1 Ocr., 1902.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 231 
The keystone of successful pork production lies in the treatment of the 
young pig. 
Starving or pinching after weaning means little or no profit, but, on the 
other hand, generous and judicious feeding ensures success. 
You have heard of pigs eating their young. The fault lies with the owner 
himself. No sow kept in a roomy, warm, dry, pen, and fed liberally on roots, 
wheat, plenty of skim milk, and a little linseed meal, will ever eat her young. 
It is improper feeding before and after farrowing, and the want of water to 
quench her thirst which drives her to this cannibal habit. 
Pigs are the hardiest of all domestic animals. Indeed they have need to 
be hardy considering the shameful treatment and rough quarters they have to 
put up with, with some people who call themselves dairy farmers. Still pigs 
will die now and then a natural death. Suppose you find a pig with a hard, 
dry, feverish skin, standing about looking stupid, and objecting to feed. That 
pig is sick, and you must act promptly. Generally, the animal is constipated— 
z.¢., its bowels do not act properly. If that is the case, give a dose of Epsom 
salts in sweet milk. Separate it from the rest. If the pig is chilly, give it a 
good hot slop of milk with some cayenne pepper in it, to get up a perspiration. 
Take care that no cold draught blows on it then. Bran mashes are good for 
constipation. 
Young pigs, which the mother has not accustomed to exercise, are liable 
to contract a disease called 11umps, which is caused by the fat gathering round 
the blood-making machinery of the pig. ‘This makes the blood flow slowly— 
the pigs get sluggish, and it not looked after, will soon die. The remedy is to 
lessen the food and drive them about the pen after the dam has gone out for a 
run. 
Swine FEvER, called in America “hog cholera,” is a very dangerous, 
highly contagious disease, in which the lungs and alimentary tract are inflamed, 
causing death in from ten to thirty days. You cannot well recognise it in its 
early stages, yet the diseased animals may be transmitting it all the time to the 
healthy ones. You first notice a cough and a swelling of the glands of the groin. 
Then they become dull, go off their feed, have great thirst. Sometimes they 
stiffen and get red spots about the head, neck, and ears. The animal tries to 
bury itself in the straw, lies on its belly, the ears get very hot. Later on the 
tail hangs limp, the eyes become of a brick-red colour, it breathes hurriedly, 
the pulse is quick (a pig’s pulse is felt on the inside of the thigh), the dung 
hard and black. Vomiting may next appear, and the fore legs may become 
weak. ‘The snout is dry and covered with red spots, which also appear on other 
parts of the body. Then diarrhcea sets in, and death occurs in from eight to 
sixteen days. So far the only remedy has been to kill the affected pigs to 
prevent the spread of the disease. Highty pigs were destroyed at Mackay. 
Pigs fed on offal are most liable to the eee Every case should be at once 
reported to the Department of Agriculture, and care will then be taken to 
prevent the spread of the disease. Pigs are infested with several kinds of 
worms, which affect the howels and bladder. Turpentine, linseed oil, spirits of 
camphor, and Epsom salts are all good remedies, but a specialist in pig diseases 
should, if possible, be consulted. 
Scours or diarrhoea is a common ailment of young pigs. The trouble is 
caused by too much feverish, rich milk. Sometimes little pigs are born with 
scours. ‘'o prevent the ailment, feed the sow regularly, and, a day or two 
before she farrows, do not give her quite so much food as usual. Give her 
warm water the first twelve hours after farrowing, and the next twelve hours a 
thin bran mash. Give a teaspoonful of copperas to a sow with seven or eight 
pigs. Never feed a suckling sow on sour food, such as sour buttermilk, 
sour whey, &c. 
If the little pigs are a month old, a teaspoonful of castor oil with ten to 
fifteen drops of laudanum will often get rid of the irritating material which 
causes scours. 
