114 : QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Ave., 1898, 
what we in Queensland are doing in poultry matters at the present time is extremely 
hike muddling, with which remark I will bring my paper to a close, in the most fervent 
hope that when next a poultry paper of mine is read in this district it may be for the 
benefit of not only poultry farmers but also poultry exporters. (Applause.) 
Mr. J. G. Panernorrs (Toowoomba) said the pigs and the pig industry 
about Toowoomba at the present day showed a vast improvement on what they 
were years ago, and this improvement was due as much as anything to the 
exertions of Mr. Robinson. He believed that gentleman alone now sold by 
auction between 5,000 and 6,00) pigs every year in Toowoomba. 
Mr. T. E. Courson (Rosewood) said he could hardly fall in with Mr. 
Robinson’s suggestions about pure-bred sows, as he considered that they 
could not be depended upon to give as many pigs as the half-bred ones. He 
believed, however, in the advantages of a pure-bred boar, and he also considered 
it should be the aim of Queenslind farmers to produce as good bacon as any in 
the world. Mr. Coulson also strongly advocated the spaying of sows, which 
he said, although unknown in Queensland, was very common in the old country, 
where men made a trade of it. At present, if a farmer in the colony turned a 
lot of sows out, after a service, to fatten for market, and the buyer did not 
come round in time, or through bad seasons the pigs did not fatten early 
enough, the tarmer, when he should have been able to sell them, had to keep on 
his hands a lot of sows far gone in pig. With spaying, such contingencies as 
he had referred to would cause no such inconvenience. At the Gatton 
Conference last year, reference had been made to a disease in pigs which 
caused them to lose the use of their hindquarters, and Mr. Stuckey had 
attributed it to a small worm in the kidney or spine. Since then he had known 
persons in his district who had examined the spine, &c., of pigs that had died 
suddenly, and although they had discovered no worms, yet had seen some red 
spots about as big as the end of a man’s finger. Only afew weeks ago he 
knew a man who suddenly lost from this or a similar disease ten out of 
fourteen young pigs he had put out to fatten. At the time the man also 
expected to lose the other four. 
Mr. T. A. Brominey (Pialba) said that some while ago he bought two pigs 
which, after a time, went down in the back legs very much as a foal ora dog 
would go down through ticks. Although no one had told him anything about 
worms in the back, he killed and opened one of the two, and just in the vicinity 
of the kidneys he found half-a-dozen long worms. The pig was then about 
five months old. 
Mr. W. R. Rozixson (Toowoomba) said that spaying was varried out 
pretty considerably in both America and England, but there the sows were 
kept until they were between 200 and 300 lb. in weight. In Queensland, on 
the other hand, there was no demand for such heayy animals, so that spaying 
Was unnecessary. He would advise farmers who had sows they intended for 
the market to first give them a run with the boar, and then feed them well. 
They would then put on condition very fast. Of course, if a man had no 
regular market, this system might cause inconvenience at times, but in any 
event depending on a buyer to call round to take the pigs was a haphazard 
way of doing business. In the matter of sows, a farmer’s aim should be to cot 
good, long,roomy animals, but because one was pure-bred that did not necessarily 
follow that it would give a smaller litter than a half-bred one. High-class 
stock was apt to get too fat through extra attention. A man with a pure-bred 
sow as often as not treated her as a fancy animal, fed her up too highly, and 
consequently she would only bring forth a few pigs. Treated just the sume 
as the half-bred sow, she would in all probability give just as big a litter. The 
disease that had been referred to was undoubtedly the kidney worm, and it was a 
difficult one to deal with. 1¢ could be dealt with, however, by causing irritation, 
such as by rubbing the spine with turpentine; but an injection of, say, soap and 
water was probably the best remedy. Asa matter of fact, an injection could not 
be improved upon for a good many of the pig’s ailments. Skim milk from butter 
factories, which contained preservatives, often made pigs shaky on their legs. 
