No. 5. 



Breeding and Rearing Swine. 



149 



from, and by so doing you may rear your hogs 

 on your farm at a moderate calculation of 20 

 per cent, over and above the prevailing prac- 

 tice of the day. As in the common wsxy the 

 farmer has his males and females running to- 

 gether at large, then they may expect to 

 have litters of pigs every month m the year; 

 the uneveness of the lot of hogs, and conse- 

 quently the stronger will be certain to abuse 

 tiie weak, (a hog is a hog by name and na- 

 ture,) and having masterly strength, and in 

 all ca.-^es the weaker are driven from their 

 food and comfortable shelter in the forest; 

 and in many cases we have a proof of the 

 I uneconomizmg rural system of our farmers, 

 I by having all sizes and ages. In our usual 

 I winters we see the small class of hogs, when 

 i pinched with cold, deep snows and wet wea- 

 ther, fall victims of death by smothering and 

 ^ suppression by the larger class being with the 

 I small ones. On all occasions hogs ought to 

 • be separated and classed according to size, 

 ' and kept in the woodland pastures where 

 'I they may provide shelter in the forest foliage. 

 1] Every farmer should provide himself with 

 » hog-houses in his woodland pastures, where 

 they can get the foliage of the forest to make 

 their beds. The best place for these houses 

 should be selected on the south or north-east 

 side of a hill, so as to receive the warmth of 

 the sun in the winter, and on a moderate 

 slope, so as to drain off the water, and that the 

 sun may the better dry and warm the earth. 

 As to form I am not particular, but always re- 

 commend the shelter to be close and dry ; to 

 aid in keeping dry much care should be ob- 

 served in trenching around the house to turn 

 the water. 



Rearing a herd of blooded female swine ; 

 spring and summer treatment ; breeding and 

 winter treatment. — Tliey should be left in a 

 lot sufficiently large for exercise, containing 

 plenty of water (lor wallowing) and shade. 

 If the grazing is not sufficient, I wonld ad- 

 vise a little corn, dish-water, slops and soap- 

 suds, mixed together, to be given tiiem, so as 

 to keep the animals in a good healthy look, 

 but by no means like fattening, to hurrying 

 Ihem in their growth. 



JMy practice for winter treatment. After 

 my sows are all pregnant, if pructicable, I al- 

 ways have a large field of clover or meadow 

 for their grazing, or put them on rye or 

 wheat fields, and let thorn graze about twen- 

 ty-four hours, twice a week, when the snow 

 19 off the ground ; always providing a com-'i 

 fortable dry shed or houses for them, having 

 a regular time for feeding, (morning and 

 evening,) and if any animal stands in danger 

 from the want of regul8.r feeding while preg- 

 Dant, it is the sow : and there is great danger 

 of their being fed too much at a time, by 

 'arcless or inexperienced servants, which is 



apt to produce abortions. Another cause is 

 the severe weather on sows, snow and wet 

 weather, when they have frequently to make 

 their beds in the snow, and sometimes in mud 

 and water — when shelters are not provided 

 for them ; this is the cause why we so oflen 

 hear our farmers say all their sows have slunk 

 their pigs, and shall have no pigs in the 

 spring, and another cause still more particu- 

 lar, 1 leave to the careful to observe ; when 

 my sows are half gone with pig, (sometime 

 in February,) without fail, I separate my sows 

 and put them in lots (four or five in number) 

 to prevent from laying one upon another 

 along in February and March, cold snowy 

 spells, v/hich causes them, by oppression, to 

 miscarry. This is the time that the greatest 

 care should be taken with sows, as the period 

 of littering is close at hand, for if they should 

 miscarry, you have again to breed them, 

 when their pigs will come late and much 

 time lost. 



Breeding of blooded Sows. — When they 

 have attained to the age of eight months or 

 thereabout, my practice is to breed them be- 

 tween the 1st and 15th December, so as to 

 make their littering to the latter end of 

 March, and by having shelters or houses for 

 their littering in, I can venture breeding 

 sooner than I would otherwise advise. I can 

 rear this litter and have my sows stinted to 

 boar, and bring the second litter in and about 

 the first and middle of September, so as to 

 have time to rear them, and so they will 

 stand the ensuing winter. Then my sows 

 can have about a month's rest until the 1st of 

 December, which I very much approve offer 

 breeding again, and by so doing I have three 

 litters in the period of twelve months. You 

 now see the months I prefer for my blooded 

 sows to litter — the end of March and the 1st 

 of April. The second litter from 1st to 15th 

 September, and the third litter the latter end 

 of March and 1st of April, which makes the 

 period I have noticed. In stinting my sows 

 to the Iroar according to the time mentioned, 

 1 have been very particular to aid my memo- 

 ry by committing to writing the time when 

 they were etinted, and the mode of stinting. 

 I was in the habit of the old custom in my 

 firi-t beginning of doing business in this way. 

 I soon saw there was an error somewhere, 

 and my intentions were defeated somehow — 

 as I v.ould reserve my lot of common sows to 

 he bred in December, so as to bring the pigs 

 the 1st of April, when the weather was 

 warm, and the old custom would be to let the 

 boar go with some twenty or thirty sows, with 

 the expectation of having a lot of pigs of one 

 age, and in a common way there would come 

 in season at one time, in all probability, one- 

 third of the sows. Admit the boar to be in 

 good health and a full flow of animal spirits 



