INSTITUTE PAPERS. I45 



not to overfeed and get her sick of the feed, as this will cause 

 her milk to dry up. See to it that she cleans up each feed and 

 is ready for her next feed. By the time the pigs are two 

 weeks old she may have a light feed of corn at night in cold 

 weather. 



As the pigs become older they will need other feed and will 

 begin to eat when two or three weeks old. By having a small 

 inclosure adjacent to the sleeping quarters, which they can en- 

 ter without admitting the mother, and in this placing some 

 soaked corn, wheat, or oats, they will soon learn to eat and 

 lighten the drain on the mother and they will grow very fast. 



The pigs will be ready to wean at eight weeks of age and the 

 sows can be bred again for the second litter, as they will bring 

 two litters per year. The first should come from March i 

 to April I and the second from Sept. i to Oct. i. 



The pigs should then be liberally fed with good pasture in 

 summer and finished the last month with corn. The spring lit- 

 ters should be ready for the butcher in October and November 

 and weigh from 200 to 250 pounds and the fall litters in Feb- 

 ruary and March and weigh from 150 to 200 pounds each. 

 The mothers, if bred again, during the summer months, will 

 need little food other than good pasture and clean water to 

 drink, until about a month before the fall litter is expected. 

 Then feed with protein or muscle forming foods, as in winter. 



DISEASE. 



There is very little satisfaction in doctoring sick hogs and, 

 in most cases, particularly after they are sick enough to refuse 

 food, it is impossible, hence prevention is much better than an 

 attempt to cure after the disease is contracted. 



With the heavy feeding recommended for the sow, particu- 

 larly in cold weather, when the young stay close to their beds, 

 they are frequently taken with the "Thumps." This is not 2 

 disease, as the term applies, but rather an ailment caused by 

 the want of exercise, and breathing the same air over and over 

 again in their beds. The best and fattest pigs are taken first 

 and, when taken, soon die if not relieved. 



Prevention is far better than cure in this case and exercise 

 is the only prevention. The fall litters are seldom afifected,. as 



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