Pratt's Practical Pointers on the Care of Livestock and PoultryPratt Food Company
Science
Pratt's Practical Pointers on the Care of Livestock and Poultry
Pratt Food Company
Livestock; Poultry
When sows farrow they should be fed lightly for the first three days.
Later give all they will eat of milk-making foods. A combination of
ground oats, wheat shorts, and some corn is excellent. And Pratts Hog
Tonic will be found especially valuable during the nursing period. Meal
is fed ground and soaked. As soon as young pigs will take skim-milk they
should get it in a trough apart from the sow. They are weaned at seven
or eight weeks where two litters are grown in a year, and at twelve
weeks where but one is grown.
When pigs are weaned, and previously, there is nothing better than
shorts and skim milk. They should be grown subsequently to weaning on
pasture, with one to two pounds of grain added daily. In season, winter
or spring rye, clover, alfalfa, barley, and rape all make excellent
pasture.
The fattening period with swine covers from six to eight weeks. Unground
corn and water will fatten swine in good form. The same is true of
barley and rye, ground and soaked. They may be fattened nicely while
grazing on field peas. They may also be similarly fattened by hogging
off corn or gathering it from the excrement of cattle that are being
fattened on it. Swine well grown should make an average gain of a pound
a day. Bacon swine may be best sold at 175 to 200 pounds in weight. Lard
types are usually grown to greater weights.
Swine breeders have long recognized the value of Pratts Hog Tonic as a
disease preventive and fattener. Progressive breeders now consider it a
necessity in profitable hog raising.
If a second litter is wanted during a year the sows should be put to the
boar during the first heat after weaning. Many breeders do not like to
pass periods of heat for fear that the sows may become "shy," and there
is little reason why a sow should not have two litters a year. In any
case, the sows should be carried on comparatively light feed until time
to breed again, gaining a little in weight; and their treatment after
breeding should be as already detailed for pregnant sows.
When the boar arrives at the farm he should be dipped in a solution of
Pratts Dip and Disinfectant, as a matter of ordinary precaution against
the introduction of vermin. As an additional precaution, a quarantine
pen should be ready for him, especially if epizootics are prevalent. His
feed before change of owners should be known, and either adhered to or
changed gradually to suit the new conditions. If he has come from a long
distance it will be well to feed lightly until he is well acclimated.
[Illustration: ~TAMWORTH PIG~]
Breeders generally advocate the practice of keeping a boar to himself
during the entire year--out of sight and hearing of the sows. However, a
boar is often allowed to run with the sows after they are safe in pig;
but during the breeding season it is by far the best policy to keep him
by himself, admitting a sow to his yard for mating, and allowing but one
service. The litters will generally be larger and the pigs stronger.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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