THE SOW : SELECTION AND MANAGEMENT 1 39 



in teaspoon fill doses every few hours to quiet the sow. 

 Abortion may be followed by a discharge from the af- 

 fected parts. Tliis should have local treatment, and the 

 sow should be kept from the rest of the herd and not 

 bred until any such discharge has been entirely cured. 



The sow, in most cases, will take the boar from the 

 second to the fourth day after farrowing, but mating at 

 this time would seem a violation of nature's law, for 

 the mother should have her energies diverted to the pro- 

 duction of milk for the nursing litter and for sustaining 

 her own strength. She should not ha\'e service until 

 the first heat after weaning her litter. Then she should 

 be so fed and cared for as to gain something in flesh 

 every day and yet not become loaded with internal fat 

 from too much heating and concentrated food. If 

 treated in a friendly way she will be friendly and well 

 disposed, and ordinarily come as near paying richly for 

 all she gets as any animal kept on the farm. 



In considering the efficiency of brood sows, Henry 

 Wallace gives the following advice : ''Go over those 

 that ha\'e had pigs the present year and ask them the fol- 

 lowing questions : How many pigs did you have this 

 year? Were they even in size and form? Were they 

 all good ones, or did you have two or three choice pigs 

 and were the rest quite inferior? How did you take 

 care of these pigs ? Are you a good suckler? Are you 

 good natured ? Are you a good mother, or are you one 

 of the nervous, fidgety kind, always worrying and 

 fretting for fear somebody will hurt you and your 

 precious piglets? If the brood sow on being properly 

 interrogated, cannot give satisfactory answers to these 



