AIDS TO PIG FARMING.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 305, 24 December 1926, Page 14

AIDS TO PIG FARMING.

SELECTING THE BOAR. Pig farming cannot be really successful if the boar and sows are of a mongrel type. It is just as necessary to have a high-class, purebred boar as it is to have a high-class, purebred bull. In selecting the boar, the first quality to look for is, of course, constitution, and he must be of some pure breed that has already demonstrated its good qualities. He should be descended from parents which have been famous for their good qualities for several generations back. Good form and early maturity are two very desirable points, and he should be docile in temper. High-tempered, ferocious animals never mature so quickly as those of a quieter disposition. The boar should (according to that well-known authority, Primrose McConnell) have a wide forehead, general masculine appearance, rather light shoulders, deep sides, with the top and bottom lines almost straight and parallel, deep, square hindquarters, and straight legs placed well outside the body. The pasterns should be rather straight (upright) and the feet small rather than large. Boar and sow should not be mated until they are at least eight months old. If they are mated very young it checks their development and shortens their yeare of usefulness. Over-feed-ing is not advocated, but they should have sufficient food to keep them in a thoroughly healthy, vigorous condition, and an abundance of exercise is absolutely essential. The Sow. In many respects the sow should be of similar form to the boar, except that there must be an absence of masculinity. She should be large and roomy rather than compact, with sides of great length. Vicioue sows should not be tolerated as they only lead to loes and unnecessary worry. Each sow should have no fewer than twelve teats —fourteen are preferable —placed well forward. It has often been noticed that the pigs that suck the front teats always do better than those which suck the hind ones. A sow should never be co low in condition when her young ones are weaneA that it i 3 found necessary to give her a few weeks rest before mating her again. She misses a period of oestrum, and thus has one litter less in the twelve months, which meane a considerable financial lo»s. The food of the sow during the latter period of pregnancy should not be very bulky because observant breeders maintain that such food leads to trouble during farrowing. Weak Points to be Avoided. There are several bad features that should be avoided when selecting sow or boar, euch as coaree hair, skin and bone, bad temper, ugly movement or gait, mane of coarse hair along the back, round ankles, splayed feet, crooked lege, J light girth, thin flanke, blind teats and only one testicle in the scrotum of the boar.