Richmond County 4-H'er Raising Chickens and Hogs, 1945

By F.H. Jeter, Extension Editor, N.C. State College, Raleigh, as printed in the Wilmington Star on October 8, 1945

A hog will not catch chickens if it is fed a balanced ration. That’s the conclusion Jimmy Gibson of the Ledbetter community of Richmond County has reached after giving the matter a thorough trial. Jimmy is a 4-H Club boy and he not only owns a fine purebred Hampshire gilt, of which he is very proud, but he also owns some very nice Hampshire chickens. Some of the young pullets which he is now raising have been associated with the Hampshire gilt and, until recently, they apparently have been getting along well together. All of a sudden, however, the gilt developed savage tendencies and began to feast on Jimmy’s prize pullets. Eggs and chicken meat being as scarce as they are caused Jimmy to take steps at once.

At first, he decided to fatten the gilt for immediate slaughter, then he reasoned that perhaps it was not the pig’s fault. She has been fastened in a pen for some weeks and perhaps she was not getting the balanced food that she needed. Jimmy decided that the gilt would not so suddenly take a liking for chicken meat unless something was lacking in her diet, so he talked with Assistant Farm Agent Q.E. Colvard about the matter and as a result, Jimmy bought some fish meal and is now giving the gilt about one-half of a pound of this high protein feed each day. The gilt has lost her appetite for chicken and the two different kinds of Hampshires have re-established friendly relations. The chickens visit the gilt and the gilt seems to be happy in the companionship.

Jimmy says, therefore, if you must keep hogs confined in a pen, see to it that they are fed some green stuff as well as a supplementary protein ration. Corn alone is not enough.

Jack Kelley, swine specialist, adds to this hog story by urging all farmers to raise an extra pig per litter this fall would result in about 85,000 additional pigs in North Carolina, or 17,000,000 pounds of pork worth $2,473,500 when the pigs are finished at 200 pounds each.

Jack suggests a plan which is being used by some of our most successful hog growers and which should help in increasing the number of pigs raised per litter. This is the plan: Hand feed the sow during the gestation period and keep her in good, medium condition. One bushel of corn, one bushel oats, and five pounds of fish meal or tankage per day is satisfactory. The sow should have plenty of green feed and a mineral mixture consisting of 10 parts limestone, 5 parts steamed bone meal, and 2 parts salt. All of this should be kept before the brood animal at all times.

Clean the house out thoroughly before farrowing and bed it with clean, fresh straw. The house should be moved to clean ground that has grown a crop since being used as a hog pasture. This prevents wormy pigs. Be sure the house has a guard rail to prevent pigs from being mashed by the mother sow.

Pigs at birth often have eight sharp teeth which prevent them from nursing. These teeth should be cut with a pair of small sharp side cutting pliers, being careful not to injure the gums.

Give the sow plenty of water but no feed during the first 24 hours after farrowing. Start her on feed by providing a small amount of slop mixture made from middlings. Increase the feed gradually and about the third or fourth day she may have some corn. When the pigs are about 10 days old, the sow should be on full feed. Use a self feeder and full-feed grain, protein supplement and the mineral mixture. A good, annual pasture will save about 1-3 of the protein feed and 15 to 20 per cent of the grain. Pastures also will help in preventing parasites and diseases of pigs.

The best time to trim pigs is when they are about five weeks old. When doing this, be sure they are dry and clean.

When the pigs are at eight weeks of age, continue full feeding until they are finished for market.

Jack says that this is an almost sure way to have that extra animal per litter this fall and he invites every hog grower in the state to give it a trial.

Many eastern Carolina farmers are feeding hogs the economical way this summer by providing grazing crops. For instance, Charlie Clark, farm agent in Onslow, tells about a test being made by J.H. Gillette of Silverdale. Last July 28, Mr. Gillette placed 25 pigs on 10 acres of soybeans. He picked out four typical animals, notched their ears, and weighed them. Each pig weighed 83 pounds when placed on the soybean pasture. On August 29, after 36 days of grazing, the four pigs were caught and weighed again, tipping the scales at 99 ½ pounds each or having gained 16 ½ pounds per head or nearly one-half a pound a day with no other feed except for a small amount of corn supplied each day.

Also on August 9, Raymond Oldham of near Swansboro put 47 pigs on a field of soybeans and selected four pigs for weighing. The animals were started on the grazing period at an average weight of 38 pounds each and on August 30, just 21 days later, they were reweighed, showing a gain of 9 ½ pounds each or about one-half a pound of gain per day. Mr. Oldham fed the pigs about three-fourths of a pound of grain each day consisting of a mixture of one-half oats and one-half corn.

Charlie Clark says that both farmers are pleased with this demonstration of how to feed pigs cheaply and they plan to use grazing crops more extensively in the future. In doing so, they are simply applying knowledge that will mean much to the hog growing industry of the state.