CHAPTER XVIII 



GENERAL MANAGEMENT OF PIGS 



General Management The Boar and the Breeding Sow, and their 

 Treatment Fattening Pigs Feeding Cooked z/. Uncooked Food 

 Warington's Estimates of Dead to Live Weight Berkshire 

 Crosses and their Yield Cost of producing One Stone of Pork 

 Number of Pigs kept in a Dairy Diseases of Pigs. 



THE Breeding Sow should be lengthy rather than short, 

 yet not out of proportion, and there is no objection to 

 her being one of a first litter. She should possess the char- 

 acteristic points of her breed, and, as a sucking pig, be con- 

 spicuous in the litter for size and quality. She should be of 

 a family noted for good milking properties, as the quality 

 of milk differs among pigs nearly as much as among dairy 

 cows She may be put as a hilt or gelt to a young, well- 

 developed boar of her own age when large enough to breed, 

 say at seven to nine months old, and during these months 

 she should not be forced but fed to develop bone and flesh. 

 If not impregnated (in common language " missed "), she 

 will come in season in exactly three weeks. She remains in 

 heat about three days, and is best served the second or 

 third day. The condition is easily recognised by redness 

 and swelling behind and by the animal mounting on others. 

 A secretion may be observed on the first day of a milky 

 appearance. A sow with large flat teats, which are invariably 

 blind, should be rejected. Boars should not run with their 

 sows, but be kept separate to avoid accidents and liability to 

 exhaustion through too frequent matings. One complete 

 service is most effective. A boar is capable of attending to at 

 least fifty sows in the year, but instances of serving 120 to 

 1 50 a year are claimed in Denmark. Bad-tempered boars are 

 dangerous, and should be got rid of. "A strong, vigorous 

 boar, from one to four years old, may be fed chiefly on 

 swill, stirred with a very little barley-, pea-, or bean-meal, twice 



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