PIG-KEEPING.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1095, 24 February 1893, Page 8

PIG-KEEPING.

A point nearly always overlooked by amateur pig-keepers is the necessity to feed young pigs frequently ; so many owners consider that if they place a quantity of food in the pig’s trough twice a day that they have done all that is needed. Young pigs should be fed at' least three times a day, and if they have food given to them at four different periods they will thrive so much the better. You hear persons say that they only wish to keep the pig growing on. This is a huge mistake; the growing and fatting process ought to proceed at one and the same time, and will result in a far greater profit. A wellfed pig is a satisfied pig, and a contented pig is bound to be a thriving pig. The poor, miserable pig which has to expend a large proportion of its vital force night and morning in calling the attention of its . owner to its hungry condition will bo ''neither a contented nor a thriving pig. As to the best style of pig for a cottager or small farmer to keep there may be some difference of opinion, but of whatever breed it may be, let it be well bred, of quick growth, quiet disposition, long and deep in the body, wide in the forehead, short in the legs, fine in the bone, and having plenty of silky hair. A pig of this kind may require a little more food than a thick, blocky, heavy-shouldered, and shortbacked pig, but the former will increase in size and weight twice as quickly as the latter, and be worth more per stone when fatted. Far too frequently do persons lose sight of the fact that the pig is a foodeating and a pork and manure manufacturing machine, and that the pig which performs these duties at the least expense is the one most profitable to keep.