Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1911-01-31
Keep the Old Brood Sows.

1t is the custom of some farmers to
raise litter of pigs from sow in the
spring that she is a year old, then fatten
her for the fall market and keep sows
from her litter for breeders the next
spring believe that in 30 doing they
lose nearly, if not quite, half the profit
that might be obtained from their swine
A young SOW seldom has as many pigs
as au older one, they are seldom as large
or as strong, neither does she take al
good care of them as does the expert.
enced mother.
Ii is impossible to tell by the first
litter whether a SOW is desirable or not
az she may develop later into an excel
lent mother even if she made poor
sho owing at first. A young sow that
does we'll at first may, as she becomes
older, develop vicious traits and kill and
eat her young. or be dangerous to han
die, but as this last condition IL usually
brought about by improper feed and
cruelty on the part of her caretaker, II
can be avoided.
Iconsider a good brood SOW as profit
able as the average COW. l have grade
o. |. G.. SOW six years old, now being
fattened, and am sorry that | did not
keep her another year; but az her teats
were failing, l did not think would try
it when her last litter was weaned
However, the chances are that sht
would have raised pigs enough next yeai
to more than pay for herself.
Here is her record: The spring sht
was one year old she farrowed nine pigs
She was fat and her pigs were fat. We
moved her to new pen, which she did
not like, and five of her pigs died. How
ever, we were sensible enough 10 lay the
loss to ourselves, where 1t belonged
The four pigs raised were worth Sl2 al
weaving time. In the fall she farrowed
ten pigs, worth $3.50 each or S25. The
second spring she farrowed in March II
q damp, cold basement, caught cold
nearly died herself, and of her eleven
pigs only one survived. We were oblig
ed to set down a $50 loss, due to oul
own foolishness, besides paying the
veterinarian 81 for saving us from fur
ther loss. In the fall abe farrowed eleven
pigs that sold for 81 so each; the follow
ing spring, twelve at SO each; fall, eleven
at S2 so; spring, IA pigs, of which tel
were raised, worth S3 each; fall II pigs
raised nine, at $3.50 each; spring, seven
pigs, of which six were raised, worth 81
each, and this fall eleven, of which ter
were raised, aud might have been sold
for SO each, but we preferred to raise
them ourselves.
This makes a total of 107 pigs, o.
which S4 were raised-which, If all hat
been sold at current rates, would have
brought S242.50. Her keeping has beer
very simple matter. Except while
with her pigs. she has run on the ma,
nure and been fed slops, vegetables, brsr
and some corn, not much corn however
her feed has been very cheap, the aim
being to keep her in good muscular con
dition but not fat. She has, We believe,
more than half paid for her keeping by
the benefit she has been to the fertilizer
she has worked over.
She has always considered people a.
her friends and was kind to her pigs
Her pigs were very large aud strong
and, until the last litter, very even II
size. The last were some very large
some very small, and they did not seen
to get an equal quantity Of milk; so
fearing her usefulness was over, We de
termined to let her 60. | believe shs
has returned much better profit thai
young sows would have done.-H. Leigl
Hunt in Country Gentleman.