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warm. Not many years ago it was the very general rule to allow growing pigs to gather 

 their living outside during summer until the potato crop was harvested, but this is being 

 all changed, so that finishing and marketing is becoming more and more uniform throughout 

 the year. 



Two litters a year are the rule, one farrowed in February or March, the other in August 

 or September. In earlier years October was the busy autumn farrowing month, but people 

 have come to see that pigs born so late do not winter well, and then feeders usually buy 

 their winter stock about the first week in November, or earlier, if possible, and consequently 

 there is better demand for young pigs at that time. 



Irish pig raisers have learned the wisdom of not weaning too early. From seven to 

 eight weeks is the usual weaning age throughout the country. In the north, the breeders 

 who do not fatten their own stock, usually keep the litters two or three weeks after weaning 

 before taking them to market, where they are purchased by feeders who at once put them 

 on good feed, rushing them along to a finished condition weighing 150 to 175 Ibs. dressed, 

 at six to seven months old. In the South, the old practice of allowing the young pigs to 

 grow slowly as stores, and turning them off fat at ten to twelve months old is, on many hold- 

 ings, still in vogue. The tendency, however, in the South, as already mentioned, is to save 

 time by shortening the life of the pig. 



While the industry is better conducted by the northern than the southern farmers, 

 the supply of stock in the south is more constant from year to year. This is due to two 

 principal causes: 1st, the more highly developed condition of the dairying industry; and 

 2nd, the dependence of the Southern province farmers upon the pig to pay the rent. The 

 Ulster farmer is more flexible in his methods, and moves up and down according to conditions. 

 During the present year the continuous high prices for pigs have led to a considerable increase 

 in the number of brood sows kept in the northern half of the country. 



Pigs are, as a rule, economically fed in Ireland. Buttermilk and skim-milk are doled 

 out carefully at all seasons of the year, and to this, in winter, is added potatoes and turnips, 

 and in summer, cabbage and other green foods. These form the staple dietary along with 

 corn, barley and oats finely ground and given as a warm mash. As the finishing period 

 approaches, the grain ration often used consists of two parts crushed oats to one part corn 

 meal. At this stage the green food is reduced to a minimum. The method of feeding 

 described is that generally approved by the most progressive swine feeders. As in Canada, 

 all good feeders do not feed alike. The methods on a number of farms visited are described 

 as follows: 



At Albert College the litters are weaned at 9 weeks. At three weeks they are started 

 on new milk and gradually put on to skim-milk with steamed corn meal and shorts added. 

 At weaning time each pig is getting from one to two pints of milk per day, but this is gradu- 

 ally substituted by brewers' grains with a view to cheapening the ration. The practice at 

 the College in winter is to steam potatoes, corn meal and shorts together, enough for two 

 days, giving the food as a slop three times a day at first, and twice a day when the pigs have 

 reached four months. The growing pigs are housed constantly, but breeding stock is given 

 an outside run. 



A patron of Roscrea co-operative bacon factory farming 70 acres feeds off about 20 pigs 

 a year. These constitute two litters from each of two Yorkshire sows. These pigs get the 

 skim milk and butter milk from seven cows. The litters are weaned at 7 weeks. When 

 three weeks old they are fed new milk and soon after oat meal with hulls sifted out is added. 

 Gradually skim milk is substituted for the new. At three months old roots and barley meal 

 are steamed together and fed. At first roots comprise most of the ration which is made 

 stronger with meal as the finishing time approaches. In summer mangels are fed until 

 cabbages are ready. 



Patron No. 2 owning 10 Yorkshire sows weans at 8 weeks. At 4 weeks the litters 

 commence to get new milk (six quarts per day for 10 pigs) and a week later boiled slop con- 

 sisting of potatoes, corn meal, barley meal and shorts. The milk fed is gradually changed 

 to separated and fed warm. The sows are turned out each day when the litters are being 

 fed. This patron hangs a lantern in the pen of a newly farrowed sow for two nights to 

 prevent little pigs being killed. He does not consider it profitable to allow a sow to rear 



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