Il8 SWINE IN AMERICA 



should protect against a damp bed. Dry quarters and 

 bedding- are always the right of the mother sow, and 

 will save many pigs. 



INFLUENCE OF DAM ON LITTER 



Probably a majority do not realize as fully as they 

 need to what g-reat influence the feed of the dam may 

 exert upon the offspring; that some kinds are required 

 to make bone and that other kinds go chiefly to the mak- 

 ing of fat. If the bone-forming feeds alone are given 

 to the mother there will be a normal and sometimes 

 an abnormal development of frame, but the offspring- 

 will be in poor flesh when dropped. If only fat-forming 

 feeds are given, the offspring will be fat and glossy, 

 but deficient in bone structure. If the breeder feeds his 

 sows on corn and water, they will probably have a small 

 number of pigs, which may be fleshy, but lacking in size, 

 and they will rarely be matured at any great profit. If 

 he uses liberally feed containing protein and phosphorus, 

 he will obtain pigs with proper frames to begin with, 

 and that will yield a profit when ready for the 

 market. The fact that a pig at birth is large and lean 

 and seems loosely hinged together is no proof that it will 

 not in good time be growthy and abundantly plump. 



Bearing on this, an Iowa farmer of several years' 

 experience reports a test he made of mixed feeds com- 

 pared with corn alone, which was very interesting in its 

 outcome, and in substance was as follows : For three 

 months prior to farrowing he kept all the sows on the 

 5ame rations. One pen received nothing but corn and 



