CARE OF THE PIG

Greymouth Evening Star, 23 July 1927, Page 9

CARE OF THE PIG

NOT A DIRTY ANIMAL SANITATION - ”ESSENTIAL Because the pig is an omniverous feeder the idea has, unfortunately for the pig, oecome prevalent that he Is naturally dirty, and delights to wallow in filth. As a matter of fact, the opposite is the case. The pig is just as clean as, if not cleaner than, any other domestic atiimul. The pig-raiser who accepts the dictum that "anything is good enough for the pig” never gets anywhere. This is often made an excuse for allowing tho sty to remain in a condition that is often repulsive. With very little trouble a pig’s sty may be kept clean and sweet, besides which it should be roomy and well ventilated, but free from draughts. It should, if possible, have an easterly aspect, for pigs love sunshine. On account of their comparatively small stomachs pigs require their food to bo more concentrated than is necessary in the case of-cattle or sheep. Frequent feeding, but with no more food than the animals can clean up at each meal, is desirable. No animal responds more readily to rational treatment than the pig, and the profits derived from the industry are generally in proportion to the methods of management practised. An excellent example of how pigs should be housed is given by a North Auckland farmer. In planning the piggery, he made sanitation his principal objective. Facing the east, the piggery is built of rimu and iron, and is 100 feet long, with the roof 7ft high at the back and 6ft high in front. It contains 10 pens, each of which is 10ft wide and 16ft deep, and furnished with a wooden grating 6ft by 10ft, and a farrowing rail. All the pens are fitted with a hinged front, which can be swung up out of the way when cleaning is in progress, and to admit fresh air and sunlight, or put down when the weather is boisterous The floor of the piggery is concrete, and there is a fall of five inches from the back of the pens to the front, where a concrete drain, running the whole length of the building, carries afl liquid refuse to a tank some distance away. Each pen is provided with a concrete trough 7ft Gin long, divided in two, one section being used for feed and the other for water. A small yard and loading race has been installed at one end of the piggery, and tho pigs can be quietly driven into the yard and loaded without any trouble. There is a run 4 hains bv 2J attached to the piggery which is under pasture, and which Is topdressed periodically. It contains a rack, which is constantly kept filled with choice lucerne hay. which the pigs greatly appreciate. The run is enclosed by pig-proof netting, and it has a good fall from the front of the main building, and the sandy soil makes for thorough drainage. CLEANED EVERY MORNING. The piggery is cleaned out every morning, and no manure is allowed to accumulate in the pens or the run. , which is limed every year to keep down worms. The inside of the piggery is limewashed whenever necessary, and care is taken not to allow any sour feed to remain in the troughs. The pens are principally used for farrowing sows, young pigs, and ’or conditioning pigs for show. After thoroughly cleaning out a pen with strong disinfectant, in preparation for a sow due to farrow, the sow is washed with phenyle and hot water, and well scrubbed. She is then gone over with clean tepid water, and the udder and teats are smeared with olive oil. This greatly reduces the risk of the dam infecting the young pig with worms. The sows are regularly sprayed with kerosene emulsion to keep them free from external parasites. These precautions give the young pigs a good start in life from the day they are borp, and they arc weaned at eight iweeks. No pig is sent away until it is 10 weeks old, as a change of food, is likely to upset it if it is despatched at an earlier age.