RAISING OF PIGS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18941, 12 February 1925, Page 14

RAISING OF PIGS.

EXPERIENCE IN WAIKATO. THE CARE OF SOWS. WEANERS AND FEEDING. BY J.E.W. At the present time the most profitable branch of the pig-farming industry is the raising of wearier pigs to meet the spring and summer demands of the dairy farmer. As regards dairy farming and pig raising the greatest profit on the smallest area can bo ma do by a wise combination of the two. It cannot, however, be regarded as a wise combination when every blade of grass is monopolised by the cows and the pigs are crowded into a bare pen and fed on an exclusive diet of skim milk. The pig is largely a grazing animal. The sow that has been used to a wide range from birth is almost as much a grazier as the cow herself. The farmer who will set aside say six acres of his farm and divide this area into two paddocks, one larger and one smaller, would slightly decrease his cow-carrying capacity, but greatly increase its sow-carrying resources. Healthier pigs, less labour at milking time, and bigger profits will be the results. If there is one paddock, more than another that will pay for top-dressing it is the pig paddock. A luxuriant growth of cowgrass seems particularly adapted to the pigs. Sows in low condition, just after the weaning of the young pigs, put on a topdressed cowgrass pasture, grow fat and well conditioned before the coming of the next litter. In the matter of grass, in common with other animals, they prefer that short and sweet. Again, pigs are very close croppers, and when food is scarce, will bite their pasture right to the ground, and almost into it and it will take the encouragement of a good topdressing to bring it away quickly with the first movement of spring. The ideal pig paddock should have several other things beside good pasture. A patch of scrub or rough plantation is very useful for shelter, also access to a creek or spring. A rough fern hillside where the sows can root for natural exercise and change of diet is also a feature that can be included without much extra expense. However, where ideal conditions are impossible, a good pasturing paddock with water to drink and a rough open shelter shed is all that is necessary for the sows between the weaning of one litter and the coming of the next. Care at Farrowing. When the time for farrowing comes j many sows will manage best if they can go right away 011 their own and arrange their own quarters. It is here where the advantage of the rough plantation comes in. One risk of this procedure, however, is that a spell of cold wet weather may just happen at fehe critical hour and re- i suit in the death of the newly-born pigs | from cold and exposure. Another risk is that the careless sow or the inexperienced young sow will not go further than the common shed, and that the young pigs are either smothered in dust or crushed by the crowding of the disinterested sow. Especially is this the danger on a cold night. Perhaps under average conditions the best plan with the least risk is to draft out the sow a few days before farrowing and put her in a small yard with a shelter shed of her own. To make the drafting easy a rough yard can be built in the paddock corner into which the dry sows can be attracted by a little hand feeding, and as they* run back through a drafting gate on the same principle as a sheep race, the separation can bo quickly done without rough handling for man or beast. The farrowing shed should have an earth floor raised high enough to prevent flooding after heavy rain. Any hay given to the sow for bedding should not be much in quantity and should be short in the stalk and not of the tangling kind. Then the young pigs, as they come, will have freedom of movement and will the better avoid being crushed as mothered. Feeding After Farrowing. For 48 hours after farrowing the sow will require very little food just a drink or two of meal or milk and warm water, if that is handy. After that she will take from 301b., increasing to 401b. of skim milk a day, in addition to access to fresh green food. It is here that the second paddock is of great convenience. As soon as the young pigs are a few days old and can run about freely the sow can be passed on to the second paddock common to all the sows with young and the farrowing pen freshened up for the T!< lt will be seen from this system of padclocking that the sow requires serious hand-feeding only about one-third of her time. Supplementary green feed or root crops have to be grown for the late autumn and winter. In many districts the swede turnip supplies the want. In others the mangel or cow-pumpkin takes its place, but the heavily top-dressed pig paddock will do wonders in its feeding resources. Also it is here again that a goou fern-covered hillside, where the sows can get shelter, exercise and food, is a great asset to the pig raiser. . There are times, however, when, in spite of the best farm management, it is necessary to buy food in order that a good weaner and not a poor one may be marketed. At such a time, maize boiled, not to a jelly, but just enough to soften it through, is as high in nourishment and as economic in feeding as anything that can be got. Scattered on a clean paddock, both sows and young pigs, big and little have an equal chance for a fair share. A very voung pig will learn to cat this soft maize" even before it learns to drink milk from a trough. The writer onco wintered about a dozen sows and 70 voung pigs, many of them older than those classed as weaners. 1 heir run was a rough 20-acre paddock, lheir ration of swedes, about half a ton a day, was carted to them, arid when time allowed these would bo cut open by a chop with a spade to help the smaller pigs, toward the end of the winter they were also fed with two kerosene tins of boiled maize -I day This does not seem so much among so many, but the improved appearance of tho young pigs, with the resulting readier sale, and better price, amply repaid for extra outlay and time. The Matter of Breed. What might be termed the foundation stock of our Waikato pigs is Berkshire. The Berkshire sow is usually of a quiet disposition, easily accommodating herself to circumstances, a good mother with a plentiful supply of milk, and an economical- user of all food available. If she is mated with a boar of her own breed and Rood strain her weaners find ready sale at six to seven weeks old, especially among those whose object is to place 011 the matket a porker from 80 to 1201b. weight. Another class of weaner coming into favour among dairymen who sell to the bacon factory buyers is the Berkshire-Tamworth cross." This weaner, if given good conditions, can be marketed perhaos a wok ' earlier than tho purebred Berkshire. Jt is a pii; long in frame, quicK in maturing, and most surprisingly weighty when finished, but to be successful plenty 01 good food is essential to this class. In dealing thus with pig raising it might be as well to remember that the present high price for tho weaner is in all probability but a passing phase of tho industry. and that in tho run, the farmer must look to the fattening of his own stock, but even here the man r;ho can most cheaply raise the right animal Is at least ono stake on the road to k fttccess. k Hnffiatlk