DISEASES OF SWINE 543 



mon belief, hogs have some habits which raise them above other 

 domestic animals from the standpoint of cleanliness. For exam- 

 ple, unless compelled to do so, a hog will not sleep in its own filth. 

 If part of the floor of the pen is raised and kept well bedded with 

 straw, while the rest is not, all excrement will be left on the im- 

 bedded portion of the floor, and the bed itself will be always clean. 



In addition to cleanliness, close attention should be given to 

 the feed which is supplied, that nothing may be fed which will 

 convey the germs of disease, especially tuberculosis, to the herd. 

 If the hogs are fed milk in any form obtained from cows kept upon 

 the same farm, the cows should be subjected to. a tuberculin 

 test, as by this means all tuberculosis milk may be kept from the 

 hogs. If they run with the cattle of the farm a tuberculin test of 

 all the cattle is none the less desirable. Animals dead from any 

 disease should not be fed to the hogs until the meat has been made 

 safe by cooking. Skim milk or refuse from a public creamery 

 should not be fed to hogs until it has been thoroughly sterilized. 



Feeding and drinking places should be clean and the water 

 supply pure. Unless the origin is known to be uncontaminated 

 and there has been no possibility of infection during its course, 

 hogs should not be allowed access to any stream. Wallows should 

 be drained out or kept filled up as much as possible. At least once 

 a month the quarters should be disinfected with air-slaked lime or 

 a 5 per cent solution of crude carbolic acid. These precautions 

 will be found valuable aids in the destruction of the various animal 

 parasites, as well as a protection from some more serious troubles. 

 (F. B. 205.) 



Simple Sanitary Precautions. In the successful raising of 

 swine there are problems, other than that of feeding, which often 

 determine success or failure. The most important of these is the 

 preservation of the health of the swine. Wherever a considerable 

 number of animals are gathered together the risk from disease is 

 considerably increased. Extra precautions must then be taken -to 

 guard against disease and to keep the animals in thrifty condition. 

 The first essential is that their quarters be kept clean and sanitary. 



In purchasing swine, care should be taken that they come 

 from herds free from transmissible diseases, that they are healthy, 

 and have not been exposed to disease in transit. Public stock yards 

 are liable to be infected with hog cholera; it is dangerous to bring 

 swine from such places and put them in a healthy breeding herd. 

 It is an excellent plan to have a quarantine pen some distance from 

 all other swine, and so located that there is practically no danger 

 of transmitting diseases to the herd. All recently purchased ani- 

 mals should be held in quarantine in such a pen for ten days, to 

 be certain that they are free from disease, before placing them in 

 a healthy herd. 



If a disease of swine occurs in the neighborhood, keep away 

 from these farms and do not allow anyone who has been on an in- 

 fected farm to visit your herd. If your swine have access to a 

 stream of running water and disease appears on a farm located 



