PIGS..By W. A. Beattie

Northern Advocate, 29 November 1939, Page 8

PIGS..By W. A. Beattie

Hygiene In The Piggery

The greatest battle mat the farmer has to fight is the battle against disease.

Accidents to animals are comparatively rare, but disease is very frequent. Ii is impossible accurately to estimate the number of pigs that die or have to be destroyed before they have reached marketable weights, but of those that survive to this stage, at least 150,000 carcases that go through the works show disease in some form or other.

That it is possible to reduce this very considerably can be demonstrated from the fact that, whereas at Moerewa works the percentage of diseased carcases three years ago was about 13 per cent., since the drive to improve conditions took place this has been reduced to a fraction over 7 per cent.

Not every diseased carcase is absolutely condemned, as in many cases it is localised to the extent thac the diseased part can be removed and the balance of the carcase, after being subjected to a very minute inspection, can be safely passed for human consump lion. In these latter cases the carcase cannot be exported. Two Angles.

In consideration of this matter of disease, there are two angles from which to view the problem. First of all, there are certain strains of pig that are highly resistant to disease, while there are others that nave such hereditary weakness that ihey will get anything that is going. Secondly, there is the matter of providing those conditions wherein the pigs will be strong and healthy and have little chance of contracting any troubles. Fresh Air, Sunshine.

The best agencies wherewith to combat disease are plenty of fresh air and sunshine.

No liberal use of antiseptics or disinfectants can •do the work of fresh air and sunshine.

This question of fresh air is not the simple one that it may at first appear, because it is so often connected with draughts.

Draughtless ventilation is a very important matter. It is not at all easy to provide fresh air without draught. The effect of this is to cool one part of the body and so disturb the circulation to that part.

When the circulation is thus disturbed, those agencies in the blood stream that are concerned all the time with purifying the blood, eating up the germs and so one, are not active. Generally speaking, this can best be provided for by leaving a space about six inches or so wide under the eaves. The hot air rises and goes out through this opening, and the fresh air is drawn in from below. In modern architecture, the best form of window for ventilation is a window that comes right down to within six inches of the floor, and can be raised or lowered, not opened outwards.

Treatment of Milk,

The windows should also be high, so that the air, as it becomes heated, will go out the top.

Sty Mistake, The mistake that we make in the sty is, as it appears to me, that in our effort to provide air we have a wind blowing in the open door, blowing directly on the animals, and, as most of the houses am very low in the roof, we have this air passing out in too strong a current 100 close to the animal.

We do, in other words, actually have a strong draught. If, however, we could so model the sty or house so that the wind entered just a littJe above floor level and went out on the same side at roof level, we would have a constant flushing of the house with fresh air without any of the disadvantages of draught. How Denmark Overcame Pleurisy. There was a time when,; in Denmark, there was a great deal of pleurisy. They attempted. to get rid of it by. washing the houses out daily with a mild disinfectant solution. This failed to have any effect at all, and it was found that ventilation was the trouble.

It is a very tricky thing indeed, and calls for constant attention.

The next point that demands attention is lack of any damp in the sleeping quarters. The floor on which the pigs sleep should be. cither of wood, preferably a moveable wooden platform laid on concrete, or of hollow bricks or hollow blocks.

In the latter case, 'a double-celled hollow block is the best,

Where the floor is of hollow brick or concrete, this should be put down on a bed of scoria or ash or cinders rammed hard, and all joints should be permanently sealed with bitumen. For ‘an absolutely permanent job, this latter type of flooring is the best. Proper Drainage.

We have dealt with ventilation, sunshine and damp. The final point is to provide proper drainage in the sty so that with a minimum of labour all excreta can be quickly removed.

Where dunging passages are employed, and they always should be, a drain can be constructed at the back of them, leading to a sump a little distance away.

The very worst feature of most piggeries is* that there is no drainage whatever, and the surrounding ground becomes so fouled that? disease is bound to break out sooner or later.

The final point to watch is the treatment of the milk. ' ■ ,

It should not ce sent down in dirty pipes into unwasned drums. There should always be at least two pig drums, so that one can always be kept clean for the milk , that is to come into it at the next milking. A little molasses and hot water will keep the pipes, clean. One sometimes wonders whether it would not be much better to have a little trolley on wooden rails, and wheel the drums down.