I50 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



nine weeks old most pigs are, or rather should be, fit to 

 take away from the sow; some litters are individually 

 older at seven weeks than others at ten, and better fitted 

 for weaning. Sometimes it is necessary to wean when 

 the pigs are five or six weeks old, and in other cases it 

 may be advisable to wait until the pigs are ten weeks or 

 even older. In the corn belt the period will generally 

 average longer than in New England. Breeders who 

 wean at early ages generally do so in order to more 

 profitably raise tv/o litters a year. 



Provided with and taught to eat suitable feed some 

 weeks beforehand pigs are not noticeably checked ni 

 their growth by weaning, but those that have been de- 

 pendent mainly upon the mother's milk, when abruptly 

 taken away from it, frequently seem to have their growth 

 partially suspended for weeks. Many breeders success- 

 fully let the sow wean her pigs, as she will in time, and 

 the change is so gradual that no pause in growth indi- 

 cates when the milk diet ceased. A modified application 

 of this, in which the pigs are separated from the sow at 

 an age suiting their feeding and the convenience of the 

 breeder, will not infrequently be found advisable, but by 

 no means should the pigs be allowed to remain with a 

 sow until she is virtually devoured by them as is some- 

 times done. 



It is not a good plan to take all the pigs from the sow, 

 unless one or two of them can be turned with her some 

 hours after, to draw the milk she will have at that 

 time, and again, say after a lapse of 24 hours. The 

 preferred way is to leave about two of the smallest with 

 her for several days, and after that leave only one for 



