io6 



OUR DOMESTIC ANIMALS 



have a good account to give of the food he 

 has eaten. Good, thrifty growth, not fat, 

 is wanted while he is small and vonng, for if 

 growth has been secured he will fatten \ery 



Fr,i-.i>ix(i Pif.s 



quickly and on a small amount of food. The 

 mistake is often made of feeding an e.xclusive 

 ration of corn. Corn is heating and fattening 

 in effect, and until he has left pighood days 

 corn is an improper food to give him, espe- 

 cially as an e.xclusive diet. In his early days 

 protein, the muscle maker, should enter largely 

 into his diet. When given the freedom of the 

 pasture or clover field this important food 

 element is supplied to his delight and advan- 

 tage. When he has reached the age of seven 

 or eight months he may be brought in from 

 the pasture and inclosed in a small feeding lot 

 where pure water, soft coal, and ashes should 

 be furnished in connection with corn. A few 

 weeks of feeding, small quantities at first, will 

 bring him to the close of his days, when he 

 should be ready for market or to be slaughtered. 

 Hogs of good breeding will readily weigh two 

 hundred and fifty pounds when nine months 

 old, if they have been provided with good 

 pasture and reasonably good care. 



\1. FEEDiNr, Young Pigs 



As soon as young pigs begin to eat provide 

 a shallow trough and place it where it is not 

 accessible to the mother or older pigs. Give 

 some kind of slop — milk and shorts is best 

 — each day. Quick growth follows this treat- 

 ment and with paying results. The trough 



must be kept clean, and an occasional thorough 

 disinfecting will be desirable, not only for the 

 trough but for the pigs as well. Clean sleei^- 

 ing quarters contribute their share to health, 

 vigor, and rapid gains. If pasture is available, 

 turn the mother and her young into it ; little 

 of any kind of food other than gnod pasture 

 grass will be needed. 



The writer has followed a plan for grazing 

 hogs that has proved very successful. Eight 

 one-half acre lots are provided, the lots being 

 three rods in width and correspondingly long. 

 In August one lot is seeded to rye, which 

 makes good winter grazing ; in September the 

 second lot is seeded to rye, which also makes 

 good winter grazing ; in October the remaining 

 lots are seeded to r\e for spring grazing. The 

 first r\'e lot is succeeded by cowpeas, planted 

 as soon as spring will permit, and then through 

 the spring and early summer the other lots 

 follow on in rapid succession with cowpeas. 

 By this system winter, spring, and summer 

 grazing are available, and provided with little 

 labor, trouble, or expense. 



The great point in the management of 

 \-oung pigs is to keep them growing from the 

 da\- of birth to the dav they are slaughtered 



Mother Hog .and Little Ones 



or sold. If thrifty and active thev w'ill grow 

 rapidly ; if strong and vigorous they will be 

 more likely to throw off disease if it attacks 

 them, or, what is better, never get it at all. 



