THE SWINE INDUSTRY 179 



farmer for himself and it depends entirely upon 

 the conditions under which he is working and the 

 equipment he has for caring for hogs. Pigs born 

 in the fall are never profitable unless the farmer is 

 prepared to take the very best care of them during 

 the winter. If he has warm shelter for them and 

 has an abundance of milk or ground feed and roots 

 with which to keep them growing, and has equip- 

 ment for heating or cooking this feed during the 

 cold months, fall pigs may be made to pay fair 

 profits. Unless they can be very carefully taken 

 care of, they will not thrive during the cold weather, 

 will become stunted, and it will be impossible to get 

 the growth out of them that is necessary for profit- 

 able stock production. To successfully raise two 

 litters per year from one sow, it will be necessary 

 to plan for the arrival of a spring litter early in 

 March. This frequently will be found a disadvan- 

 tage because the weather at this time is usually 

 cold and stormy and not conducive to thrifty growth 

 during the first month of the pig's life, which is a 

 vital period. By planning the arrival of the spring 

 litter at this time, the fall litter should be farrowed 

 by the middle of August or early September, so 

 as to have the fall pigs well started on their growth 

 before the cold weather arrives. 



An important detail in the management of grow- 

 ing pigs, especially fall pigs, is to see that they get 

 plenty of exercise. The spring pigs will usually 

 take plenty of exercise of their own accord, es- 

 pecially when raised on pasture, but in winter, 

 when they are likely to receive a large concentrated 

 grain ration in the barn, there is danger that they 

 will become sluggish and not move about enough. 

 Pigs which are heavily fed, and take insufficient 

 exercise, will very probably develop the disease 



