296 SWINE 



lent to a maximum degree in young pigs soon after far- 

 rowing, and with pigs at weaning time. 



Over Feeding. — If a sow is not properly fed immedi- 

 ately before or immediately after farrowing, so that she 

 has more milk than the pigs can take, it will result in 

 scours either from having the milk of the dam in a fever- 

 ish condition, or from having a greater supply than the 

 pigs should take, in which latter case the pigs will eat 

 more than they can properly take care of after it is eaten. 



At weaning time pigs are very often overfed, especially 

 on protein. This is true frequently where skim milk is 

 fed. Many people having skim milk do not consider it 

 much more valuable as a food for pigs than water ; hence 

 they give the pigs all the milk that they can possibly take 

 and sometimes they drink so much that they look like 

 stuffed toads. It must be remembered that skim milk is 

 whole milk with the fat taken out. The fat is the car- 

 bonaceous part of the solid matter in milk; hence when 

 this is taken out, the skim milk has relatively more pro- 

 tein than whole milk. If pigs drink an unusually large 

 amount of this, they will get an excess of protein which 

 may be more than the pig can properly take care of and 

 will naturally start a case of scours. Even if the pig can 

 digest all he eats, it may result in an excess of protein, 

 setting up a high fact6r of waste, which, as already out- 

 lined, consumes a large part of the ration, thereafter mak- 

 ing such a pig a much more unprofitable feeder. 



Sudden Changes. — Sudden changes in feed result in 

 scours not because feeds of one kind are not as good as 

 feeds of another kind, but because it takes the pig a con- 

 siderable length of time to become accustomed to differ- 

 ent kinds of feeds or to feeds in different conditions. Thus 

 if the ration of a pig is changed from sour to sweet slop, 



