io6 



OUR DOMESTIC ANIMALS 



have a good account to give of the food he 

 has eaten. Good, thrifty growth, not fat, 

 is wanted while he is small and young, for if 

 growth has been secured he will fatten very 



must be kept clean, and an occasional thorough 

 disinfecting will be desirable, not only for the 

 trough but for the pigs as well. Clean sleep- 

 ing quarters contribute their share to health, 

 \igor, and rapid gains. If pasture is available, 

 turn the mother and her young into it ; little 

 of any kind of food other than good pasture 

 grass will be needed. 



The writer has followed a plan for grazing 

 hogs that has proved very successful. Eight 

 one-half acre lots are provided, the lots being 

 three rods in width and correspondingly long. 

 In August one lot is seeded to rye, which 

 makes good winter grazing ; in September the 

 second lot is seeded to r}'e, which also makes 

 good winter grazing ; in October the remaining 

 lots are seeded to rye for spring grazing. The 

 first rye lot is succeeded by cowpeas, planted 

 as siioir as spring will permit, and then through 

 the spring and early summer the other lots 

 follow on in rapid succession with cowpeas. 

 B\' tliis s)'stem wmter, s])ring, and summer 

 grazing are available, and [provided \\'ith little 

 labor, trf)uble, or expense. 



The great point in the management of 

 young pigs is to keep them growing from the 

 da)- of birth to the day they are slaughtered 



FeKUIXG t'lGS 



quickly and on a small amount of food. The 

 mistake is often made of feeding an exclusi\'e 

 ration of corn. Corn is heating and fattening 

 in effect, and until he has left pighood days 

 corn is an improper food to gi\e him, es]3e- 

 cially as an exclusive diet. In his early days 

 protein, the muscle maker, should enter largely 

 into his diet. When given the freedom of the 

 pasture or clover field this important food 

 element is supplied to his delight and advan- 

 tage. When he has reached the age of seven 

 or eight months he may be brought in from 

 the pasture and inclosed in a small feeding lot 

 where pure water, soft coal, and ashes should 

 be furnished in connection with corn. A few 

 weeks of feeding, small quantities at first, will 

 bring him to the close of his days, when he 

 should be read)- for market or to be slaughtered. 

 Hogs of good breeding will readily weigh two 

 hundred and fifty i)()unds when nine months 

 old, if they have been ]irovided with good 

 pasture and reasonably good care. 



VL ]'"rei)in'(; YdUNO Pigs 



As soon as young pigs begin to eat provide 

 a shallow trough and place it where it is not 



accessible to the mother or older j^igs. Give or sold. If thrifty and active they will grow 



some kind of slop — milk and shorts is best rapidly ; if strong and vigorous they will be 



— each day. Quick growth follf)ws this treat- more likely to throw off disease if it attacks 



ment and with paying results. The trough them, or, what is better, ne\'er get it at all. 



MoTHF.i; Hog .xxn I.itti.ic Onf.s 



Digitized by IVIicrosoft® 



