Summer Feeding of the Breeding Herd 119 



necessity in most of the pork-producing areas if pigs are 

 to make satisfactory growth during the winter. Fall 

 pigs should be farrowed early so that they may make a 

 good start in their growth before cold weather sets in. 

 In the latitude of the central corn-belt, they should come 

 the latter part of August or early in September. With 

 warm quarters, a clean place to sleep, and good feed, fall 

 pigs will do nearly as well as spring ones. Such pigs 

 should have the growth by spring which will enable them 

 to make excellent use of forage crops and be finished in 

 the early or late summer, depending on the method of 

 feeding employed and their development. 



However, with the best of conditions, it is not easy 

 successfully to raise and bring through the winter a crop 

 of fall pigs. As a rule, they do not compare favorably 

 at the same age with pigs farrowed in the spring. Further- 

 more, it is a matter of general observation that a sow does 

 not have as many nor as strong pigs as she does when 

 bred but once a year. Nevertheless, with proper equip- 

 ment and good care, these objections are more than 

 balanced by the smaller number of sows which it is neces- 

 sary to keep in order to produce the required number of 

 pigs for the farm. 



Feeding and management. 



After the sows are dried off, no time should be lost in 

 preparing them for breeding. The early fall pig is usually 

 a safer investment than the late one. In most sections 

 it is desirable, as a rule, to begin breeding about May 

 first, which will bring the first pigs the last week in August. 

 The importance of flushing, or feeding the sows so as to 

 cause them to gain, has already been discussed in Chapter 

 II. The best method of feeding in the spring is the one 



