392 Western Live-stock Management 



breed her later. After sows are bred, if they are in 

 reasonably good flesh, they may be turned to good pasture 

 where they will maintain their weight without any grain 

 feed. However, if the sows are thin in flesh, or are not good 

 grazers or if pastures are poor, they must have enough 

 grain to provide for a slight increase in weight during 

 the gestation period and thus regain the flesh lost while 

 suckling the pigs. 



GESTATION PERIOD 



The gestation period of pigs is usually 112 to 115 days. 

 Vigorous sows generally come within these limits. Im- 

 mature and old broken-down sows ordinarily farrow in 

 a shorter time than the vigorous ones. The weight of the 

 pigs is usually larger with those sows which have the 

 smallest litters, and which have the longest gestation 

 period. It will require six or seven months to grow the 

 pigs from birth until they are ready for market. Hence, 

 it is ten or eleven months from the time the sow is bred 

 until the pigs are fat. As has already been intimated, 

 there is likely to be a comparatively weak market during 

 the fall months for many years to come. A sow bred 

 January 1 should farrow April 22, and the pigs will be 

 ready for market in November. These dates are fairly, 

 typical of the practice throughout the greater part of 

 the West regardless of other conditions which are often 

 more important. If two litters a year are to be pro- 

 duced, one litter should come in February or March, 

 and the other in August or September, the kind of 

 housing and the climate of the locality determining 

 whether it is most advisable to have pigs farrowed at the 

 earlier dates. 



