002 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
September 14, 
.FEEDING PIGS FOR PROFIT. 
The revenue of the farm would be 
largely increased were business-like at¬ 
tention paid to the systematic breeding 
and feeding of pigs. On the farm, and 
more especially the dairy farm, every¬ 
thing is at hand that pigs revel in. 
There is sweet grass, which is a good 
and cheap food, grain of all kinds, 
vegetables and root foods, whey, sepa¬ 
rated milk, plenty of buttermilk; yet 
many farms carry only a couple, or at 
the most, three sows and their _ litters. 
What does good feeding consist in? In 
a sufficient supply of food of sound 
quality; flesh-producing food for 
growers, and fattening food for feeders. 
The old method of keeping a washy 
mess made up of all manner and sorts 
of waste and rubbish, in a cistern big 
enough to hold a horse, until the whole 
cistern mass smells like a double-dis¬ 
tilled abomination, is practically obso¬ 
lete. Fresh, wholesome food is what 
we must use, and we must take a lit¬ 
tle trouble in the preparation of it also. 
I find wheat, barley meal and such like, 
thoroughly scalded an hour or two be¬ 
fore being fed, make the feed go as 
far again, and increases its digestive 
properties. Well-scalded meals are 
more readily assimilated by the ani¬ 
mals, and the stomach and digestive 
tract are more responsive to their in¬ 
fluence than a hastily mixed liquid mess 
of raw meal and cold slop. 
“A good start is half the race.” In 
no case is this old axiom truer than in 
feeding weaning pigs. Neglect or half 
feed a strong pig, which has a good 
bone and frame development resultant 
from right treatment as a youngster, 
and it will not do him half the harm 
as would be the case with a weaner or 
any pig of more age with his growth 
yet to make and his frame in the build¬ 
ing. It is a wrong policy to neglect 
a pig at any stage of his existence, but 
it is nothing short of ruinous with 
piglings, as development once checked 
is difficult to start again. On my farm 
little and often is the rule in feeding 
newly weaned pigs. I always provide 
warm food, roomy quarters and a dry, 
warm bed, these being factors most es¬ 
sential for best results. The pigs are 
fed every three hours, four meals being 
given per day for the first fortnight or 
three weeks. Gradually the time be¬ 
tween feeding is lengthened and the 
quantity increased until three feeds, 
limited in quantity by the capacity of 
the pigs, are given. My own experi¬ 
ence of a good many years with pigs 
has taught me that it is far and away 
the best plan to allow three meals per 
day, leaving a well licked trough behind, 
than to give onty two, the bulk and 
quantity of which will, as a rule, surfeit 
the animals. 
Germs and shorts form two most ex¬ 
cellent foods mixed with milk for pig¬ 
lings. The former are rich in the most 
nutritious elements of the wheat, the 
elements that the prevailing taste for 
white bread has caused the miller to 
eliminate from his flour. The second 
is a clean, smooth food, and where 
milk is available I think there is nothing 
better for young pigs, and no amount 
of grain will enable growth to be made 
so rapidly as when milk is used. Any 
of the standard meals may be fed to 
yearlings with the exception of corn- 
meal. With me, cornmeal has not given 
good results. In addition to meals I 
feed a little oil cake or peas, which give 
a higher albuminoid content to the 
food. I long ago found it an excellent 
plan to supply a varied diet. I endeavor 
to be as regular as possible in feeding 
and tending the animals, these being 
indispensable. The first and essential 
thing is to let pigs grow. By building 
up muscle and bone, we have what is 
wanted—a frame on which to put flesh 
and fat. 
