220 DISEASES OF SWINE 



being carried to the pens by outsiders, and no new hogs are added 

 to the herd without first being placed in separate pens for a period 

 of thirty days and observed for any evidences of disease. 



This is not a matter of luck at all, but is simply an exercise of 

 that continuous vigilance which is absolutely essential to keep the 

 herd in a healthy condition. 



With respect to feed- and watering-troughs I would like to 

 say a word of commendation for the feed-troughs which are so 

 constructed as to make it impossible for the hog to get his feet into 

 the trough. Dirt enough is carried into the food by the snout, but 

 when we add to this that which is carried by the feet we are adding 

 a lot of filth and disease-breeding material that cannot react other- 

 wise than harmfully on the health of the herd. 



Sunlight and Air.^ — These are two things that are often entirely 

 overlooked in preparing sleeping quarters for hogs. There is no 

 other single agent that is so effective against germs of any disease 

 as bright sunlight. It will destroy the most resistant germs, such 

 as tuberculosis, pneumonia, and the hog-cholera virus. Pens that 

 are dark and damp are always disease breeders. Make your 

 pens so that the sun gets a good opportunity to shine in on them 

 for at least one or two hours each day. This will do more to pre- 

 vent cholera and many other diseases than all the chemical disin- 

 fectants you can haul home. The hog especially requires plenty 

 of fight and fresh air if he is to get along properly. 



Normally the temperature of the hog is much higher than that 

 of other animals, and this means that he must have a greater 

 amount of air in order to keep up this normal temperature. The 

 hog requires more cubic feet of air space than does either the horse 

 or ox. How sadly, indeed, this fact is overlooked in the construc- 

 tion of many hog houses and hog sleeping quarters. 



I have often seen throughout Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa 

 farmers who at threshing time would construct a framework of 

 posts and old boards, which would be covered over with straw 

 and used as a sleeping pen for the hogs. Many of these are con- 

 structed around threshing time, and the stack of straw placed right 

 over this frame, so that the straw stack is on all sides, with only a 

 small opening through which the animals enter. 



At first glance thes^e might look like ideal quarters for the 



