St. Landry democrat., 1885-08-08
SWIM
Row They Should be Cared for During
Spring and Summer.


Spring and Summer.
g The pig is provided with one very po-
7 tent means of protection againstchanges
in the temperature Al all seasons, as well
as against the damaging effects of sleep
ing in wet nest, be this the bare ground
or WORKOUT bunch of hay or straw,
repeatedly soaked through and through
by the rain, and never entirely dried,
namely, an excellent non-conductor, a
thick layer Of fat outside the vital or
gans. Instinct, as it is commonly
called-but that to which we refer is far
above instinct-warns the hog against
lying in the wet. The hog, with avail
able means placed within reach, whether
in the wild or domesticated state, will,
atany and all seasons of the year, gather
dry material, carrying this from con-
siderable distance to the place which he
has chosen as the best. The amount of
dry stuff thus carried is, graduated by the
amount required to place the hog out of
reach of the sensation of cold and wet
from beneath. The hog, more correctly
than the human is likely to do, takes in
the evidences of q coming storm; and
what does he straightway set about do
ing? Nothing less than to gather ma
terial for building his nest higher, that
accommodating wet may have room to
settle away beneath.
But, unfortunately for the domestic
Gated hog, he is liable to be TUNED to
pasture in the spring, shut away from
his winter quarters, and confined upon
low down, fiat grazing ground, where
he has no access tOmaterial out of which
he can build nest. Hence, what do we
habitually see occur with pastured hogs
in spring and summer? A bunch of
them will gather in a fence corner at
nightfall; go through the motion, upon
the bare ground, of scraping together
material with which to elevate them
selves above the point liable to leave
them in the wet. In the early part OF the
night they lieapart, but as it turns cooler,
or if cold rain comes on, they huddle
together, sometimes ''piling,n as it is
termed. Now.what is the natural result
OF all this? Simply that when morning
comes, the hogs get out from their close
ly packed state, coughing, shivering,
oVerheated on so much of the surface as
has been in contact with their mates,
and chilled on the surface in contact
with the outer air. Congestion Of the
air passages has been at work. and when,
under the influence of exercise and sum
shine, the circulation is reasonably well
distributed throughout the body, the
bronchial tubes, or the lung tissue
proper, as the case may be, or, possibly,
both Of these being implicated, get re-
lief through the day, but are liable to
the same state of things on each succeed
ing night. Yet, some otherwise very sensi-
bic men say this sort of cough is
worn cough and others go on and
recite, as did one very plausible writer
we now call to mind, how pigs and
stock hogs viii, during spring and part
Of summer, cough when aroused from
the nest; that how. later in the season,
as the feed gets frosted, aportion of the
stock will sicken and die; that an exam
nation by post-Borten3 will, in some
cases, show disease of the heart and
lungs, and in other cases of the liver or
bowels, or of both. This writer reasons
falsely that the hog is kept adoat, SO to
speak, and well during the spring,
through the agency of the grass, said
to be healthy and blood purifying while
green and fresh, but tending
TO produce disease later in the sea-
son. Dry corn is quoted by the same
written as prolific source of the all
ments mentioned. Other causes are re-
ferred to, but the real cause, the expos
ures referred to, causing, as they do,
disturbance ofthe balance of the circu-
lation, followed by congestion Of the
respiratory or abdominal organs, or of
both; then inflammation, resulting in
thickened and disorganized tissues of
the parts, are not named. Hogs get
stiffness Of muscles and joints, separate
and apart from the ailments named;
and there is no time of the year during
which it is proper or safe to permit
swine to pass night without shelter
that they can retreat to, and find dry
place to sleep even though this be
only plank floor. National Live Stock
Journal.