The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1885-09-10
WEAVING PIGS.
Some Suggestions Likely to Insure Well
Grown and Healthy Swine.

SoI1c SuSS AInSAy W SuL .
Grown and Healthy Swine.
In weaving pigs there is something
more to be considered than simply
taking them away from their mother.
They should be weaned gradually, 81
as not to get any stunt or setback. To
take pigs away from their mother and
little home before they have been
taught to eat gives them a check for at
least two weeks, and this is quite a
little part of their lives if they are
designed for slaughter when they are
six to eight months old. Feeding them
in a separate place. to which they have
access, will accustom them to eating,
and when deprived of their mothers
milk they will not refuse to eat ustil
driven to it by huhgo.S
They must not be fed too much at a
time, or they will eat SO much that they
will become poddy. When their food
is very sloppy, they will take so much
that the stomach will be distended be-
yond its natural size. and the result is a
pot-bellied pig, which means a pig with
an unnatural and disordered stomach, a
mean-looking pig, and one which never
makes q good animal. 1t makes hog
enough, for it always has an unnatural
appetite to fill the big void made by the
washy or excessive food it had when
young. A little and often should be the
rule with pigs when weaving, and also
afterward. A healthy hog has a very
quick digestion if the stomach is not
over-crowded. When this rule is fol-
lowed, they will grow faster and keep
their shape better. The little pigs
should never be fed more than they will
eat up clean; for if they have any swill
or milk left over, they will muss in it.
and drop their %excretions in it, so that
it will become very foul and unhealthful.
Five times a day is often enough to
feed pigs when they are sucking, and
if they get a good supply from their
mother, three times will do, or when
the old one is fed. When fed five
times, the first feeding should be in the
morning; the next in the middle of the
forenoon; then at noon: again in the
middle of the afternoon, and finally at
night. These are the best times to feed
all through the season; and any amount
of food fed at these intervals will make
more growth, in a given length of time,
than the same. quantity of food given
three times a day. A hog will always eat
to excess if confined and fed all it can
take. 1t will always do the same if it
breaks into a field of grain Or when first
turned into a fresh field of corn or peas.
After the first gorge, if left alone, it
will eat only a good meal and lie down
by the food with a complacent express
sion. as much al to say, "Here is
enough"
1t is important that the troughs
should be low, in which the little pigs
eat. When a young pig hangs on its
stomach TO eat out Of a trough, it is in
just the position to hump up its back
and spoil its shape. 1t may be noticed
that I have not recommended corn for
pigs. This is because it is the worst
kind of food that a be given to them,
although the commonest. A little,
mingled with oats. or wheat middlings.
will do no harm, but good; but an en-
tire feeding of corn is a violation of san.
itary law, and does not evince good
sense.-Ruras NeU Yorker.