98 FORTY YEARS' EXPERIENCE OF A PRACTICAL HOG MAN 



by taking the pig, when it is three or four days old, and nipping 

 off these little tusks with a very small pair of pliers, and washing 

 the sore part of the face with a solution of any good coal tar dip. 



This trouble could be avoided if one was careful to note, while 

 the litter was sucking, whether or not there was any inclination 

 for the little fellows to fight each other. 



Canker Sore Mouth. Canker sore mouth is very dangerous, 

 and unless treated at once, a hard thing to cure ; but what little we 

 have had in our herd has been stopped in a day or two by using a 

 soft cloth, wet in a solution of good dip (made quite strong) and 

 thoroughly washing the mouth of the pig affected. If this is done 

 daily, or even every two or three days, for three or four times, it 

 will absolutely cure canker sore month or at least it has done so 

 in all cases we have had. If treatment is not commenced within a 

 short time after the cankers are formed, the teeth will drop out and 

 gums slough off and the pig die from the trouble. 



Canker sore month, I am informed, results from the contamina- 

 tion with germs often found even in the soil; if there has been no 

 other way of the disease being communicated, the ground should be 

 thoroughly wet with a strong disinfectant. The sow 's udder should 

 also be thoroughly washed with disinfectant and the trough as 

 well, and no further trouble is likely to occur. 



Sore Feet. It is not often that pigs are troubled with sore 

 feet, yet sometimes, where they are kept and fed on frozen ground, 

 the feet become sore and sensitive, which causes the pig to walk in 

 a very peculiar manner. This is more often the case where hogs are 

 very heavy and are obliged to walk on rough, hard or frozen 

 ground. There are occasionally cases where sores break out around 

 the hoof and between the toes. This is what might be called ' * foul 

 in the foot," but is not considered contagious, being only a local 

 trouble which irritates the part between the toes. Sometimes this 

 is caused by being obliged to walk about a yard that is filled with 

 cinders; these get between the toes and cause irritation. If such 

 a yard is being used it would be well to cover the places over with 

 sand and wet it thoroughly with a disinfectant. 



If an animal becomes very lame wash the place two or three 

 times daily with nitrate of potassium saltpetre and this will 

 cool the irritated parts and relieve the trouble. Should proud 

 flesh appear use chloride of zinc, one dram in a pint of water, once 

 or twice daily. Keep the pigs in a dry place and feed them well. 

 Proud flesh may be known by its appearance, which is bluish in 

 color and spongy to the touch. This may be removed by an ap- 

 plication of terchloride of antimony, which may be put on with a 

 feather. This will usually remove proud flesh, after which the 

 above treatment will heal the sores. 



Sterility. Generally speaking, there is not much trouble in the 

 swine breeding business along this line, unless it be among highly 

 fitted show animals, which have been forced by stimulating feed to 

 a condition of flesh that is abnormal. Where this is the case, the 



