THE SOW 229 



place. If kept well bedded, and banked about the bottom 

 with strawy horse manure, they make comfortable sleeping 

 quarters. The sows are forced to take exercise in walking 

 backwards and forwards between the pen and the feeding 

 place. 



It is better to keep not more than five or six sows in a pen 

 of this kind, and care should be taken to provide plenty of 

 trough room. The troughs should be placed on dry ground or 

 on a-platform, and it i's preferable to have them in a place that 

 is sheltered from the wind. 



Feeding and Management during Gestation. — During the 

 period of gestation the sow should be kept in good, strong 

 condition, but not overloaded with fat. Extremes in condition 

 are to be avoided. The very fat sow is apt to be clumsy with 

 her pigs, and sometimes her pigs are few in number or lacking 

 in vitality. On the other hand, the very thin sow will either 

 not do justice to her pigs, or will become a mere wreck herself 

 during the time she is nursing her litter, and the chances are 

 that both these things will happen. A 'sow may be kept in 

 fairly high condition and still produce satisfactory litters, 

 provided she takes plenty of exercise. (Fig. 51.) 



Her Ration. — ^In districts where corn is plentiful, there is 

 a temptation to feed sows almost exclusively upon corn. Such 

 a method of feeding cannot give the best results, because com 

 does not furnish enough bone- and muscle-forming constituents 

 to properly develop the unborn pigs. It is also rather too 

 fattening and heating to feed in large quantities to a sow at 

 this stage. It is true that com may be fed, but, as in the case 

 of the boar, it must be fed with judgment. The ration recom- 

 mended for the boar — ^namely, equal parts ground com, ground 

 oats, and wheat middlings — will answer very nicely for the 

 sow. The proportion of com should not be over one-third of 



