SWINE MANAGEMENT. 



21 



at once. His feed should be a continuation of that to which he has 

 been accustomed, feeding rather hghtly the first few days until he 

 recovers from the strain of shipping and becomes accustomed to his 

 new surroundings. If it is not feasible to continue feeding as pre- 

 viously indicated, the change to a more convenient ration should be 

 made very gradually in order not to disturb the appetite or health 

 of the animal. As a rule, a pig 8 to 12 months old wiU be in proper 

 breeding condition when received unless he has been very heavily 

 overfed. In purchasing an older boar, particularly one which has 

 been in the show circuit, it is often necessary to reduce his condition 

 before attempting to breed. With some animals the breeding power 

 is permanently impaired by too high condition at some time in their 

 life. The boar should be well fed but not fat, as a too high condition 

 makes him inactive, a slow breeder, and a rather uncertain sire. 



MANAGEMEXT DURIN'G BREEDING SEASON. 



During the breeding season it is well to confine the boar to his 

 paddock, seeing, however, that he has plenty of exercise. As the sows 

 come into heat they may be brought to the boar's pen for service. 

 This is a much better plan than permitting the boar to run with the 

 herd, because by this method an accurate record can be kept to indi- 

 cate when the sow will farrow, or if she did not breed, when she may 

 be expected to be in heat a second time. It also permits of one boar 

 serving more sows in a season, for the sow can be removed from the 

 paddock as soon as bred. By following this practice as many as 50 

 or 60 sows may be bred to one mature boar in one season, which is a 

 much larger number than could be bred by any other method. The 

 lapse of time between heat periods is 21 days in the case of the sow. 

 A breeding crate should be in the paddock and put into use whenever 

 there is much discrepancy in the size of the sow and boar. Many " 

 breeders use the breeding crate for every service; it really saves time 

 and is an insurance against injury to the sow. 



The boar's ration during this season should be a relatively narrow ^ 

 onp of abundant quantity. The only index to the amount of feed is 

 his condition, and this should be evenly maintained if possible through- 

 out the entire breeding season, increasing or decreasing the quantity 

 of feed as his condition becomes too thin or too fat. In order to keep 

 him in health some laxative feed, such as wheat bran, should con- 

 stitute part of the ration, and if corn is fed it should be combined with 

 some protein concentrate, such as tankage or linseed-oil meal. 



1 A narrow ration is one which contains a relatively high percentage of crude protein furnished by such 

 feeds as tankage, oil meal, fish meal, skim milk, etc. A wide ration is one rich in carbohydrates and rather 

 limitedin crude protein. Examples of carbohydrate feeds are corn, barley, sorghum, etc. Narrow rations 

 are conducive to rapid growth and are generally fed to growing animals. Wide rations are fed to fattening 

 animals to produce large and rapid gains. 



