POINTS ON PIGS

Manawatu Times, Volume LXIX, Issue 2565, 24 December 1924, Page 9

POINTS ON PIGS

Get rid of that sow which raises only four or five pigs and the one that docs not give sufficient milk for half a dozen. The margin is so small it is impossible to realise any profit from pigs such sows raise. If it is impossible to have the pigs on pasture, do the next best thing • .cut clover or corn, and take it to the pens. It is surprising the amount of green stuff pigs will consume, and it always helps to reduce the bill for grain feed.

All young pigs must bo kept growing right from the start, and grown to the desired size and weight. This means that the sow must be a good milker and satisfy her litter until old enough to feed from a trough, which may be at around four weeks.

Exercise is very important for young pigs, and every possible means of securing it must bo adopted. If they are kept in a small pen there is a danger of possibly the best of them becoming too fat and dying from diseases which soft, flabby pigs appear susceptible to. By the time the young pigs are three or four weeks old they will have learned to eat. If ■at all possible, it is a good plan to give them access to another pen where they can have a small trough to themselves. Pigs that have learned to eat well before being weaned do not suffer any serious setbacks when Ike sow is taken away from them. If at any time during the lactation period the' sow’s udders become hard and , inflamed, it is a good plan to bathe thoroughly with hot water and apply equal .parts 6t ‘lard and turpentine. ,