Management and Feed of Swine. 555 



vided they are reasonably free from dust. A board or scantling 

 placed about 8 inches from the floor and standing out 8 inches about 

 the sides of the farrowing pen lessens the danger of the mother 

 crushing her young. In the case of heavy, clumsy sows, separate 

 the pigs from the dam by placing them in a chaff-lined box or 

 barrel for a couple of days. Sows properly handled before far- 

 rowing will not usually resent such separation. The pigs will then 

 be safe, and the attendant can pass them to the dam for nourish- 

 ment at short intervals. A chilled pig may be revived by immer- 

 sion in water as warm as the hand will bear. 



908. Care of sow and litter. Farrowing time over, with the in- 

 creased flow of milk the ration should be gradually made more 

 liberal. The coarse feeds, so useful at other times, must now largely 

 give way to rich concentrates such as skim milk, heavy flour mid- 

 dlings, ground oats, soybeans, cowpeas, and linseed meal to furnish 

 nitrogenous matter, and corn, barley, kafir, or milo meal in large 

 proportion to furnish the carbohydrates. Water should be liberally 

 added to form a thin slop. Sows with litters should be most lib- 

 erally fed, for at no other time will feed go so far or give such 

 large returns. (816) Good mothers with large litters will usually 

 lose flesh despite the most liberal feeding. 



909. Feeding the litters. When two or three weeks old the un- 

 weaned pigs should be encouraged to eat with the mother by pro- 

 viding thin, sloppy food in a shallow, low-set trough. Because 

 the sucklings cannot fully satisfy their hunger by such provision, 

 there should be further provided a separate, low trough which can- 

 not be reached by the dam. For young pigs dairy by-products, 

 in combination with various ground grains and milling by-products, 

 are easily the best of all feeds. For very young pigs there is nothing 

 better among the grains than ground oats with the hulls sieved out 

 and red-dog flour. Corn, barley, kafir, and milo meal, dark feed- 

 ing flour, flour wheat middlings, and ground emmer with the chaff 

 removed, etc., may all be freely used for sows and pigs as the young 

 things come on. Soaked whole corn thinly scattered over a feeding 

 floor gives feed and enforces exercise. Pigs separately fed before 

 weaning grow faster and draw less on the sow a matter of impor- 

 tance where the litters are large. The litters are usually weaned at 

 ten weeks, but by properly feeding both dam and young the pigs 

 will gradually wean themselves. Where young sows have large 

 litters or are unable to properly nourish their young it is well to 

 remove and wean the strongest pigs at seven weeks. 



