SWINE-HOUSING AND FATTENING. 985 



" The point here illustrated is of the highest importance, and 

 should be carefully studied. It will be seen that in the fifth 

 period, when the pigs were from twenty-four to twenty-eight 

 weeks old, it took seventy-five per cent more of meal to put on a 

 pound live weight than in the first period, when the pigs were 

 eight to twelve weeks old. In 1874 the writer tried an exper- 

 iment with ten calves upon skim-milk, running through twelve 

 weeks, in which the milk for each pound of gain increased from 

 11.02 pounds the first week to 17.01 the last week. 



" That most pains-taking experimenter, J. B. Lawes, of Roth- 

 amsted, England, has also settled this question in the same way, 

 proving conclusively that all profitable feeding of animals for 

 human food must be made before the animal reaches maturity. 



" These facts all point to the importance of feeding the 

 young pigs in the most liberal manner. Some breeders think 

 it quite sufficient to stint the pig to the milk of the dam, and 

 thus seldom give any extra food to even a litter of ten pigs. 

 But such breeders have not estimated the amount of food re- 

 quired to feed a thrifty litter of eight pigs. Pigs, at birth, sel- 

 dom weigh more than three pounds each, and when four weeks 

 old should weigh fifteen to eighteen pounds each, and must, 

 therefore, gain twelve to fifteen pounds each, which is an ag- 

 gregate gain of say, one hundred and twelve pounds. This re- 

 quires the sow to yield milk enough each day to produce a 

 growth of four pounds live weight; and the production of milk 

 by the sow weighing, say three hundred pounds, equal to that 

 of a cow weighing eight hundred to one thousand pounds. How 

 important, then, that the pigs should be taught to take food 

 very early." 



On this subject of the management of pigs that are to be 

 fattened the first fall, I find in the Ohio Fanner the following, 

 which I fully indorse: "Feed regularly. I do not mean by this 

 simply at stilted hours of the day, but that the feed should be 

 as nearly as practicable uniform in quantity and quality. It will 

 not do to feed lightly to-day and heavily to-morrow, to give 

 them bran one day and all the corn-meal they will eat the next. 

 Try to so manage that while giving a variety of feed of a given 



