462 FEEDING ANIMALS. 



scourge, hog cholera, to be largely the result of feeding so 

 indiscriminately with corn. As a proof of this, this disease 

 is hardly known in Canada, where peas, oats and barley are 

 fed in place of corn to young and growing pigs. There is 

 also very little cholera in the Eastern and Middle States, 

 except among hogs brought from the West. 



The milk supplied by the brood sow to her young pigs is 

 said to be even richer in casein, or nitrogenous food, than 

 cow's milk ; and as we have said in former chapters, Nature 

 furnishes in her food for the young the best combination of 

 elements, and if we imitate the milk of the dam, we shall make 

 no mistake in the food ration. Then, besides grass, we should 

 give the young breeding sow food of similar composition to 

 oats, . peas, beans, oil-meal, bran or wheat middlings all 

 having a large proportion of albuminoids, and being also 

 rich in phosphate of lime. 



It is not well to couple the young sow before she is nine 

 months old, as she should not farrow her first litter under 

 thirteen months old. Sows are sometimes coupled at six or 

 seven months, but this practice is likely to produce a puny 

 offspring, and if it is persisted in for several generations, like 

 planting small potatoes, the progeny will grow smaller and 

 punier with each succeeding generation. 



When the young sow is about to farrow, she should be 

 put into a small clean pen, with a narrow board placed 

 around the outside of the bed, about four inches from the 

 wall and four inches above the floor, so as to prevent her 

 from overlying her young, which will escape under these 

 boards. From one to two bushels of cut straw only should 

 be given her for bedding. 



It is expected that these young sows have been petted and 

 accustomed to being handled by the attendant. This kind- 

 ness and gentleness may save a very valuable litter of pigs. 

 If the sow is wild, it is quite useless to attempt to assist her, 

 as it will only increase her excitement, and still more en- 

 danger the safety of the young pigs. 



