complete information upon the question of wheat feeding. The Missouri Station (Bulletin 136) compared the following ration: Lot I Wheat Lot II Wheat and corn equal parts Lot III Wheat 5 parts; corn 5 parts; tankage 1 part Lot IV Wheat 10 parts; tankage 1 part Lot V Corn 10 parts; tankage 1 part Lot VII Corn The grain was fed ground in all cases. In these trials, wheat alone proved more valuable than corn alone. For example: with corn at 60 cents per bushel, wheat was worth 77 cents; with corn at 70 cents, wheat was worth 90 cents; with corn at 80 cents per bushel, wheat was worth $1.03; and when corn was worth 90 cents, wheat gave a return of $1.16. If the results obtained by all of the stations feeding wheat and tank- age be summarized, it will be seen that they indicate that for best results it is necessary to feed some tankage along with wheat, at least during the early part of the feeding period. „ The above shows then that wheat is an excellent substitute for corn and that it should be used in this way rather than as a supplement. While comparatively little experimental work is available showing the feeding value of rye and barley, they are considered as having about equal feeding value and as ranking somewhat below wheat as swine feeds. The Kansas Experiment Station has found that kafir meal has a feeding value of from 17 to 29 per cent less than corn meal. The addi- tion of a protein supplement is also recommended when kafir is used. The high percentage of fibre makes oats rank rather low as a sub- stitute for corn for fattening hogs. The Ohio Station found that it took 495.7 pounds of a ration of oats 9 parts, tankage, 1 part, to produce 100 pounds gain as compared with 418.0 pounds of a ration of corn 9 parts and tankage 1 part. Both the Indiana and Ohio Stations have experimented with hominy feed as a substitute for corn and their results indicate that the hominy feed has a somewhat higher feeding value than corn, hence, may be used as a substitute for corn when the price permits. COKN SUPPLEMENTS With feed as high as it now is the question no longer is, shall a supplement be used but rather which one is the most economical and 74 MODERN SYSTEMS OF SWINE MANAGEMENT while as stated above the high price of corn has made it necessary at times to consider the use of a substitute, the important question will ordinarily be that of deciding upon a protein supplement. The matter of protein supplements has been discussed in detail in the preceding section so will only be considered briefly at this time. The question of the relative price and efficiency will, of course, determine the one to be used. Analyses of feeds show that where 10 pounds of (first grade or 60%) tankage is required to balance 100 pounds of corn that it takes about 25 pounds of linseed oil meal; 170 pounds of mid- dlings; 200 pounds of skim milk; 26 pounds soybean meal; or 140 pounds of alfalfa hay. The above figures give a good idea of the relative effi- ciency of these different feeds when used as a supplement. FORAGE CROPS Much may be accomplished toward cheapening the cost of production by selecting the most economical grain rations. With the very best grain rations, however, the profits from feeding hogs are not as much as formerly so a nr thod of feeding has been sought which will still further decrease the cost of gain made by fattening hogs. It has been shown that this may be done by the use of a forage crop. The Missouri Experiment Station has carried on extensive experi- ments along this line. The following table emphasizes the economy of forage crops: ECONOMY OF FORAGE CROPS Kind of forage °£ a ® I -a -■£ uuggt « O 3 3 O o ° ,> a-co o