Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1898-09-26
farm and bcn1e.
TIE VARYING SIZE OF L1TTERs.

in breeding, which seems neces-
that it also tends to shorten the body
a2d lessen the capacity of the SOW to
either produce or care for a large lit
ter. There are always fewer teats on
a short-bodied SOW than there are on
one that has been so fed as to make a
long and rangy growth. Quite often
the small, short-bodied SOW, if not too
highly fed will produce more pigs
than she has teats. II, however, she
is fed principally on corn, she will
have fewer pigs than teats, and usu-
ally one, two or more of the litter will
be runts and not worth raising.
These teatmen, as they are called are
mere common with spring filters,
when the milk supply is cut off and
corn is the principal article of diet.
Fall filters, especially if during the
summer the SOW has run to pasture,
with daily feed of milk or wheat
midd1ings, usually bring filters of
long-bodied and rangy pigs, which if
properly fed will make excellent
breeders.
1t too often happens, however, that
the fall narrowed pigs are put out on
an exclusive diet of corn, which clogs
their stomachs and thus prevents the
proper development of their frames.
If milk cannot be had in winter,
give the young pigs and breeding
sows diet of fine wheat middlings,
made into swill with dish washings.
If more is needed let the pigs and
breeding sows have access to clover
hay. Although the stomach of the
hog is small, it will, for non-ruminant,
eat a surprising amount of clover hay
1t should be cut fine and more or less
of it given daily Only in the very
coolest weather should any corn be
given, and then only sparingly. The
tendency to fatten must be repressed
as much as possible in a breeder.
After SOW has had one or two lit
ters her digestive organs will be so
much strengthened by the strain upon
them that unless great care is taken
she will grow too fat to breed we'll.
Yet the old breeding SOW must have
at all times the material nutriment in
her feed, which is required to provide
the bone and muscle of the pigs
which she is bearing.
It is the kind rather than the
amount of nutrition that the SOW gets
which most determine what her pigs
shall be. If it be food that contains
in moderate bulk what is required to
be in the frames and furnish the ma
terial for the bodies of eight to eigh-
teen growing pigs they will all be de-
veloped. But among such number
in the uterus some will get the advan-
tage and be more fully developed than
others. There are sure to be some
runts in a very large litter. They
should usually be killed at once. The
extra growth which the other pigs will
make will more than compensate their
loss. The value of a pig at birth is
so slight that very little extra adj
vantage from it's destruction more
than repays it's loss. It is the practice
of many good farmers to kill runt
pigs. We remember an old man who
thought to be reckoned very charita-
BILE because whenever he had runt
pig he made a present of it to some
poor person, who might better have
paid the regular price than to take a
runt as a gift.-American Cu1,ivator.
nATDv wTcnnNr
Never allow a heifer calf from a rich
butter cow to be killed as a veal. If
you do not want her to supply your
own dairy-they are plenty who do.
Calves that are losing the hair about
the eyes may be subject to a mild
form of mango. Sulphur and lard
rubbed on the spots occasionally will
effect a cure.
The man who has force, and brains
enough to get a rich butter herd of
COWS together, and then cares for and
feeds them as he should, is on the
high road to success.
If you are a dairyman or dairy
woman put your brains, your energy
in it. Be an enthusiast. If you can
not, then it is not the business for
you, and you will not succeed.
Be sure that all the fences are up
and strong before stock is turned out.
It will prevent the cattle from getting
bad habits impossible to cure and per-
haps an expensive law suit.
By selling gilt-edged butter dairy
man is not impoverishing his farm.
He is selling his crops to his COWS at
a profit, and returning the manurial
elements to the farm which becomes
more productive every year.
Few remedies for caked udder are
better than soft soap. Cover the bag.
If the punches and soreness have not
disappeared in a few days repeat. Ere
quent bathing with hot water and
hard rubbing will allay the fever and
reduce the swellings.
CONCRETE STABLE FLOORS.
Some one has said that you can't
abstract fertility through a concrete
floor. It is true. Drainage away