SWINE AND THEIR MANAGEMENT. 941 



You will find that they will soon begin to ramble over the farm, 

 and if it is the planting season they will be likely to do mis- 

 chief, unless confined to a lot, and there should be, on every 

 farm where hogs are raised, a lot especially for young pigs, with 

 a fence so tight that they can not get through it. 



I find the self-supporting fence, which is described in our 

 chapter on "Fencing," the cheapest and best for this purpose. 

 In order that the grass may be saved on this lot, the breeding 

 stock should be rung. 



I consider it of great importance that the pigs should be 

 taught to eat as soon as possible, so that their growth will not 

 be checked at weaning time. You will notice by the time they 

 are three weeks old that they will begin to crack corn, and at 

 this time a part of the pen should be partitioned off, or a small 

 pen adjoining provided which the mother can not enter, but so 

 arranged that the pigs can go in and out at will. Here feed a 

 little soaked corn and milk daily, gradually increasing the quan- 

 tity, but never over-feeding. By the time your pigs are old 

 enough to wean, they will be so accustomed to other food that 

 they will not suffer at all by the change. If there are, as is 

 usually the case, some large and some small pigs in the litter, 

 it is a good plan to leave two or more of the latter to run with 

 the sow a week or two, after the others are taken away, as this 

 will be a benefit both to the pigs and the sow. The best time 

 to castrate pigs is while they are sucking, and if done at this 

 time they will not be damaged or checked in their growth, and 

 there will be little risk attending it. 



Whether the pigs are to be fattened at nine or ten months 

 old, kept for breeders, or wintered as stock hogs, the treatment 

 should be the same for the first three months after weaning, for 

 this is the time to develop healthy organs and build up bone and 

 muscle, and to do this we should feed a mixed diet and allow 

 the pigs to run where they will get exercise. They should 

 have some green, bulky food, some slop, and some corn, and be 

 so fed as to keep them thrifty and growing. 



The best time for the pigs to come depends somewhat on 

 what disposition we expect to make of them. The farmer who 



