CHAPTER XXV. 

 THE BOAR. 



Use. The age at which a young boar may be first used 

 depends largely upon his development. Some boars may be 

 used to a few sows when not more than seven months old, 

 without apparent injury. As a rule, it is safer not to use a 

 boar before he is eight months old, and to use him as sparingly 

 as possible until he is a year old. No hard-and-fast rule can 

 be laid down, and the owner must use his judgment in the 

 matter. Excessive use when young is likely to shorten the 

 period of a boar's usefulness, and, since a boar will usually pro- 

 duce the best pigs after he reaches maturity, the importance of 

 saving him while he is young will be readily appreciated. 



Some good breeders allow only one service a day, with 

 intervals of one or two days a week without being used, in the 

 case of valuable boars. This is a matter which can be regu- 

 lated better in large herds, where several stock boars are kept, 

 than it can where only one boar is kept and where outside 

 sows are admitted. The owner of a boar under the last-named 

 conditions will require to exercise all his ingenuity to prevent 

 his boar from being used too freely during certain seasons of 

 the year. 



In no case should more than one service to a sow be per- 

 mitted, and the boar should not be allowed to run at large with 

 sows to which he is to be bred. Excessive use is likely to result 

 in small, weak litters, and the aim should be to save the boar as 

 much as possible. It is not good to use a boar immediately 

 after he ha's been fed. 



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