No. 4.] SWINE BREEDING AND FEEDING. 199 



good mother, a good feeder, a good milker, keep her until 

 she is four or five years of age. It is foolishness to turn 

 off each year a good mother, a good feeder, a good milker, 

 and take the chance in selecting another young sow, not 

 knowing if she will make a good mother, a good feeder or 

 a good milker. What do I mean by a good milker ? A 

 good milking sow will give nearly as much milk during 

 the time of nursing as a common cow. I think, if my 

 estimates from the weight of the pigs are correct, that I 

 have had sows which would produce thirty pounds of milk 

 in twenty-four hours. This may seem a bold statement ; 

 but, if a litter of eight pigs will take on a growth of four 

 pounds during twenty-four hours, and if seven pounds of 

 milk will give us a pound of live growth, it stands to reason 

 that the sow must have given this amount of milk. So 

 there is just as much in the selection of a good milking 

 sow as there is in the selection of a good milking: cow. 

 Besides, from an old dam we receive pigs of greater size 

 and better feeders. 



Farrowing Time. 

 Right after farrowing a good many men make another 

 mistake. The first morning after the pigs have appeared to 

 life the man goes in and asks his wife for an extra pan of 

 milk ; and he puts all the corn meal that he can into the 

 milk. Then he fills the sow's trough plumb full, because 

 she has a large litter of pigs there. This is not according to 

 nature's teaching. Have you ever observed that, when 

 a sow had strayed away from you when you wanted to put 

 her in a pen as she neared farrowing time, and foraged in 

 the woods for five or six days, she came home with a litter 

 of pigs behind her, and every one of them squealing? 

 What has nature done here ? The sow had only a little bit 

 of grass, and she fed the little animals with milk produced 

 from material stored in her own system. The pigs had 

 received only just enough to sustain life and start their 

 growth. They were all alive and healthy. But the man 

 who puts a great bucketful of feed in the trough stimulates 

 the sow's appetite, and the result is quite different. He will 

 most likely within twenty-four hours be complaining to his 



