THE MOST COMMON DISEASES OF SWINE 573 



L. N. Bonham says: "We look upon scours as evi- 

 dence of indigestion or cold. Whenever we find any de- 

 rangement of this kind we at once try to find the cause. 

 It may be that the sow has been overfed or her slop has 

 been changed, or she has found some impure or un- 

 wholesome feed the effect of which is seen in the pigs. 

 \Ve have known litters to be put out of fix by giving a 

 sow a feed of very sour buttermilk or stale milk. We 

 know a case where the pigs were made sick from the sow 

 getting out of a clean pen and grass lot into a filthy barn- 

 yard and coming back to her pigs covered with the filth 

 of a wallow. We have known the disorder to follow a 

 change of pen, causing the pigs to take cold. A wet bed 

 or pen is a most prolific source of scours. Pigs that 

 have dry, clean beds and pens may be put out of condi- 

 tion by one run in wet grass or clover, or going with 

 the sow into wet places where they are chilled, or where 

 the sow gets rank roots or coarse growth that she is not 

 accustomed to. Sudden changes of weather, or from 

 sound to unsound feed^ sweet to sour feed, or even a 

 single overfeed, are common causes of the disorder. 



"After the pigs are four to five weeks old and have 

 learned to eat with the sow, they are not so (Quickly in- 

 fluenced by the condition of the sow. If one can feed 

 a sow so regularly as to secure her against the accidents 

 of weather and neglect of attendants he can hope to 

 avoid disorders of bowels in the young pigs. If de- 

 rangement arises from improper feeding it must be cured 

 by correcting the condition of the sow by change of feed. 

 Usually the condition of the sow will come right by care 

 to ha\'e her food sound and given regularly in moderate 



