THE CORRECT AGE TO WEAN PIGS

Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1687, 17 November 1925, Page 7

THE CORRECT AGE TO WEAN PIGS

DEPENDS 0N T SYSTEM OF MANAGEMENT.

SOME IHELPFUL HINTS.

(By E. J. Shelton, H.D.A., Instructor in Pig Raising.)

Among matters worthy of special attention on the pig farm is that dealing with the correct age at which to wean the pigs. There is no hard and fast rule that must be followed to ensure success, as the age at which to wean pigs will depend largely on the system of management that is followed on the farm.

If it is intended, as it should be, that the sow is .to produce two litters yearly, it will be necessary to wean the pigs as early as practicable in order to allow of the sow being mated in time for the next farrowing. For this reason it is advisable to wean the pigs when they are eight weeks old. The sow carries her pigs for four months (the gestation period is usually 112 days), and suckles them for two months, making six months in all with each litter. In general the sow will come in season three days after farrowing, and every three weeks (or twenty-one days) after that, although it rarely happens that the sow will show as being on heat before the ninth week after farrowing, and it is at this ninth-week period when it is advisable that she should be mated Some breeders are able, in the case of a sow with a very small litter, to induce the sow to come in season by keeping her and her litter separated for several nights in succession at about the sixth week after birth or even sometimes at the three-day or three-week period. In cases of this description it is sometimes an advantage to feed the sow more liberally after going in pig and to allow her to suckle her pigs for a longer period, but this system can be recommended only in cases where the sow has a small litter or where she is carrying plenty of condition, for the gestation and lactation periods are severe on the dam and impose a double burden on her at a time when she should be storing nutrients and building up her body generally in preparation for the litter to arrive and be suckled. If the young pigs, when about three or four weeks old, are provided with a small trough (a concrete, steel, or block tin trough preferred) placed in some convenient spot where the sow cannot get at the trough, they will soon learn to eat and drink freely, and if they are also allowed good pastuie the process of weaning will not prove a hardship, nor will the pigs be hindered in growth. The strain on ihe sow will not be as great either if the young pigs-*are handled in this way. Both sow and suckers should also be allowed an abundant supply of drinking water. If, on the other hand, care and attention are not bestowed on both sow and litter, and if the young pigs have to depend on battling and fighting at the trough for a mouthful of feed while the sow and perhaps other pigs are feeding, then the weaning period will 'be a very severe one on the pigs, and the sow will not do so well. For three or four days previous to weaning time the sow that is to be weaned off her pigs should receive only about one half of her ordinary rations; this will cause a decrease in the milk flow. It is usually then advisable to take the sow away from the litter, leaving the young pigs in the same pen or pasture that th e y have been accustomed to. These pens and pastures should be clean, sanitary, and of good area, and so be conducive to rapid growth and gain in weight. The sow should be handled carefully until her milk flow dries up. Some breeders allow the smallest pigs to 1 e main with the sow for a week or so longer after the largest ones have been weaned, and this practice is to be commended, particularly if the sow has an abundant supply of milk and has been rearing a large litter. At any other time weaning might take place when the pigs are eight weeks old. It is a decided advantage, if it can be so arranged, to allow a small weakly litter to remain on the sow until the pigs are about ten or twelve weeks old, in order to give them the additional benefit of the sow’s milk, but this will hardly be necessary if the young pigs have been taught to eat from a separate trough while still suckling the mother.

Young pigs should be given an allowance of lime water in their milk or other food two or three times a week; they should always have access to water supply; and should be provided with charcoal, bone meal, and wood ashes, as well as with a lump of rock salt to lick at their leisure. Given these conditions, weaning will not check their development.—Producers' Review.