438 THE PIGS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



Just at first there may be some difficulty with the milk, but it 

 rapidly disappears. Some recommend that the process of 

 weaning, as far as the young pigs are concerned, should be 

 gradual, i.e., that at first the pigs should be allowed to suck once 

 or twice a day before being entirely separated ; but we have 

 never found this necessary, and it delays the breeding process, 

 for, as a rule from which exceptions are rare, the sow will not 

 come into use whilst the pigs are with her. If our hilt farrows 

 on the first of March, she will be ready to receive the boar by 

 about the middle of May, and come down with the second litter 

 about Sept. 15, thus giving us two litters per annum, which is as 

 much as we can expect. Of course it often happens that the sow 

 turns more than once, which altogether upsets our calculations. It 

 must be an unusually lucky sow that yields two litters a year 

 on an average. When quite clear of milk the young sow may be 

 turned out during the day in a grass field, and have at night and 

 morning a little wash with a moderate quantity of mangold — by 

 this time, i.e., the summer, rich in sugar and nutritious. We have 

 known breeding sows kept in quite good condition with nothing 

 but mangolds in yards. The sow whilst in pig — at any rate, 

 during the earlier stages — should cost little or nothing, otherwise 

 the business will not pay. In the autumn time the sows in 

 farrow, or from which the pigs are weaned, may pick up a good 

 living in the stubbles provided they get water once a day. The 

 treatment of the young pigs depends very much upon the use 

 they are intended for. If pork is our object, the rotundity of 

 form first acquired from maternal support, and afterwards by 

 careful feeding, must be maintained. It will never pay to lose 

 what may be rightly called the milk flesh. The pigs should 

 be placed in a comfortable stye, with plenty of ventilation, fed 

 three times a day with a mixture comprising skim milk, if it is 

 available, pollard, barley, and palm-nut meal, or other meals 

 equally nutritious. There is no doubt whatever that the diges- 

 tive system of the pig requires a more highly concentrated food 

 than either the sheep or the ox, and this is due to the different 

 l^roportions between the stomach and intestines. Thus the ox 

 can eat the greatest amount of non-nutritious matter, because 

 for each 1001b. live w^eight it has 11 Jib. of stomach and only 2|lb. 

 of intestines. The sheep requires more concentrated food, 



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