SIZE OF LITTERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20740, 6 December 1930, Page 22

SIZE OF LITTERS.

PRODUCTION EXPENSES. It is obvious that the more pigs a sow can produce during her career, the smaller per head is the cost of producing them, and tho fact that the sow is the most prolific of all farm animals is a point strongly in favour of pig-keepiug. A sow is just as expensive to keep whether she rears a small litter or a large one, and pig farmers, therefore, should aim at producing sows of prolific kind. The industry has now been brought to such a high standard by careful selection with this end in view that the majority of sows are not considered worth their keep unless they can produce at least 16 pigs a year, says an Australian writer. It has been stated, however, that in certain very prolific strains or breeds they sometimes carry the tendency too far. This is by no means tho case with ail breeds, but those which usually produce litters of from 12 to 15, and occasionally more, are regarded by some breeders as a curse rather than blessing. They point out that a sow which produces more than eight or ten pigs at a birth is wasting her substanco in so doing; she is producing more pigs than she can actually rear, or more than she can raise properly, and it would have been better if she had concentrated all her energy on a family of more reasonable sizo. Even in a moderate litter there is likely to bo a weakling, in tho extra large litter there mav be three or four of them. It can be said in favour of the large litter as compared with tho small one that the former provides a margin for accidents. In tho case of a large litter it is easy to get rid of the superfluous animals, although no one should do this until he has how many tho sow can manage. The ideal number is, perhaps, eight or nine and if tho sow can manage to produce' that number without losing any and without producing a weakling, she is a very perfect and exemplary specimen.