FROM THE NOR-WEST FARMER AND MANITOBA MILLER, SEPTEMBER 1886
In a paper published in the June issue of the Nor-West Farmer, I pointed out the superiority of our northern small grains, such as barley and oats, over Indian corn as feed for pigs. Mr. Sumner, the manager of extensive pork-curing works at Cork, Ireland, has since been speaking out pretty strongly to Irish farmers on the same subject.
Said he: “Fat bacon is becoming more objectionable, and if the bacon trade is to continue to our country as a source of profit, corn-fed pigs must cease.” He also said that a leading member of the provision trade in Hamburg said to him last summer that “our bacon has deteriorated considerably since our farmers have commenced feeding their pigs on Indian corn, the meat being too fat and oily.” We must stop feeding so much corn to our pigs, and give them a chance at clover and other more nitrogenous and muscle-making foods. He recommends the feeding of barley meal, pea meal, crushed oats, and potatoes, with mill tailings. “Any of the first,” said he, “augmented with the second, will produce pork no country need be ashamed of, and as such will holds its own against all competition.” He also recommended milk with the feeds named. Is there not a hint here for pork raisers?
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