The Globe-republican., 1899-03-09

Sows and Their Young.
SHELTER.


SHELTER.
The first essential for the keeping Of
hogs profitably is suitable shelter. A
pig can stand a low temperature as
well as any other domestic animal. but
1t cannot stand exposure to cold winds.
II a cold wind plays across a hog an
hour or two the animal will be much
the worse for it. 1t is almost sure to
cause constipation, which is one Of the
most common and dangerous ailments
that afi1ict hogs. Hogs require warm.
dry sleeping place. fairly protected
against draughts. While hog needs
exercise which has the effect of max
ing its body culver with life, that is
entirely different from causing its
body to SILVER with cold. The notion
that any kind of shelter is good enough
for it has been perhaps the greatest
hindrance to progress in the industry.
The swine building should be we'll
lighted. Plenty Of light is a great pro-
mOter of cleanliness and health. The
walls Of the hog pen may be built OF
any material that is convenient and
cheap, but if they be built of stone
they should be built with hollow
space. While the passages ard gc.-
tiers in the hog pen may be constructed
OF cement, stone or brick, think the
sleeping quarters OF the pigs should
have wooden floor. There is nothing
better than earth or dry sand for
breeding swine or young pigs until
they are put Into fairly close quarters
to be fattened.
FEEDING soWs.
The notion is held by many farmers
that breeding SOW should be kept
thin and practically half starved. That
is a mistake. There is no time in the
life Of sow when she requires good
food and suitable quarters more than
when she is carrying and nourishing
her young. She should be kept in
fair condition of flesh, caused to take
plenty of exercise, and left to sleep in
floor with small quantity of bedding.
Some sows are so ill-nourished and
others so excessively fat that their
young when farrOwed are too weakly
to live. Sometimes sows are deprived,
especially during the winter months,
Of access to mineral matter. 1t is a
good plan to stack a quantity of sods
in the autumn and throw sod six or
eight inches square by two or three
inches thick to every SOW every day.
A treatment like that helps to keep
sows in such good health that they
drop well-rourished and therefore
well-born pigs.
Ten days CT a fortnight before the
SOW is due to farrow she should be put
into the pen and fed there mornings
and nights. During the day she may
be allowed to take exercise with the
rest of the herd. For three days be-
fore the narrowing she should be kept
in the pen continuously. In that way
she comes to recognize and is not
afraid of her attendant. She should be
allowed plenty of bedding for the max
ing of her nest. A SOW carries her
young from 112 to 116 days.
Sometimes a SOW will attempt to eat
her young. That is usually because
she has been badly nourished or Is in
ill-health. If she has had an allowance
of enough of sods every day, or access
to a mixture Of salt and wood ashes,
that will usually prevent any inclina-
ton to eat her pigs. There is the In
stinct of motherhood for protecting
her young. II stranger goes into the
pen where the sow is lying with her
new litter, tries to remove thern and
makes them sQueal, the SOW mother
will be apt to seize anything-a young
pig as likely as anything else. 1t Is
good thing to let the SOW become used
to the appearance and even the clothes
and voice of her attendant. One has
hardly ever known of a SOW running
on a pasture field eating her pigs. 1t
L. a good plan to give SOW an allow
ance of roots daily during the winter.
Every care should be exercised to
prevent the SOW from becoming con-
situated before or after she has far
rowed; and for three or four days
after she has narrowed she should be
fed sparingly. There is danger OF milk
fever until the young are able to take
all the milk which she can give. 1t
is a good plan to have the young pigs
so hungry the third day as to be
for more milk. Immediate
" after the young have been born the
sow should receive a drink OF warm
water with a handful of shorts or bran
stirred in it. A litter of young pigs
will increase in weight at the rate OF
from two to four pounds day. conse-
ouently after they are a week old the
sow should be fed in such a way as to
promote the production Of milk. Dur
ing cold weather it will be found profit
able to give the SOW her feed In a
warm condition, at temperature any
where from 50 to 80 degrees. Skim
milk, buttermiik, shorts. bran, ground
oats. with a small quantity Of oil cake.
make excellent feeds. The shorts and
grain may be steamed with advantage.
Milk should not be added to them un-