Montana farmer-stockman. [volume], August 01, 1951, Page 6, Image 6

About Montana farmer-stockman. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1947-1993

Image provided by: Montana Historical Society; Helena, MT

                
Farm and Ranch Experiences
Brooders, Constant Attention
Save Pigs at Farrowing Time
By MORRIS DOUGLAS
»4;
ft:
MY HOG HOUSE is 20 feet by 50
feet. I took 10 feet for feed room
and built self feeders at the parti
tion on the feed room side so they
could be easily filled. For agitators
I used short pieces of chain that are
bolted on the trough part and ex
tend up through the feed. The pigs
find out quickly what the chains
are for.
I feel that having the feeders in
side saves me a lot of feed. I don't
have loss from wind or weather. I
like them in the summer and rainy
season, but in the winter my brood
sows don't go out and get enough
exercise.
At farrowing time I make 10 pens
—five on each side with a 4-foot
alley in the middle. I have the hog
house wired so that one outlet will
take care of two pens. The pens are
8 feet by 8 feet. Pens are removable.
Last spring we farrowed 94 pigs
from nine sows. At the end of three
weeks we had 89 pigs. The credit
goes to the electric brooder and be
ing present when the sow is farrow
ing.
I have had experience with the
element type and the bulb type
brooder. In my experience the ele
ment type is not satisfactory. They
do not give off even heat or enough
of it. I like the.bulb type with a
Value of Water Reservoirs
Can't Be Overestimated
. I
By J. C. LATKA, Richland County
EASTERN MONTANA'S hilly ter
rain provides excellent sites for pri
vate dam construction. I have four
dams on my place, and it would be
impossible to overestimate their
value for irrigation, stock watering
and wildlife shelter.
My reservoir by the buildings has
a 5,000-yard fill and holds approx
imately 12 acres of water 15 féçt
deep at the deepest spot. It is a 26
foot lift to the buildings, and it costs
about 42 cents an hour to run a
5-inch pump, but I consider it well
worth while. I irrigate my entire
shelterbelt, fruit trees, shrubs and
garden.
My largest lake has an 8,000-yard
fill and, when full, covers about 27
acres 17 feet at the deepest spot. I
irrigated 30 acres of corn in two dif
ferent years and raised enough corn
fodder, which I cut with a corn
binder, to feed 80 head of cattle for
90 days each year.
Now I am planting part of my land
to grasses to permit irrigation by
gravity and to use as much water
as possible early in the spring be
fore there is serious loss from evap
oration.
I have learned from experience
that wherever possible, dams should
be constructed parallel to the direc
tion of the prevailing \yinds. One of
my dams faces east and whenever
strong winds blow the waves shift
the rock riprapping and even splash
over the top, sometimes making ex
tensive repairs necessary.
know when they are due to farrow.
When they are abouti three days off
we put the sows in the pen. I just
about live with my pigs when they
are farrowing. I take the little pigs
right away and put them in the
brooder until the sow is through. By
that time the pigs are dry and strong.
Then I let them out to suckle and
pen thém up when they are through,
I do this about four or five times,
100 watt bulb for cold weather and
a 60 for warmer weather.
We pen breed all our sows and
but if it is cold the little pigs will
go in by themselves after about two
or three times. Putting the pigs in
keeps the mothers quiet and they
come to their milk better.
I bought my brooders. They are
made of metal but a person can
build them very cheaply of wood.
There is one big precaution—FIRE.
Be sure to keep excess straw out of
thé brooder. I put wooden bottoms
on mine so I wouldn't need too much
straw. Every morning I clean out
excess straw. You'd be surprise how
much straw those little pigs rake
in with their feet.
In my business I figured that if
the brooders saved me one pig they
were more than paid for. It's the
pigs that get to market that pay.
Brooders will save a big percentage.
I learned, too, that it isn't feasible
to build a dam with the intention of
making it larger later. When you en
large a dam you run into a expen
sive process of getting dirt a dis
tance away from the original fill,
You can't possibly get dirt from
inside the dam which has held water
during the season because it will
be too wet.
Drainage Ditch
Reclaims Land
By HARRY V. STOTT
Teton County
FIRST LET ME say that it is too
bad that land should be allowed to
get into a condition where it would
need reclaiming at high cost to any
