The Art of Keeping Clean Swine
A century and a half ago, local hog farmers were advised on the strict management of breeding and hygiene to improve their stock.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Many farmers desire to improve their stock of hogs. This can be done. Select the likeliest sow pigs from your own stock or from any source where you can obtain them. Do not allow them to bring forth litters before they are sixteen or eighteen months old. Select the boar pig in the same manner. Keep him by himself until he is of the same age, and always keep him alone when his services are not needed. Follow this practice and you will improve your swine, and not till then. When a sow has pigs, keep them in a pen by themselves. To be successful in raising good hogs, good care should be taken of them. They want warm, clean, dry apartments to sleep in, with comfortable bedding. The pens—if they are kept in pens—should be divided off so that they should have a place for sleeping, a place for feeding, and a place for their evacuations. The hog is naturally a clean animal. If a little pains is taken, it will keep clean—never making its sleeping apartment filthy. So says an experienced hog raiser in the Valley Farmer.
“The hog is naturally a clean animal. If a little pains is taken, it will keep clean—never making its sleeping apartment filthy.”
Modern industrial agriculture has moved far away from these 'clean' practices, but the tension between efficient, large-scale production and animal welfare remains a core issue in Washington's agricultural identity.
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