CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE. 

 LOVEJOYISMS. 



To the farmer who wishes to purchase a boar for use as a producer 

 of good feeding hogs for the market, I would urge that he do not wait 

 too long, as many do, but that he buy the boar early, while the herd 

 from which it is to come is not all culled, so that he may get a better 

 choice and the pig may become accustomed to his new home long before 

 he is to be used. 



After the pigs are two or three days old, they with the sow, can be 

 removed to an individual house or pen, without much danger of their 

 being overlaid by the sow, unless she is deaf, which is sometimes the 

 case, but such a sow should be sold for pork and not kept in the breed- 

 ing herd. 



Occasionally one finds a sow that is very nervous after farrowing. 

 She will get up and lie down again frequently, and may crush one or 

 more of the newly farrowed pigs. It is well to give such a sow a small 

 feed, mostly of bran with a little middlings or cornmeal, as this will 

 often quiet her. If she is extremely nervous and insists on getting up 

 and down, pour one teaspoonful of laudanum into her ear. 



You will notice an illustration of a farrowing box, which we have 

 used for many years, and consider it one of the best appliances in the 

 equipment of a farrowing house, for while the sow can easily lie down 

 on either her right or left side, she cannot turn around or lie down 

 on the pigs, as they are protected by the sides of the farrowing box 

 which do not extend clear to the floor, but have a space of some nine 

 inches in which the youngsters can run out into the outer part of the 

 box at either side or end. We found in the last Spring farrowing of 

 over two hundred pigs, that only three were injured in the farrowing 

 box. In a large herd three or four of these boxes would be one of the 

 best investments that could be made. 



One thing must not he overlooked, and that is plenty of clean fresh 

 water. If it can be had at will, so much the better; if it cannot, it 

 should at least be given once or twice daily, for the hog needs a drink 

 of water as much as any other animal or human being. I have known 

 pigs to walk directly from a wet feed of nice rich slop to a drinking 

 fountain and take a good drink of water, as though they had been fed 



