LIME FOR SOWS.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XLVIII, Issue 86, 13 April 1927, Page 1 (Supplement)

LIME FOR SOWS.

AN IMPORTANT MATTER A lack of lime or improper proportions of 'it in the ration are now known to be linked with cases of sows “going down in the back” or becoming paralysed in the hind quarters, says Mr Carroll, chief of swine husbandry at the University of Illinois. This same trouble will result if the Tation does not contain vitamin D, even though the calcium content of the feed may be all right. Farmers frequently find that sows have become paralysed in the hind quarters after they have farrowed and suckled a litter of pigs. The nutritional type of such paralysis can be prevented by feeding the sow lucerne hay during pregnancy and lactation, according to Mr Carroll. The way to protect sows against this trouble is to round out their ration with one-fourth to one-half pound of lucerne meal or chopped lucerne hay of good quality. Pasture, as soon as it is available, will take the place of the lucerne. Producing a litter of pigs and milk to feed them requires liberal amounts of lime. If this lime, along with the necessary vitamin D for its assimilation, is not supplied by the ration the sow will suffer, for Nature will provide for the safety of the off spring. This is done by the sow taking from the supplies of lime in her own body enough for the unborn pigs and sufficient to make normal milk for their nourishment after birth. When this is done, however, the reserves in the body of the sow are reduced to such an extent that the bones become weak and brittle. In this reduced condition the sow’s bones give way under the heavy strain of the muscular pull upon them. Cases have been seen where this has resulted in the cracking of one of the vertebrae of the backbone. This cracked bone then pushes down on the spinal cord and shuts off the nerve supply to the hind quarters until the sow loses control of them