FARROWING TIME 35 



as soon as they have nursed sufficiently, and when the whole litter 

 is farrowed, we place them all with the mother, and if everything 

 goes right and the mother is quiet, leave them there. If, however, 

 she is ugly and inclined to get up and turn around and act badly, 

 we place the pigs back in the box to keep them warm, and wait a 

 short time until she is again settled. But generally, after the sow 

 permits the litter to nurse once without undue restlessness, she will 

 be quiet with them. 



We have used a farrowing box for many years, and consider it 

 one of the best appliances in the equipment of a farrowing house, 

 for while the sow can easily lie down on either her right or left 

 side, she cannot turn around or lie down on the pigs, as they are 

 protected by the sides of the farrowing box which do not extend 

 clear to the floor, but have a space of some nine inches in which 

 the youngsters can run out into the outer part of the box at 

 either side or end. "We found in the last Spring farrowing of over 

 two hundred pigs, that only three were injured in the farrowing 

 box. In a large herd three or four of these boxes would be one of 

 the best investments that could be made. 



After the pigs are two or three days old, they, with the sow, 

 can be removed to an individual house or pen, without much danger 

 of their being overlaid by the sow, unless she is deaf, which is some- 

 times the case, but such a sow should be sold for pork and not kept 

 in the breeding herd. 



Occasionally one finds a sow that is very nervous after farrow- 

 ing. She will get up and lie down again frequently, and may crush 

 one or more of the newly farrowed pigs. It is well to give such a 

 sow a small feed, mostly of bran with a little middlings or cornmeal, 

 as this will often quiet her. If she is extremely nervous and insists 

 on getting up and down, pour one teaspoonful of laudanum into 

 her ear. 



Keep Breeding Dates. Every breeder and even every farmer 

 and grower of hogs for market should keep correct dates when his 

 sows were bred and should put down the date to retry them, mak- 

 ing it from twenty to twenty-two or twenty-three days from the 

 date bred, and should not neglect when this time comes, to try them 

 again and see if they are settled or if they will have to be rebred. 

 This should be carried on at least to the third period after first 

 breeding, so that he would absolutely know that his sows are safe 

 in pig, and if they are to be used to fill orders for bred sows, he 

 should still keep tab on them and not ship them out until they show 

 their own guarantee that they are safe in pig. It is a very dis- 

 tressing thing, both for the purchaser and seller, to find after ship- 

 ment, that the sow shipped had failed to prove in pig. Better wait 

 a little longer before shipping and know that the animal is abso- 

 lutely safe in pig. 



