Aii enormous loss is sustained by the adoption of the second system. 

 as. alter the pig has arrived at some three months old. the cost of 

 producing a pound of meat from it will gradually increase, so that a 

 5S ivsiilts after a few months. The cause of this is not far to seek : 

 the young and growing pig can and does utilised all the properties of 

 the food, so that the growing and feeding progress simultaneously, 

 whilst the older and store pig really needs only those properties of 

 the food which are required to fatten it. so that the other properties 

 not utilised air simply wasted. Besides this a certain quantity of 

 food is required simply for its upkeep, so that if the pig lives only a 

 month longer than is absolutely necessarv the value of this amount of 

 food is thrown away. 



It has always been, and perhaps it will continue to be, a moot 

 point as to whether it is more profitable to breed pigs and then sell 

 them when they are about eight or nine weeks old, or to keep them for 

 some six months and then sell them as strong stores, or to breed and 

 fatten them. It' in the past the latter plan appeared to lend itself 

 best to the realisation of a profit from pig keeping, the present 

 conditions certainly favour this system : besides this, the middleman's 

 expenses and profits, the loss of condition in flesh, and the 

 risk of disease and illness, are all avoided when the pigs are 

 both bred and fattened in the same place. Improvement of the pig 

 stock of the country is also much more likely, as the breeder and 

 feeder is given a strong incentive to so breed his pigs that thev will 

 grow more quickly and fatten more readily, on a smaller quantity 

 of food ; whereas, if the system of selling the pigs as stores is fol- 

 lowed, the chief aim of the breeder will be to produce pigs which 

 appear to be big for the money, pigs which are long in the legs, 

 coarse in bone, and generally deficient in quality. 



The best system of management of sows and young pigs varies 

 with the district. There is often a considerable quantity of available 

 food which costs little, be it odds and ends from the garden and the 

 house in the country, or from hotels or public institutions wherever 

 they may be found. In many, if not in most, instances, the sow may 

 be kept at little expense during the three months after her pigs are 

 weaned — a run in a paddock or grass field during the spring and 

 summer will be well nigh sufficient ; then, when the. grass loses its 

 quality, or becomes less in quantity, the addition of a few peas, beans, 

 or soaked maize, or even roots of almost any kind given raw — 

 potatoes only being steamed or boiled — will suffice. Even the kitchen 

 refuse from fair sized houses will go far towards the keeping of the 

 brood sow. During the latter stage of pregnancy the sow must be 

 fed on more nourishing diet, since the drain on a sow is very con- 

 siderable in the production of a good litter. 



In the majority of cases the farrowing sow needs but little help. 

 So tew of the ordinary sows kept are accustomed to the owner or 

 attendant taking much notice of them that they will probably resent 

 the offers of help when the pain and excitement attending farrowing 

 render the sows more sensitive and nervous. There may be times 

 when a little help is needed, as when one of the little pigs is presented 

 doubled up, as sometimes occurs ; then the attendant's hand should 

 lie will greased and carefully inserted, so that the pig be returned 

 into the womli. when it will most probably be rightly presented 



