SWINE 



517 



well sprung ribs, straight deep sides, 

 deep well rounded hams, and a body 

 long for the breed with moderately 

 short and strong legs. A wide, deep 

 chest should be looked for, as this indi- 

 cates well developed vital organs. 



The sow should be a good feeder^ 

 otherwise the litters will be small and 

 she will give but little milk, and unless 

 young pigs get all the milk they need 

 during the first six weeks of life, they 

 are often stunted in growth and require 

 a long time for recovery. It is not the 

 fat, plump sows in the herd that should 

 be picked out, but rather the longer 

 bodied and more vigorous animals which 

 show good grazing and feeding powers. 



Breeding — For pork production, sows 

 may be bred any time after they are 



tory, which may be until they are six 

 to eight years old. 



It is claimed that an aged sow mated 

 with a young boar will produce pigs 

 that will mature earlier than those pro- 

 duced when the sow is young and the 

 boar aged. 



Size of litters — I n ne experiment re- 

 ported by the Wisconsin experiment sta- 

 tion, the litters of eight breeds of hogs 

 ranged from six to 10 pigs each, and 

 weighed from 13.5 to 22.5 pounds per 

 litter. At birth the pigs weighed from 

 1.3 to 3.1 pounds each. In another ex- 

 periment, at the same station, observa- 

 tions were made on 12 Poland-China 

 and Berkshire sows, or crosses of these, 

 one to four years old. The average 

 weight at birth in this instance was 2.2 



Fig. 333 — VICTORIA SOW AND PIGS 



eight months old, but in case of pure 

 bred stock for breeding, better results 

 will be obtained if the sow is not bred 

 until at least 12 months old. 



The period of pregnancy for young 

 sows or sows in poor condition is about 

 16 weeks. Old sows may carry their 

 pigs two or three days longer. It is the 

 general practice to breed twice a year, 

 having one litter come in early spring, 

 and the other about September or Oc- 

 tober. Good breeding sows should be 

 kept as long as they produce satisfactory 

 litters. The second litter will usually be 

 larger than .the first, so that it is advis- 

 able to keep promising sows until they 

 have had their second litter at least. If 

 then they prove good mothers they may 

 be kept as long as they prove satisfac- 



pounds per pig or 16.7 pounds per lit- 

 ter. In only two instances was the last 

 pig farrowed the smallest. 



Recently, Carlyle at the same station, 

 made observations on the litters of large, 

 medium and small sows. There were 

 four sows representing the Poland- 

 China, Berkshire, Razorback and crosses 

 between these in each group. The re- 

 sults obtained are shown in the follow- 

 ing table: 



SIZE OF SOWS AS RELATED TO LITTERS 

 PRODUCED. 



-^5 



Size of Sow w> 



Large sows 482 



Medium sows .... 307 

 Small sows 238 



