It took more than a little work to raise hogs – but hardly anything at all to make them happy.
Whoooieee: What a stink! Soooieee! Call the hogs! What we call garbage today and spend millions of dollars to dispose of was once called slop and was fed to the hogs. What could be more simple? Not only was the practice simple, it made money instead of costing money.
Each day’s chores included collecting table scraps and milk products after processing, carrying it all in buckets to the hog pens, mixing the slop with water-soaked grain, then pouring the concoction into wooden troughs for the hogs’ enjoyment. Better get out of the way, too, for the hogs fought with vigor over the odiferous recycled foodstuff.
After a short time, “and a little work,” the slop turned into bacon, ham, pork chops, sausage and other delights welcome at all tables. The key words here are “a little work.” In today’s society, the distasteful work involved would not be acceptable to many. Most of us say, “Let the big boys on the pig farms and packing plants do it. I’m too busy.”
I can remember when almost every farm and ranch had a hog pen where pork was raised for home consumption. Daily chores always include tending the hogs along with other livestock. Barrels alongside the pens held grain soaking in water, awaiting the time when it would be added to the feed ration. The annual or semi-annual hog butchering day offered a fun time when meat and lard were processed for home use and everyone caught up on the local news.
Grandpa Charlie Trew was a farm animal expert who seemed to know what to do to all farm animals, especially hogs. Every so often, for reasons unknown to me today, he fed the hogs “finely hammered coal” in the ration to eliminate stomach worms. At other times, he added a mild solution of lye to their water to treat other parasites.
He also serviced the hog oiler faithfully with used tractor and vehicle oils to eliminate lice and flies. This cast iron drum-like device rolled when hogs rubbed against its surface. Since the bottom was kept immersed in oil, the newly turned surface coated their itchy hides for protection.
Now let’s look at a few hog facts. It is an absolute fabrication that the balls of mud carried on the end of a hog’s tail keeps them from sleeping. The old saying of “hogs are the dumbest animals on earth” is also a lie, as science proves they are in fact among the most intelligent of all domestical animals.
It is true that hogs are responsible for a lot of people going to hell, as no one can load hogs without cussing a blue streak. I can also testify that hogs are hard to ride, as they have no handles to hang onto. Hogs are laid back and do not worry about personal possessions as they have no hip pockets to hold accumulation. Hogs are not vain, as there are no mirrors hanging in a hog lot.
One of my fondest memories as a little boy is approaching a favorite pet hog, scratching its underbelly and watching it flip over on its side in ecstasy at the caress. It doesn’t take much to make a hog happy.
Delbert Trew is a freelance writer, retired rancher and supervisor of the Devil’s Rope Museum in McLean, Texas. Contact him at Trew Ranch, Box A, Alanreed, TX 79002; (806) 779-3164; email: delrutrew@gmail.com.