The Brood Sow and Her Litter. 



381 



farrowing. The afterbirth should also be removed from the pen so that 

 the sow will not eat it, for there is good reason to believe that some sows 

 are started to eating pigs by first eating the afterbirth. 



Feeding the Sow While Suckling Pigs. — From the time the pigs are 

 born until they are weaned, the sow is placed under the heaviest strain. 

 This is a period when it requires good feed to prevent the sow from get- 

 ting poor if she is a good enough milker to get the best growth in the 

 pigs. For a few hours after the sow has farrowed she needs no feed 

 other than water that has been warmed enough to have the chill re- 

 moved. After twelve or twenty-four hours she should receive a warm 

 feed of medium to thin slop of some kind of ground feed or of milk. 

 After this the feed should be gradually increased until the sow is receiv- 

 ing as much feed as she requires. The feeding of very cold feed or 

 water to newly-farrowed sows often causes an indigestion and chill that 

 not only injures the sow, but prevents the proper flow of milk. Too 

 heavy feeding for the first few days may result in the too sudden stimu- 

 lation of milk flow, which scours the pigs and often results in their death 

 or permanent injury. After the pigs are large enough to use all the 

 milk, the more milk-producing feed, the better. 



The heavy strain upon the sow while suckling pigs is shown by the 

 replies to the question as to the feed given sows while suckling pigs. The 

 following table shows the number and per cent, of farmers feeding the 

 different kinds of feed with or without corn : 



These results show that 85.1 per cent, of the hog-raisers use a mixed 

 feed for sows suckling pigs, and 14.9 per cent, use corn alone. These, 

 of course, are used in connection with pasture, which in itself gives much 

 bone and muscle-forming food. All the supplements, except oats, are 

 fed in the form of slop. 



It is noted that all the feeds used for slop are ones that contain a 

 good percentage of protein and ash for the formation of muscle and 

 bone. The need of this kind of feed for sows suckling pigs is pointed 



