THE PIG INDUSTRY

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 53, Issue 3813, 25 September 1936, Page 9

THE PIG INDUSTRY

FARROWING. At thq time of farrowing, no one but the usual attendant should be near the sow, as the presence of strangers upsets her. The attendant should keep a close watch, preferably through a hole in the wall of the sty, and not interefore unless there is evidence of trouble in parturition, of the sow attempts to bite her young. This occasionally happens when some of the young pigs yet remain to be born and one of those already dropped tries to get at the teats; especially if it squeals, the sow, which is usually a young one, will seize the piglet with her mouth and quickly squeeze the life out of it. Should she break the skin and taste, the blood, she will almost certainly turn on all the others and eat them. The attendant can pre-

vent this by taking each piglet as it is dropped and putting it aside in a stnaw-lined box until all are born, when he can put them on the teats, and all will be well. It is very important to see that aach member of the litter receives its quota of nourishment. Those of the suckers which have less energy than other members of the litter obtain less milk, and it is a well-known fact that these weaker members of the litter always take less interest in suckling than the Others. It should be the care of the attendant to see that they do not suffer for this. The young pigs should he kept on the sow for a period of eight weeks. A shorter time stunts the piglets, while a longer time puts too much strain on the sow. During this time the sow should be fed very carefully. For about the first ten days she does not require any more food than she did during the last fortnight of pregnancy, but after this the, supply should be gradually increased as she requires it. Particular attention must be paid to the food to see that it contains the necessary amount of mineral matter for tha upbringing of her offspring. There is nothing commoner than deficiency diseases in young pigs caused by absence of the requisite amount of mineral matter in the food. Mineral matter is found in fish meal and other foods, whilst cod-liver oil with its essential vitimins stands pre-eminent as an adjunct to the food of young pigs. One teaspoonful twice 'a. day is sufficient cod-liver oil for pigs up to ten weeks old. FOOD FOR PIGS.' Among farm animals the pig is unique owing to the wide range of foodstuffs it can utilise. Also, provided it is properly fed, the pig is remarkably efficient in converting food into meat. These virtues are commonly abused, and on many farms, the feeding of pigs is carried out in a careless and wasteful manner, with resultant loss to the owner. The lanatomy of the pig is not adapted to dealing with a diet which is I too bulky, or with one containing an | undue amount of fibrous food. In I this regard the pig is at some dis- i advantage when compared with rti- |

minant stock, but if this limitation is kept in mind and attention is given to the balancing of the nations fed, the nutrition of the pig presents few difficulties. Being a rapidly developing animal, the pig requires large amounts of mineral food in order to build up the skeleton and to aid the digestive processes. This is particularly so with young animals and with sows. The milk of a brood sow will contain as much as 11 ounces of minerals aach day. If the pig has access to topdressed pastures and is also fed with skim milk, little trouble should be experienced from mineral deficiency, but it is best to have a mineral mixture available to the stock fall the time. The following mixture is cheap and effective. Charcoal, 20 parts (by weight); hardwood ashes, 20 parts; sterilised bone meal, 10 parts; coarse salt, 8 parts; slaked lime, 4 parts; sulphur, 4 parts; sulphate of iron, 2 parts. Water is also of importance, and pigs do best when a plentiful supply of clean water is available at all times. In pig feeding, the most serious wastage of food is due to the use of unbalanced rations, and consequently every farmer should understand the rudiments of this subject.