The Oklahoma Farmer-Stockman (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 35, No. 15, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 10, 1922 Page: 6 of 32
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6 (482)
T H E CMC LAHOMA FARM E R - S TOCKMAN
August 10 1922
Good Hog Raising Calls for Good Pastures
THE PRACTICE of placing shotes
and breeding hogs in small pens
and forcing them to rely almost
if not entirely upon grains and
slops is costing Oklahoma farmers thou-
sands of dollars each year With the in
creased attention which hog production is
now receiving in Oklahoma this loss will
became more serious Perhaps the out-
stariding reasons for this failure to pro-
vide green feed for hogs are: First a
lack of realization by the producer of
the high value of such feeds in growing
hogs particularly young stuff and breed-
ing stock and second the too common
idea that hogs will thrive under any kind
of conditions
Successful hog raising — the kind in
other words which encourages a farmer
gradually to increase the number of hogs
which he keeps in contrast with the way
that leads him to go into the game one
year and out the next — demands that
plentiful supplies of pasture be avail-
able at all seasons of the year for all
young hogs at least until they weigh
around 125 pounds and at all times for
the brood sows and the boar The con-
dition of many of the under-sized worm-
ridden pigs to be seen in every commu-
nity can be traced to lack of green feed
and exercise too many of the pigs that
weigh around 100 pounds at six months
of age are so stunted largely because
of dependence being placed upon slops
and grains alone
Can Trace Farrowing Trouble
Further the cost of any gain in such
cases becomes excessively high so high
in fact that often it actually means a
loss It is of course especially true that
green feed is valuable for brood sows
that are carrying litters I have been
able to trace much of the trouble in
farrowinng and many of the litters of
weak under-sized pigs that I have seen
in this community to the common meth-
od of keeping the brood sows in small
pens instead of giving them plenty of
range with abundant pastures As a mat-
ter of fact I cannot but feel that the
farmer who consistently provides his
brood sows with pastures will seldom
have them bothered with trouble at far-
rowing time
Of course I do not wish to give the
impression that I feel the use of pasture
Hogs May Do Well on “Any Old Thing
But It’ll Pay to Treat ’Em Right
A F Armour
WHEN LIGHT HOGG GEND HOMS THS DACCH
Jffigp
Before the days of lard substitutes heavy hogs sometimes sold at a premium in the
winter because they have a slightly higher dressing percentage than light hogs and
the product from both sold at about the same price In recent years the demand for
fresh pbrk and for bacon has expanded ao that hoga weighing -160 to 190 pounds
which produce the best cuts have sold at a premium most of the time
crops will entirely make up for other
feeds No farmer can be completely suc-
cessful who fails to provide along with
the pasture sufficient amount of other
feeds It is perhaps the common ten
dency for those who use pasture crops
extensively in hog raising to place a little
too much reliance upon their value and
consequently they fail to provide suf-
ficient grain or other feed for supple
menting the pastures The amount to be
used must necessarily be governed by
the kind of hogs but this phase will be
considered in another article
Alfalfa la Best Pasture
Alfalfa is undoubtedly the premier pas-
ture crop for hogs Those who have it
will not need to seek further for green
stuff for supplementing their other feeds
But ft is important to remember that
extreme care must be used in pasturing
this crop else the stand will be destroyed
Under-pasturing each acre ' rather than
over-pasturing is essential if a stand is
is to be maintained for more than- a few
years I like alfalfa particularly for my
young hogs and depend to a large ex-
tent upon other pasture crops for the
brood sow herd
There are many farmers who could
successfully grow alfalfa who are now
keeping their hogs in small pens with-
out pastuarge Yes even many farmers
with upland soils would find it decidedly
profitable to plAnt a limited acreage of
alfalfa as a pasture crop for their hogs
In this case the use of barnyard manure
before planting the alfalfa or possibly
better as a top dressing soon after plant-
ing the crop would be advisable as
would also extreme care in using the
alfalfa after it is well started In this
connection I was talking to a farmer a
few days -ago who assured me that he
had obtained at least three times the
profit from four acres of upland alfalfa
he used as a pasture crop for shotes
he would have obtained had the land
been producing any other crop
Important for Next Year
It is especially advisable that hog pro-
ducers give very careful attention to the
matter of providing alfalfa for pasturing
their hogs next year Not that all farm-
ers can produce the crop successfully
but the great majority can if they will
only really try
Wheat and winter barley provide most
excellent winter pasture crops on the
hog farm It always makes me feel
sorry when I see a farmer with a large
acreage of wheat keeping bis brood sows
and other hogs in small pens Undoubt-
edly this kind of farmer is - forgetting
about profit! In this " connection it is
(Continued on Page 25)
It’s Not Too Late Yet for Early Breaking
THE PAST season has served to
emphasize an important truth that
was already known to most wheat
farmers but one which was not
always heeded that early plowing or
other early preparation of the ground is
the most profitable It was the wheat
from the fields that were broken early
and seeded early that filled the bins and
brought in the most grain checks this
summer
