Part 1 (2/2)
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 2. YARD ATTACHMENT.]
CHAPTER II.
FINIs.h.i.+NG OFF HOGS FOR BACON.
The general subject of feeding and fattening hogs it is not necessary here to discuss. It will suffice to point out the advisability of using such rations as will finish off the swine in a manner best fitted to produce a good bacon hog. An important point is to feed a proper proportion of flesh-forming ration rather than one which will serve to develop fat at the expense of lean. The proper proportion of these will best subserve the interest of the farmer, whether he is finis.h.i.+ng off swine for family use or for supplying the market with home cured bacon. A diet composed largely of protein (alb.u.minoids) results in an increased proportion of lean meat in the carca.s.s. On the other hand, a ration made up chiefly of feeds which are high in starchy elements, known as carbohydrates, yields very largely in fat (lard). A most comprehensive chart showing the relative values of various fodders and feeding stuffs has been prepared by Herbert Myrick, editor of _American Agriculturist_, and will afford a good many valuable hints to the farmer who wishes to feed his swine intelligently. This points out the fact that such feeds as oats, barley, cowpea hay, shorts, red clover hay and whole cottonseed are especially rich in flesh-forming properties.
Corn, which is rich in starch, is a great fat producer and should not be fed too freely in finis.h.i.+ng off hogs for the best cla.s.s of bacon. In addition to the important muscle-producing feeds noted above, there are others rich in protein, such as bran, skim milk, b.u.t.termilk, etc. While corn is naturally the standby of all swine growers, the rations for bacon purposes should include these muscle-producing feeds in order to bring the best results. If lean, juicy meat is desired, these muscle forming foods should be continued to the close. In order to get
JUST THE QUALITY OF BACON THAT IS WANTED,
feeders must so arrange the ration that it will contain a maximum of muscle and a minimum of fat. This gives the sweet flavor and streaked meat which is the secret of the popularity of the Irish and Danish bacon. Our American meats are as a rule heavy, rich in fat and in marked contrast with the light, mild, sweet flavored pork well streaked with lean, found so generally in the English market and cured primarily in Ireland and Denmark. What is wanted is a long, lean, smooth, bacon hog something after the Irish hog. Here is a hint for our American farmers.
England can justly boast of her hams and bacon, but for sweet, tender, lean pork the Normandy hogs probably have no superior in the world. They are fed largely on meat-producing food, as milk, peas, barley, rye and wheat bran. They are not fed on corn meal alone. They are slaughtered at about six months. The bristles are burned off by laying the carca.s.s on straw and setting it on fire. Though the carca.s.ses come out black, they are sc.r.a.ped white and clean, and dressed perfectly while warm. It is believed that hogs thus dressed keep better and that the meat is sweeter.
SELF-CLOSING DOOR FOR PIGPEN.
Neither winter snows nor the spring and summer rains should be allowed to beat into a pigpen. But the difficulty is to have a door that will shut itself and can be opened by the animals whenever they desire. The engraving, Fig. 3, shows a door of this kind that can be applied to any pen, at least any to which a door can be affixed at all. It is hung on hooks and staples to the lintel of the doorway, and swinging either way allows the inmates of the pen to go out or in, as they please,--closing automatically. If the door is intended to fit closely, leather strips two inches wide should be nailed around the frame of the doorway, then as the door closes it presses tightly against these strips.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 3. AUTOMATIC DOOR.]
A HOG-FEEDING CONVENIENCE.
The usual hog's trough and the usual method of getting food into it are conducive to a perturbed state of mind on the part of the feeder, because the hog is accustomed to get bodily into the trough, where he is likely to receive a goodly portion of his breakfast or dinner upon the top of his head. The ordinary trough too, is difficult to clean out for a similar reason--the pig usually standing in it. The diagram shown herewith, Fig.
4 gives a suggestion for a trough that overcomes some of the difficulties mentioned, as it is easily accessible from the outside, both for pouring in food and for removing any dirt or litter that may be in it. The accompanying sketch so plainly shows the construction that detailed description does not appear to be necessary.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 4. PROTECTED TROUGH.]
CHAPTER III.
SLAUGHTERING.
Whatever may be said as to the most humane modes of putting to death domestic animals intended for food, butchering with the knife, all things considered, is the best method to pursue with the hog. The hog should be bled thoroughly when it is killed. Butchering by which the heart is pierced or the main artery leading from it severed, does this in the most effectual way, ridding the matter of the largest percentage of blood, and leaving it in the best condition for curing and keeping well. The very best bacon cannot be made of meat that has not been thoroughly freed from blood, and this is a fact that should be well remembered. Expert butchers, who know how to seize and hold the hog and insert the knife at the proper place, are quickly through with the job, and often before the knife can be withdrawn from the incision, the blood will spurt out in a stream and insensibility and death will speedily ensue. It is easy, however, for a novice to make a botch of it; hence the importance that none but an expert be given a knife for this delicate operation.
There are some readily made devices by which one man at killing time may do as much as three or four, and with one helper a dozen hogs may be made into finished pork between breakfast and dinner, and without any excitement or worry or hard work. It is supposed that the hogs are in a pen or pens, where they may be easily roped by a noose around one hind leg. This being done, the animal is led to the door and guided into a box, having a slide door to shut it in. The bottom of the box is a hinged lid. As soon as the hog is safely in the box and shut in by sliding down the back door, and fastening it by a hook, the box is turned over, bringing the hog on his back. The bottom of the box is opened immediately and one man seizes a hind foot, to hold the animal, while the other sticks the hog in the usual manner. The box is turned and lifted from the hog, which, still held by the rope is moved to the dressing bench. All this may be done while the previous hog is being scalded and dressed, or the work may be so managed that as soon as one hog is hung and cleaned the next one is ready for the scalding.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 5. HEATING WATER IN KETTLES.]
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