196 LIVESTOCK ON THE FABM 



and fourth litters and be able to raise them. It may be ob- 

 jected that a young sow or gilt cannot raise eight, ten or twelve 

 pigs and do it well. If she has been well developed and if she 

 and her pigs are well fed, she can do it. 



The day this was written the author had a young sow, se- 

 lected as a future brood sow, that farrowed eight nice large 

 pigs of uniform size. She had twelve good teats, consequently 

 four pigs were taken from a sow that had farrowed a few days 

 previously and given to the good sow so that she had twelve 

 pigs to raise. The sow from which the pigs were taken was 

 to be sold for pork. 



Young or Old Sows.^ — Some people make it a practice to 

 raise their pigs from young sows and then fatten and sell them 

 along with their pigs. This practice has its handicaps. 

 There is a tendency for the vitaUty of the stock to run down 

 and a much larger number of sows must be kept to produce a 

 given number of pigs. Some may be non-breeders and others 

 poor milkers, poor mothers, poor feeders or producers of 

 inferior offspring. 



The smaller the percentage of sows selected each year for 

 the breeding herd, the better these are and the better will 

 be their pigs. 



In order to keep the cost of maintenance down on old sows 

 they should be made to raise two litters a year. This can be 

 done even in northern Minnesota. If only one litter a year 

 is raised it is still better to keep the old sows as long as they 

 do good work. This may be till they are six or eight years 

 old. Such sows can be carried through the summer on good 

 pasture after weaning their spring pigs. 



HERD MANAGEMENT 



One of the first considerations in making a place for the 

 swine of the farm should be to give them plenty of exercise. 

 In summer this can easily be done by giving them a large pas- 

 ture. They should be allowed to graze on this and not be 

 fed so much that they will not go out to graze. The environ- 

 ment also should be such that they can go out. 



In a warm country or where it gets hot in summer, hogs 

 cannot go out into the sun. The pig does not perspire, conse- 



