FARROWING TIME 231 



not come in heat, which is supposed to make her a better 

 feeder. This operation, when resorted to, should be done 

 by a trained veterinarian, as it is quite difficult and con- 

 sists in opening the abdomen of the hog at the side from 

 which point the ovaries are removed. However, the prac- 

 tice in general is obsolete. The reason for this is that hogs 

 nowadays are fattened so rapidly and taken to market at 

 such an early age that the advantage to be gained by such 

 a practice is not sufficient to offset the difficulties en- 

 countered. In the case of young sows that are being well 

 fed they may not come in heat, at least not very often, 

 by the time they are ready for market at 8 or 9 months 

 of age. In the case of mature sows, the fattening process 

 proceeds so rapidly that the period of heat does not oc- 

 cur often enough to do any particular harm. 



RECORDING. 



In order to be called pure bred a pig must be recorded; 

 that, is, the breeding of the pig as an individual must be 

 on record in some one of the various swine record asso- 

 ciations. In recording pigs the breeder writes to the sec- 

 retary of the association and obtains blanks that are used 

 for the purpose. Upon this blank the date at which the 

 pig was farrowed, as well as the number of pigs in the lit- 

 ter, the sire, the dam, etc., are entered. A space is also 

 provided for the natural marks that occur on some breeds, 

 such as the white markings on some black breeds. Upon 

 rilling out one of these blanks for each pig, and sending it 

 to the secretary of the association, together with the fee 

 that is charged for recording, the pig is recorded and may 

 be sold as a pure bred. The fee charged for recording 

 usually is from 50 cents to $1 for young pigs and some- 

 what higher for older pigs. 