operator now or in the future. Had
a good domestic grass been seeded
some years back perhaps this land
would have become a good hay
meadow or pasture, but it had
reached the point where only alkali
weed and foxtail would grow,
It was plain to see that something
would have to be done to prevent
any further loss of valuable land.
After the formation of the Teton
Soil Conservation district in 1947,
I immediately sought their help. A
soil survey was made to determine
the types of soils and what they
would be best suited for. This gives
me the over-all picture of what the
farm is like and what different sec
tions of the farm are best suited for.
In the early fall of 1948, 15 test
holes were made to determine where
the water was coming from'that was
causing the trouble on the poorly
drained, saline soils, also to deter
mine the water table and types of
soils down to 10 feet. By spring of
1949, the soil conservation service
had obtained enough information to
show that an open drain could be
use( j in an effort to reclaim the 30
A 'dragline was contracted to do
the work A total of 4 x 34.4 yar( j s
or more acres of wet ground.
of dirt was moved. Mats, had to be
used in moving 894 yards of the
total. The cost to me was $1,004.46;
however, there will be a government
payment to cover a part of this cost.
Red Clover Seed Crop
Nets Good Profit
The 26-acre field, in clover for the
A RED CLOVER seed crop in. 1949
turned out to be one of the highest
producing, high-income crops grown
at the Hill brothers farm, (Edward,
William and Sam), Carbon county.
first time, yielded 475 pounds of
clean seed per acre. The seed was
sold for $49 or $50 per 100 pounds.
A little arithmetic will tell you that
The same field looks promising
for a seed crop again this year. But,
as Sam Hill explained, even though
the seed crop might not come
through every year, there would still
be a crop of good hay. The clover
is clipped the last part of June and
then let grow for seed. And of
course this clipping yields some hay
for the livestock also—about one
.
*his irrigated clover field added
about $ 6,000 to the cash farm income.
ton per acre.
The clover is irrigate^ once before
clipping and usually twice after. The
clover is cut the last part of Sep
tember, using a windrower on the
mower. A tractor loader puts it into
the stack for threshing. The Hill
brothers find that the clover straw
left after threshing for seed makes
good feed for livestock.
The livestock program at the Hill
farm is a Polled Hereford beef cattle
operation. Calves are sold in spring
Sam Hill. Carbon county, displays ir
rigating technique used at farm with
canvas dam in place and shovel used
to let water into small oat field near
farmstead. Basically a beef cattle op
eration with plenty of hayland. recent
departure has been clover seed pro
duction. Field seen below is first seed
ing of alsike clover doing well in mid
summer, 1950. A 26-acre red clover
field added $6.000 to farm income in
1949 with 475 pounds of seed to the
acre selling at $49 or $50 per 100
pounds.
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The drain continued to run a
stream of water all summer and fall
until it was frozen in the early win
ter. It didn't take long for the land
to dry out, and I was able to work
it three times during the summer.
By all appearances the drain is do
ing what I expected it to, however,
a short addition may be needed at
the upper end of the ditch to com
pletely drain the field.
In the spring I seeded this ground
to oats and sweet clover. The sweet
clover is to be plowed under as a
green manure crop this year. In
addition to this I plan to use phos
phate in test strips. By doing this
I can determine how much value
there is to be gained by the use of
'phosphate.
and fall usually, but sometimes are
held over for sale as yearlings. Ani
mais are sold grass fat with a goocf
start toward a finish but are not put
into a feed lot.
Hay is a big crop at the farm with
f,. om 250 to 300 tons put up each
year. Some of this is usually sold,
rhe hay is a mixture of alfalfa, clover
and timothy. The seeding rate is
about 10 pounds of alfalfa and 5
pounds of clover and timothy mixed
per acre. About 75 acres of irrigated
small grain, oats and barley, is grown
each year, mostly for livestock feed
ing in winter, but some is sold as
a cash crop,
Total irrigated acreage on the farm
amounts to 320 acres plus another
140 leased.
Another 150 acres in dryland pas
ture is available at the home place
and 600 additional on national forest
land with a grazing permit for 80
head.
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