Blackfoot news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1891-1902, 1901-05-29
mllkInx capaoltr ot sow.

MT. SanderB spencer, an ESgitsh
writer, says: THE quality OF milk
giving is not sufficiently studied by
many pig breeders. who take It for
granted that well-nigh every SOW
which will produce pigs will, as a mat
tier OF course, furnish them with good
supply of Tactical food" This is very
far from being the case. and there Ia
nearly as much difference In the milk
ing qualities of sows as In those OF
cows. Very little care is taken in the
selection OF sows as mothers on the
ground OF their probable milking pro.
pensities. although the points OF good
sucking SOW are in many respects sim,
liar to those of good milking COW.
and generally the discovery OF def
ciencies in this respect is made when
the little pigs are found to be doing
badly. Even then there Is generally
disposition to give the SOW another
chance, in the hope that she will do
better next Time" and she Is retained.
on the ground that she is valuable
animal, until the owners patience Is
exhausted, and he becomes reluctantly
convinced that such a SOW cannot pc
probably kept No SOW Is valuable,
no matter how highly bred, how long
her pedigree, or how high her cost,
that Is not good mixer, and able TIC
feed ner pigs in such way that they
grow with ordinary and reasonable
rapidity. Complaints of young pigs
doing badly while with the SOW are
very common. Occasionally the COM
plainant recognizes that the sow is a
poor mixer, or "a bad mother" as the
general run OF pig breeders express 1t;
but in the majority OF cases 1t Is not
even dreamed of that the pigs are
doing badly because they do not get
sufficient milk of proper quality to sat-
isfy their growing requirements. A
large number OF pigs die young from
no other cause than that they are
staryed-unable TO get sufficient sus-
tenance from their mother. Young
pigs are difficult TO rear by hand; they
do not take kindly TO cows milk, or
rather Il does not suit them because 1t
is deficient In fixed constituents. par
ticularly In fat, and they do not pay
for the new milk received. There is
no greater nuisance on q farm than
litter OF motherless pigs, or lot that
are practically orphaned because their
mother has not enough milk for them.
IL is said that pedigree pig stock, IKE
the pedigree cows above mentioned.
are the worst offenders in the matter
of deficient milk production, especially
II the herd has been inbred; but bad
mixers and poor mothers are TO be
found among all breeds and classes OF
| pigs, and require 10 be looked after In
selecting breeders, and TO be ruthless
/ ly weeded out II the discovery OF their
| imperfeetions is delayed until litter
OF pigs has been spoiled or starved,
| In q general way, when engaged In
breeding ordinary stock no second
chance should be given SOW that has
4 proved herself unable TO bring up her
| pigs in thoroughly satisfactory man
ner. There may be some hesitation In
sacrificing pedigree animal that has
cost lot of money. but IL she does
i not look like good suckler, or II she
fails at second try, she should at once
be fatted for the butcher. She may
have excellent points in other ways
but they cannot compensate for th'
loss which results from the dying OF
of half or perhaps three-fourths o.
each farrow. II is also advisable. a
least where the progeny is TO be KEEP
to strengthen the herd. to select boar
from dams which show thorough ma
ternai capacity.