86 Pork Production 



unnecessary. When separated, the sows should be put 

 into a dry lot and fed only scanty rations for a few days 

 until their udders begin to shrivel and dry up. 



Gains made by pigs from birth to weaning. 



The average pig in a well-managed herd should make 

 a gain from birth to weaning time of ^ to ? pound daily. 

 When weaned at ten weeks, this will mean a weight, 

 approximately, of 26 to 38 pounds when taken from the 

 mother. But under the very best conditions, there is a 

 wide variation, ranging all the way from a daily gain of 

 .20 of a pound to over .50 of a pound. 



In Table XIII are shown the weekly gains made by 

 twelve litters of eighty-six pigs up to seventy days of age, 

 at the Wisconsin Experiment Station. These pigs were 

 farrowed by Berkshire, Poland China, Razorback, and 

 cross-bred sows. Both sows and pigs were liberally fed 

 on good growing and milk-producing rations during the 

 suckling period. 



These figures are conservative and show the remark- 

 able capacity of the new-born pigs for growth. During 

 each of the ten weeks of the nursing period, the pigs 

 gained an amount considerably in excess of their original 

 birth weight. The original weight was almost doubled 

 in the first week. From a total weight of 227 pounds 

 at birth, these eighty-six pigs, during the suckling period, 

 gained a total of 2805 pounds, more than twelve times 

 their original weight. (See Chapter V, page 107.) 



The total gains made in seventy days, as shown in the 

 column at the right, show the variation common among 

 the different litters in every herd. A study of these 

 figures reveals the interesting fact that the pigs in the 

 small litters did not gain faster than the individual pigs 



