CHAPTEE FOURTEEN. 



CARE OF PIGS. 

 Care of Pigs for First Three Months After Weaning. 



Weaning time is a very critical period in the life of the 

 pig. \\e will suppose that the pig has been fed in addition 

 to what he received from the mother, so that he is well 

 started, and, without changing the rations he has had, he 

 should be fed at least twice daily all that he will eat up 

 clean. It is a bad custom to feed any animal more than 

 it will eat and clean up thoroughly. The pig should have, 

 in addition to what it is fed in concentrated ration, at all 

 times of the year, the run of a good fresh pasture of green 

 feed. The different varieties are treated in another chapter. 



Probably the most economical ration for pigs for the 

 first three months after weaning is a mixture of home- 

 grown grains, preferably ground into a fine meal and prop- 

 erly balanced. If one is growing his own grains for hog 

 feed, a good ration is a mixture of corn and oats very 

 finely ground. I do not mean broken up with a cheap steel 

 grinder, but ground into a fine meal, and if it could be 

 sifted, so much the better. Oat husks are not a very desira- 

 ble adjunct in the mixture, but will not injure the pigs after 

 a few months old, but during the first few weeks of their 

 lives the husks prove more or less irritating in the in- 

 testines. This mixture would be improved by an addi- 

 tion of ten per cent tankage of not less than sixty 

 per cent protein, unless one has enough skim milk with 

 which to mix the ration into a slop as thick as can be 

 poured. There is nothing better for growing pigs than 

 skim milk properly balanced with three pounds of milk to 

 one pound of ground carbonaceous grain. More than this 

 ataiount of milk per pound of grain should not be used. 

 Where there is no niilk, tankage will practically take its 

 place in balancing the ration. 



All the feed should be fed while sweet. When the- 