A mistake that is frequently made in 
feeding store pigs that are intended for 
growing into bacon, as is usually the 
case, is to fatten them all along, as it 
were. Such a method of feeding is un¬ 
suitable, and is only to be followed in 
the case of young porkers which are 
wanted at the earliest possible date for 
the butcher. Frame-building and flesh¬ 
making is the policy I follow with the 
store pig. I keep them growing and 
keep making flesh, but not fat. I give 
them such feeds as shorts, bran, barley 
meal, etc. To feed them lightly right 
through the growing period is nothing 
more or less than a waste of food, and 
the bacon produced is not of the right 
stamp, being soft, blubbery, and too fat. 
My way of producing lean meat, nicely 
mixed with fat, is to keep the pigs in 
good growing condition until within 
about a couple of months of the time 
they are wanted to be slaughtered, or 
approximating three months, according 
to the weight they are required to make. 
I have found that bacon thus produced 
is firm, well streaked, and weighs satis¬ 
factorily in the scale. For fattening, I 
give corn, milk, barley meal, potatoes, 
etc. Three meals per day are supplied, 
and care is exercised to gauge the 
quantity the pigs can take with benefit 
to themselves, to a nicety. The pig with 
a bit of length really makes the best 
baconer. The art of success as regards 
money returns is to take advantage of 
the markets. Pigs are among the most 
rapid maturers of our farm animals, 
and usually the man who has none to 
market has himself to blame. 
Johnson Co., Ill. w. h. underwood. 
Rickety Hog; Cow with Cough. 
1. Do you consider a hog fit for food that 
has some difficulty with walking? The 
hind legs project under the stomach as 
she walks, seems rather tied up and would 
rather sit than stand; has been worse 
than she now is. 2. Is the milk of a cow 
that has a slight cough and is thin fit for 
use? w. E. s. 
New Hampshire. 
1. Such a hog may have rickets, hut if 
in good flesh there should be no danger 
or objection in using the meat. The 
symptoms are sometimes due to more serious 
disease and in that case the meat should 
not be used. 2. Not until application of 
the tuberculin test has shown that the 
cough and emaciation are not due to tu¬ 
berculosis. That disease most probably is 
present in the case mentioned. a. s. a. 
Spavin. 
I strained my horse hauling hay off a 
soft piece of ground. lie holds up one 
hind leg when standing in the stable, 
and is quite lame when he first starts. 
After he travels a little he does not mind 
it as much. I showed him to a blacksmith 
and he said he had a small jack on his 
leg and advised a blister. I got a blister , 
from the druggist of iodide of mercury 
and have applied it. How soon can I 
work the horse, on plow or cultivator? I 
have work for the horse to do but wish to 
give him a chance to get well if possible. 
What other treatment would you advise? 
Nova Scotia. F. b. p. 
In treating a horse for lameness due to 
bone spavin it is necessary to keep him 
tied up short in stall for at least six 
weeks of absolute rest and during this 
time blister the entire hock joint, including 
spavin, just as often as the state of the 
skin will permit. It is better, however, to 
have the hock and spavin fired and blistered 
by a qualified veterinarian and then give 
the rest advised. Blistering alone often 
fails to remove spavin lameness. Firing 
and blistering, followed by prolonged rest, 
are more likely to prove effective. 
A. s. A. 
Rupture in Mule Colt. 
I have a mule mare colt four months 
old that has a rupture at the navel. The 
opening is as large as a dollar and hangs 
down about two inches. What can I do 
for it, and is it dangerous? a. e. s. 
Ohio. 
Such ruptures are not dangerous at the 
early stage and tend to disappear as colt 
grows. To hasten this it is well to give 
the part a light blistering with cerate 
of cantharides once a month or so; or to 
lightly paint with dilute sulphuric acid. 
Some have claimed that simply painting 
the rupture with tincture of iodine two or 
three times a week has sufficed to stimu¬ 
late healing. If the rupture tends to in¬ 
crease in size have wooden clamps placed on 
the loose skin and sac of the rupture, after 
perfectly returning the bowel to the ab¬ 
dominal cavity. When the clamps slough 
off in twenty days or thereabout, the breach 
should be found closed. a. s. a. 
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