BREEDS OF SWINE 505 



is the portable hog house. These houses may vary in size; those 

 with floor dimensions of 6 by 8 feet, 6 by 9 feet, or 8 by 8 feet will 

 be found most satisfactory. The roof need not be over 7 feet high 

 at the highest point. The house may be made on runners to facili- 

 tate moving it about. To prevent the sow from crushing the pigs 

 at farrowing time, -a scantling should be fastened to the inside of 

 the house, about 8 inches from the ground, projecting about 10 

 inches toward the center of the pen. The small pigs can run under 

 this protection and keep the mother from lying upon them. There 

 is no necessity for a floor for these houses. Some straw at farrow- 

 ing time is all that is required. (F. B. 411.) 



Floors. The hog house floor is an unsettled question. A good 

 floor is the ground with woven wire stretched on top to prevent the 

 hogs from rooting. Electrically welded corncrib wire is very satis- 

 factory. This makes a floor which is easy on the hogs, almost free 

 from rats, and, if properly bedded, warm and dry. It is, however, 

 more difficult to keep free from dust than some other floors. Many 

 concrete floors are used, but they are cold, liable to be wet, and are 

 hard on the hogs' feet. Often almost an entire pig crop and many 

 sows are lost by taking cold on concrete floors. Concrete floors are, 

 however, very satisfactory when covered with plank overlays, or 

 false floors, which should be raised from the concrete about an inch 

 by nailing cleats on the under side. The wood portion of this floor 

 consists of 2 by 4 inch timbers laid about one-fourth inch apart to 

 allow drainage. 



Board floors are expensive, short lived, cold if up off the ground, 

 and make the worst kind of rat harbors. The writer once visited an 

 old hog house with wood floor in which the owner said the rats had 

 gotten over half the pigs. Several men report that rats may be 

 kept out by packing sand or cinders to the top of the joists before 

 laying the floor, but these materials are often too expensive to be 

 used for this purpose. (F. B. 438.) 



Alfalfa Racks. In order to prevent undue waste when feeding 

 alfalfa to pigs, the hay should be fed in a slatted rack placed in a 

 flat bottomed trough. The spaces between the slats should not ex- 

 ceed 2 1 /2 inches and the trough should extend at least 18 inches be- 

 yond the rack in every direction. The coarse stems left by the pigs 

 may be fed to stock cattle. (N. M. B. 62.) 



Troughs. "Well made troughs are a necessity in pig feeding. 

 The time-honored V-shaped trough is very common and is doubt- 

 less familiar to all who handle hogs. Others advise the use of a 

 low, wide, shallow trough. Troughs should not be so long that they 

 can not bo handled by one man, and they should be so strong that 

 they will not readily be broken to pieces by the pigs. A very con- 

 venient arrangement of the feeding troughs is shown in the draw- 

 ings of the Maryland Agricultural College hog house. The troughs 

 extend across the front of the pen and are built solidly, so that they 

 will not be displaced. The front of the pen is hung on hinges, and 

 attached to it is a strong iron rod which fits into holes in the edges of 

 the trough and holds the pen front firmly. When filling the troughs 



