PIG-RAISING.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume IV, Issue 1161, 31 October 1917, Page 6

PIG-RAISING.

MILK FOOD GRADING. The following report on a lecture dealing with the subject of the profitable production of pigs in the absence of either skim-milk or butter-milk is taken from an Australian exchange. The question, the lecturer said, was often asked whether the grazing method paid, and his answer was in the affirmative, providing the soil was suitable for the growing of lucerne or some other legume. The pigs, ho stipulated, must be bred on the farm. The sows should be selected from large litters. He preferred pure Berkshire, as they produced the maximum of ham for the minimum of side, and when fat were always attractive to buyers, and withal tlioy were quick maturers. The sows should bo selected not for appearances, but for huge litters. In this respect it was also necessary to exercise care in the selection of the sire. After some preliminary advice about the care of the breeding pigs the lecturer went, on to dral with feeding and the management of young pigs as follows: ''Make provision for a continuous supply of food. Lucerne is the king fodder, and if a plot be over 12 months old it may safely be grazed by sows. either turning them on when the young pigs are old enough to follow the mother, or having the sows farrow in portable houses adjacent to the lucerne patch. The latter is by far the better plan, as the sows will the sooner be able to get to the lucerne, and in a few days* there will be a supply of milk sufficient for the large litter so much desired. No green food will produce the abundance of milk that lucerne will, nor will any food other than milk produce such big frames in the young pigs'. If the soil will not grow lucerne it will not, in all probability, grow red or any of the other clovers, but red clover is worth a serious attempt to establish, as it is a very excellent pig food. Rape is about the next best thing, and pigs eat it greedily and thrive. If a farmer will liberally treat half an acre with farmyard manure, prepare the soil well, and seed with Prairie grass early in the autumn, he will be astonished at the great quantity of beautiful feed there will be available all winter and spring. and, in fsutf, all the year, provided the weather isravourable. It stands grazing better than any of the cereal green feeds, and grows more rapidly after a shower or when eaten off. Rye, barley, or wheat may also be used, but the one that will give the greatest satisfaction at a minimum of trouble is lucerne. Quite apart from its superior feeding qualities, it possesses two distinct advantages over most of the other foods—(1) in being less liable to injury through grazing, provided it is well managed, and (2) in its ready response to a shower, whereas a dry spell will in all probability spoil rape, rye. etc.. for further grazing. Pigs should not be allowed to run on lucerne during wet weather, as this compacts the soil and tends to hasten the evaporation of moisture. "For winter feed, especially for the sows, grow mangolds, swede turnips, pumpkins, or pie-inelons; but if I were forced to use these for the young pigs I should certainlv mix and boil them. I have tried artichokes, but they do not do well iu my soil. There is still another crop to which the pig-farmer should pay attention, especially where lie desires to sell his pigs as fats. This is the cowpea. If sown as late as January 1 it will mature a fine crop seed, provided the soil be not, too rich, in which case it, will run almost entirely to vine. When the seed is hardening the forward pigs may be turned in. This crop is at home in our district, and while providing a very excellent fattening food for the pigs the farmer has the satisfaction of knowing that his soil is being improved for the succeeding crop, which should be a cereal.

"When the young pigs arc seven or light weeks old their mother should be taken away from them. In this connection the grazing method has a special value. It is often difficult under ordinary conditions to keep a sow within bounds when she begins to feel the accumulation of milk and the separation from her young, but it is infinitely harder to hold the young ones in a strange run, worse —they will spend the next few days in endeavouring to get out, and fretting instead of eating and sleeping, and consequently will receive a set-back. But let them be turned out to graze and the sow be removed afterwards, and they will go right on with their grazing, apparently not missing the mother. If all the sows farrow at the one time, and if the lucerne has been subdivided so as to accommodate not more than ten in each division, with a portable house and trough for each litter on land adjacent to the lucerne, where all the feeding of slops, etc., and consequent tramping will be done, the lucerne will be saved from damage. "The young grunters must be made to show a good daily gain. The lucerne will be their chief food, and as there is no skim-milk a little pollard should be mixed with the water given them; this must be done regularly and at least three times daily. Give a little cor;; in the, cob 'at each meal, increasing the quantity as they grow; also increase the liquids given, but not necessarily the pollard, as it. is too dear generally to feed at a profit. Keep the young stock well bedded, and see that they are not crowed at the trough. The maize here serves a double purpose, as some will be eating while others are drinking. Keep them free from bog lice by the use of sheep-dip or wood preserving oil diluted with kerosene. Change the places of the different mobs occasionally. By the time the sows are ready to occupy the lucerne again for the next, farrowing, these pigs will be six months old, and will be ready to be topped off. For this purpose they must be locked in small yards and fed a more liberal sup ply of grain, boiled pumpkin, etc., and turned into the cowpeas if such a crop has been provided. After a month of this treatment they should, at least have attained 1201b,' and be ready foi the market.''