1060 THE COMPLETE GRAZIER. BOOK xu. 



CHAPTER V. 



PIG CALENDAR.* 

 OCTOBER. 



T)UT up store pigs which are advanced enough to commence fattening ; 

 1 feed them liberally on the best food at command, giving them 

 corn, peas, beans, and hard grains, with the usual liquid foods, as dairy 

 refuse, mashes, &c. Barley is the most perfect pig food, and produces 

 the highest quality of meat. It is best to grind the meal as fine as 

 possible. 



Fattening pigs, nearly ready for the butcher, should be finished oft" 

 with regular feeds of thick meal mashes, barley-meal being reckoned 

 first, and oatmeal next in value ; a little bean meal will give firm- 

 ness to the flesh ; maize meal is very useful to mix, in small quantities, 

 with other foods, but should not be given by itself. Keep store pigs 

 regularly and steadily improving, and pick out the best for future 

 fattening ; sell off, if desirable, such of the others as can be dispensed 

 with. Give young pigs, of the last farrowing of the season, as much 

 of the best part of the dairy produce as can be spared from the feeding 

 of the fattening hogs, and of such sows as may have litters. Mix some 

 meal with the milk. An occasional feed of cabbages may be given 

 them. These with carrots, mangel, and turnips, will form an excellent 

 food for store pigs. Feed sows with litters on thin mashes at first ; 

 later they should have more nutritious food, as the young pigs soon 

 require a liberal supply of milk. In all cases the sties and feeding- 

 troughs must be kept scrupulously clean, and the bedding of wheat 

 straw frequently removed, to avoid the accumulation of dung. 



NOVEMBER. 



Pigs born this month are not, as a rule, profitable, unless they 

 are very warmly housed : nor are very young pigs if they have the run 

 of the yards, for which purpose fairly strong stores should be selected. 

 It is a good time to put sows and yilts to the boar, as they will 

 farrow at the best season February or March. Of course, when 

 sows have once pigged they must be put to the boar again as soon 

 as they will take him, or time is lost ; but the yilts born in February, 

 March, or April, might be selected for breeding, as they are at a good 

 age in November for being put to the hog. No yilt should be bred from 

 which has less than twelve teats, or the litters cannot be big, and they 

 may be small. Pigs are most profitable when they obtain a large portion 

 of their food by scavenging about the yards, and preventing waste ; the 

 rest of their food can be made up by using the offal corn, and by giving 

 them roots, and any wash that may be collected in the hog-tub. 

 Attend to the careful bedding of all the stock, and to the thorough 



* The pig calendar is continued, with alterations which bring it as much as possible up to date ; 

 but the great changes wrought in the entire system of pig-keeping by the general adoption of 

 the mild system of bacon curing and by a greatly increased consumption of small pork at all 

 seasons render it increasingly difficult to apportion to periods the work in the pig-yard. The 

 breeding and feeding of pigs is now a continuous pursuit, the sows being timed to farrow during 

 all the months of the year save during the latter part of the month of October, the whole of 

 November, and the early portion of December. 