The crop season just passed was of
course an abnormal one The fact that
in many places there was scarcely no
rain from early August until mid-winter
with the possible exception of a few
showers in September kept the wheat
from coming up in the fields that were
prepared late On the other hand the
early plowed or listed ground had enough
moisture stored up in it from the July
lains to give the crop a fair start While
the difference is not so noticeable In a
year when we have plenty of late sum-
mer and early fall rains the yields when
the grain is threshed next summer show
that early preparation is still a most
important factor in successful wheat pro-
duction in Oklahoma V
Exact Method Not Co Important
A trip through the wheat belt of Okla-
homa last winter wculd have shown the
most skeptical the value of early seedbed
preparation Acres and acres of wheat
sowed on late prepared 1 nd did not
come up until this' spring This late
wheat made ycry poor yields in many
cases not more than enough to pay the
cost of harvesting and threshing I have
in mind a number of such fields that
m:de less than five bushels to the acre
A very sign'ficant fact is that on some
of the farms where the low yields were
made there was some early prepared
It Doesn’t Matter So Much How It Is Done
— Doing It Is the Main Thing
W J Green
ground that made twice or three times as
much
Most of the wheat farmers have prof-
ited by their experience of -last year
and have tried to get their land ready
as soon as possible The methods used
are not all the same Some folks start-
ed to plow as soon as the previous crop
was off the field A few disked their
ground and plowed Ijiter A considerable
number listed thefr land Of the men who
used the last method some relisted and
others “busted” out the ridges with a
disk or ridge buster
A person would not want to say which
of these methods is the proper one to
use for each man believes that his way
is the best The most important thing is
to get a good seedbed formed early in
the season The method that will accom-
plish this result in the best manner is
the one to use
The tractor has been an important fac-
tor in early plowing for with it a mah
can work late hours and except when it
breaks down which it sometimes will (jo
he can run steadily It is no uncommon
sight to see a tractor running at night
during plowing season
On our farm this year we ran two
tractors one pulling a three-bottom plow
and the other a two By working two
crews we were able to keep the outfit
going night and day Each crew con-
sisted of a man ’ and a boy We ran two
du g the 24 hours One crew
ran from 7 :00 a m until 7 :00 p in at
which time the other went on and
worked until 7 :00 the next morning By
following this method we were able to
have all our wheat ground plowed by
July 25
Some people object to working at 1
night but the time is coming when the
wheat grower who is farming on a large
scale must take a lesson from other lines
of business During the rush season
factories mills and other plants operate
for 24 hours in a day If such indus-
tries find it profitable why should not
the wheat farmer especially when the
early preparation of his land so often
means the difference between success
and failure?
Herd Luck and Bad Management
Although there has been considerable
early seedbed preparation this year
more than usual in fact there are still
a few men who left their fields to do
other work The threshing outfit which
pays $400 per day for a single hand and
$600 for a man and team proves such '
a great attraction for these folks that
they neglect their farming in order to
get these high wages
Not long ago ' a group of men were
discussing the last season’4 crop One
mentioned a certain renter who after
he had paid his harvest and threshing
bills mid settled for his rent lacked just
$600 of breaking even
“He certainly has had hard luck” re-
marked one of the group-
“No it was not ' hard luck” replied
another “It was largely his own fault
for last summer when he should have
been plowing he was working with si
threshing outfit in order to earn a' few
dollars a day The result was that when
the threshing season was over his land
was too dry to plow' and he could do
nothing with it until September I do
not call that bad luck? It was bad man-
agement” Too many of us make the mistake that
the man under discussion had made
They fail to realize that they can earn
much more by staying at home in early
summer and getting their wheat ground
in condition than -they can by working"
by the day for someone else
The Reasons Why -
The advantages of early plowing’ for
wheat may be summed up briefly as fol-
lows : The land usually' works better
just after harvest than it does later in
the season The ground is put into
condition to absorb any rain that might
fall during the summer There is time
to work the field after plowing to make
a good firm seedbed with a dirt mulch
on the surface to keep -the moisture from
evaporating
Weeds grass and any volunteer wheat
that may be up are killed out before
they rob the soil of its moisture and
available plant food Time is given for
the stubble weeds and other trash to
decay at least partly and serve as fer-
tilizer In regions where the Hessian fly
is destructive the stubble is turned un-
der and the “flax seeds” are destroyed
All of these things put together mean
higher: yields and more money in th
bank next summer when the work it
well done over a series of years
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Williams, Carl C. The Oklahoma Farmer-Stockman (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 35, No. 15, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 10, 1922, newspaper, August 10, 1922; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc2046775/m1/6/: accessed June 30, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.