554 Feeds and Feeding. 



Stock hogs that do not otherwise get exercise in winter should 

 be provided with a feeding floor, covered if possible, on which 

 shelled corn and whole oats are thinly scattered so as to force the 

 hogs to pick up a grain at a time to satisfy their hunger. Here 

 too can be placed racks holding legume hay. In this way pigs may 

 be kept out of their beds and on their feet for hours at a time. 

 Young breeding stock and shotes should gain from half to three- 

 fourths of a pound daily in winter, the supply of feed being 

 regulated to that end. 



907. At farrowing time. Sows thin in flesh should have their 

 feed gradually increased so as to be in good condition before far- 

 rowing. As this period approaches let the feed be both sloppy and 

 limited in amount. Costiveness, common at this time, should be 

 forestalled by feeding wheat bran, linseed oil meal, roots, or the 

 finer parts of some legume hay, and by keeping the animals out of 

 doors and forcing them to exercise. Kennedy 1 reports that in Eng- 

 land sows are commonly given from 4 to 5 oz. of Epsom salts 2 

 days before farrowing. Nothing but lukewarm water should be 

 given the sow during the 24 hours previous to farrowing unless she 

 shows signs of hunger, in which case a thin, warm slop containing 

 a little ground oats, wheat middlings, or linseed meal may be sup- 

 plied. The desire of the sow to eat her young shows abnormal feed 

 or care, or both, for such mothers are usually costive and feverish. 

 When trouble is apprehended Bell 2 recommends feeding about 3 

 Ibs. of salt pork, cut in strips. Harbert would apply mucilage con- 

 taining equal parts of a tincture of aloes and asafetida to the pigs 

 with a sponge as soon as they are dry. Sows do not like this and 

 will let pigs so treated alone. It is far more rational to forestall 

 such possible trouble by enforcing exercise, giving coarse, bulky 

 feeds, and especially in seeing that the bowels move freely and that 

 the sows are not feverish at farrowing time. For three or four 

 days after farrowing feed lightly with skim milk and oat or barley 

 meal, linseed meal, wheat middlings, or bran in the form of a thin 

 slop. 



The farrowing place should be comfortable and so sheltered that 

 a deep nest is not necessary to prevent the new-born pigs being 

 chilled, for they may be crushed in a deep, bird-like nest. Long 

 hay or straw is not suitable for bedding, for it may entangle the 

 pigs. Cut straw or hay, chaff, and leaves are satisfactory, pro- 



1 U. S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Anim. Indus., Bui. 77. 

 2 Breeder >s Gazette, 1907, Vol. 51, p. 535. 



