BREEDS OF SWINE 487 



feed. It is well to start her on a light slop made up of shorts and 

 skim milk. If there is no skim milk on hand, mix about four parts 

 of com with one part of shorts, cowpeas, or soy-bean meal and give 

 a small quantity. She should be gradualy brought up to a full 

 feed; this should require about three weeks. If she is overfed at 

 first the pigs are apt to take scours and thumps. When she is on full 

 feed she will be eating daily an amount equivalent to about 4 per 

 cent of her live weight, provided she is not on pasture. If she has 

 the run of a good leguminous pasture, at least one-half of the grain 

 will be saved. If she has no pasture, she should be fed just about as 

 she was fed before farrowing, except that she should receive more 

 feed than when she was dry. When the pasture is composed mainly 

 of blue grass or Bermuda grass she should receive a grain feed equiv- 

 alent to about 3 per cent of her live weight, and the grain part 

 of the ration should be partly composed of shorts, tankage, cowpeas, 

 or soy beans. When the pasture is made up of a leguminous crop, 

 a grain ration equivalent to not more than 2 per cent of her body 

 weight will keep her in excellent flesh, and in this case corn can be 

 used for the grain portion of the feed. (F. B. 411.) 



Give the sow all the water she wants for the first twenty-four 

 hours after the pigs are born, but no grain. Take the chill off the 

 water in cold weather. For three or four days after the first twenty- 

 four hours, give plenty of water, but feed grain and milk sparingly. 

 Then slowly increase until, when the pigs are three weeks old, the 

 sow is having all the feed she will consume. Give the pigs exercise 

 and sunshine from birth, but do not allow them, to get damp nor to 

 be exposed to the wind. 



When the sow is given a warm, rich slop, or other milk-pro- 

 ducing feeds just after her pigs are born, a strong milk flow is forced. 

 The new-born pigs get too much and have diarrhoea, w r hich often, 

 kills them. They cannot take all the milk, and the sow's udder 

 becomes inflamed and caked. When the pigs suckle, the pain be- 

 comes so intense that in desperation she jumps up, kills, and eats 

 them. Overfeeding and lack of exercise cause the thumps in young 

 pigs, but usually in Colorado, when pigs are thought to have the 

 thumps, they actually have pneumonia, due either to damp beds 

 or exposure to draughts. (Colo. B. 146.) 



A sow should be kept quiet and fed very little, if at all, during 

 the first 24 hours after farrowing. Begin by giving a drink of water, 

 followed by a light bran mash. The feed can be increased gradually 

 up to the fifth day, after which the sow may be fed more liberally. 

 At farrowing times the pigs should be examined and the useless ones 

 discarded. (Wis. B. 184.) Until the pigs are weaned, the sow 

 should be fed twice a day a thin slop of corn meal and wheat shorts 

 or rice polish. When the pigs are two weeks old the sow is to be 

 turned out to pasture for a few hours, and soon the pigs may fol- 

 low. Some hog raisers feed the sow only soaked corn after she is 

 fully accustomed to grazing; generally, however, it is better to con- 

 tinue the slops till the pigs are weaned, about eight or ten weeks. 

 (W. S. Cir. 30.) 



