B4—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 10,1981
Hog breeder
(Continued from Page B 2)
litter enrolled in the testing
program Main thrust of the
organization is to promote
puiebreds over the hybrid
lines of commercial pigs
being developed by cor
porate interests investing in
large fattening operations
Purebred bloodlines are
needed in those hybrids to
maintain their size and
strength,’ explains Parlett
Pigs will revert to
dwarfism’, become small
and stunted eventually, if
« -
Heart of the Twin Maples hog production operation is the farrowing house
Jim, Gus and Melody make frequent checks on the new litters and expectant
mothers.
&
r i& *
tney re continuously
hnebred
Chester Whites aie one of
the sounder breeds of hogs,
says this breedei, who gi ew
up raising these favorites,
but has tried his hand in a
few other varieties
They’re cleaner than some
breeds, have good mothering
tendencies, and have a
calmer temperament,
although they 11 readily fight
when they feel it necessary
A little more growth
ability is one thing we need
to be breeding into them, ’ he
t
TS.f
adds, but we need to keep
em lean Chestei Whites
were once considei ed a tat
type pig and occasionally
we 11 come up with one shoi t,
lat one in a litter That does
seem to run in ceitain
bloodlines and we weed them
out pretty quick
Because consistent
linebreedmg does intensity
genetic weaknesses, Parlett
periodically introduces new
bloodlines to his Twin
Maples stock He also
maintains a few purebred
sows ot the Spotted breed in
the operation
Still farming the home
farm where he grew up, Jim
and his wife Melodv r an a
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The Parlett family Jim, Melody and Gus gather armfuls of potential hog
show winners
dairy operation theie will
1%9 Jim & father had tai
med one of the largest dairy
set-ups in the area at one
time, including two faints
with Guernsey cattle and
about 500 acres of
cropground
But along with the dairy
cows, the family always kept
a few pens of purebred
Chester Whites In 1449,
when he was just ten yeais
old and in his second y ear ot
4-H project work. Pailett
exhibited the champion
market pig A y ear later he
repeated the teat, and he s
been bringing home hog
trophies evei since
Jim and Melody s son,
Gus, is following in his dad s
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footsteps as the second
generation ot the family
earning 4-H honors with
Chester Whites Just in his
second yeai ot 4-H
exhibiting, Gus has aheady
claimed seceial top prizes at
area hog shows and roun
dups
About 30U head of hogs ai e
kept at Twin-Maples at all
times and roughly half ot the
annual pioduction is sold as
breeding stock Through
sales at the national breed
events, Parlett s Chestei
White stock has gone into
hog herds in numeious
states, including lowa,
Wisconsin and North
Dakota
While such breeding stock
constitutes a valuaole
commodity at Twin Maples,
fattened hogs constitute an
income mainstay toi
everyday operations And,
like all hogs pioducers in
recent years, watching the
market price jump like a
bouncing ball is just anothei
part ol the pork business toi
Parlett
The ups and downs in hog
puces are the pork in
dustry s biggest single
headache,’ he figures
And second on the list ot
problems is the dieaded
scours diseases, tast-acting
bacteua that can be the
scourge ot hog operations
(Turn to Page 85)