SWINE: 



DISEASES AND MANAGEMENT OF. 



SWINE, Treatment of. — Pigs should 

 always have access to fresh water. No 

 matter how sloppy the food is, or how 

 much dish-water is furnished, they should 

 always be supplied with pure water. We 

 are satisfied that pigs often suffer for want 

 of it. 



Salt, sulphur, charcoal, ashes, bone- 

 dust, or superphosphate, should occasion- 

 ally be placed where the pigs can eat 

 what they wish of them. 



Pigs will eat beans, if thoroughly 

 boiled, though they are not fond of 

 them. Peas they eat with avidity, and 

 when as cheap as corn, should be fed in 

 preference, as they afford much the richer 

 manure. Half peas and half corn are 

 probably better than either alone. Peas 

 make very firm pork. 



Oil-cake, when fed in large quantities, 

 injures the flavor and quality of the pork, 

 but we have fed small quantities of it 

 with decided advantage to the health and 

 rapid growth of the pigs, without any ap- 

 parent injury to the lard or pork. It is 

 quite useful for breeding sows. It keeps 

 the bowels loose, and increases the quan- 

 tity and quality of the milk. 



Bran, except in small quantities, is not 

 a valuable food for fattening pigs. It is 

 too bulky. But when the rich, concen- 

 trated food is given, such as corn, barley, 

 peas or oil-cake, pigs should be allowed 

 all the bran they can eat, placed in a sep- 

 arate trough. In this way it becomes a 

 very useful and almost indispensable arti- 

 cle to the pig feeder. It is also very use- 

 ful for breeding sows. The best roots to 

 raise for pigs are parsnips and mangel- 

 wurzel. 



The period of gestation in a sow is al- 

 most invariably sixteen weeks. In three 

 or four days after pigging, a sow in good 

 condition will generally take the boar. 

 But, as a rule, it is not well to allow it. 

 If she passes this period she will not take 



the boar until the pigs are weaned. If sh« 

 fails the first time, she will "come round 

 again" in from two to three weeks. 



In mild cases of diarrhoea, nothing is 

 better than fresh skimmed milk, thickened 

 with wheat flour. 



Pigs should be castrated a week or two 

 before they are weaned. 



Nothing in the management of pigs is 

 more important than to provide a trough 

 for the sucking pigs separate from the 

 sow, and to commence feeding them 

 when two or three weeks old. 



Many of the diseases of pigs are con- 

 tagious, and the instant a pig is observed 

 to be sick it should be removed to a sep- 

 arate pen ; and it would be well to re- 

 gard this single case of sickness as an in- 

 dication that something is wrong in the 

 general management of the pigs. Clean 

 out the pens, scald the troughs, scrape 

 out all decaying matter from under and 

 around them, sprinkle chloride of lime 

 about the pen, or, what is probably 

 better, carbolic acid. Dry earth is a cheap 

 and excellent disinfectant. Use outside 

 wood-work, troughs, plank floors, etc., 

 with crude petroleum. It is the cheap- 

 est and best antiseptic yet discovered. 



To destroy lice, wash the pig all over 

 with crude petroleum, and the next day 

 give him a thorough washing with warm 

 water and soap, with the free use of 

 the scrubbing-brush. 



Pigs should be provided with scratch- 

 ing posts, having auger holes bored for 

 pegs at different heights, to accommodate 

 pigs of different sizes. 



The following description may be con- 

 sidered the perfection of form in a fat 

 pig : The back should be nearly straight, 

 though being arched a little from head to 

 tail is no objection ; the back uniformly 

 broad and rounded across along the 

 whole body; the touch along the back 



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