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Pig Feeding for the Dairy Farmer. [Jan., 



The Time of Year for Breeding Pigs. — A gilt or young sow 

 should not be less than twelve or fourteen months old before 

 she pigs down, and April or May is a very suitable month for 

 farrowing her first litter. The normal period of gestation is 

 sixteen weeks or 112 days, and that is generally the time a 

 young sow will carry her pigs. Older animals frequently go 

 117 days, and if about to produce small litters, gestation is 

 longer than when a large litter is forthcoming. For older sows 

 there are several reasons in favour of their breeding in January 

 and July : — (1) Pigs bred in January may be fit for exhibition 

 at the summer shows as breeding stock, and if well bred will 

 sometimes realize high prices ; the ages are calculated from 

 January 1st, so they gain the full advantage of the classification ; 

 (2) weaning is better done gradually, that is, by not taking all 

 the pigs away from the sow at one time ; some of the young at 

 three weeks old weighing about 9 or 10 lb. may be sold as 

 sucking pigs ; there is a trade for them during the winter 

 months of the year ; (3) the other pigs weaned at seven or eight 

 weeks old can be fed on for a similar period to make small 

 London porkers, weighing from 60 to 80 lb. at four months, or 

 kept on to the autumn and sold as bacon hogs ; (4) the sow has 

 the very great benefit of getting plenty of exercise in a grass 

 paddock or orchard from April to July ; this is conducive to her 

 becoming the mother of a strong litter ; (5) in the case of July 

 litters, the sow is under shelter during part of the hottest time of 

 the year, but gets the advantage of going out to graze previously 

 to visiting the boar, and she is thus kept very inexpensively 

 throughout the late summer and autumn months ; (6) during 

 warm weather, the pigs grow fast. 



Feeding Pigs. — Just how much food a pig consumes naturally 

 depends on the size of the animal. It is often stated that one 

 cow produces so much cheese or butter, in addition to fattening 

 one pig, and something over to go towards keeping the breeding 

 stock. Others say two cows to a pig when the whey alone is 

 available. The more practical way is to estimate what weight 

 of pork can be produced per cow from an average dairy, when 

 butter is made, the separated milk being mixed with meal and 

 converted into pork or bacon. The data required to answer 

 this question are the weight at which it is proposed to sell 

 the pigs, the average gain per day at various periods, the 



