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. 
