WEANING.
Some farmers wean the pigs a few hours after birth, and turn the sow at once to the boar. The best mode, however, is to turn the boar into the hog-yard about a week after parturition, at which time the sow should be removed a few hours daily from her young. It does not injure either the sow or her pigs if she takes the boar while suckling; but some sows will not do so until the drying of their milk.
The age at which pigs may be weaned to the greatest advantage is when they are about eight or ten weeks old; many, however, wean them as early as six weeks, but they seldom turn out as well. They should not be taken from the sow at once, but gradually weaned. At first they should be removed from her for a certain number of hours each day, and accustomed to be impelled by hunger to eat from the trough; then they may be turned out for an hour without her, and afterwards shut up while she also is turned out by herself. Subsequently, they must only be allowed to suck a certain number of times in twenty-four hours; perhaps six times at first, then four, then three, and, at last, only once; and meanwhile they must be proportionably better and more plentifully fed, and the mother’s diet in a like manner diminished. Some advise that the whole litter should be weaned at once; this is not best, unless one or two of the pigs are much weaker and smaller than the others; in such case, if the sow remain in tolerable condition, they might be suffered to suck for a week longer; but this should be the exception, and not a general rule.
Pigs are more easily weaned than almost any other animals, because they learn to feed sooner; but attention must, nevertheless, be paid to them, if they are to grow up strong, healthy animals. Their styes must be warm, dry, clean, well-ventilated, and weather-tight. They should have the run of a grass meadow or enclosure for an hour or two every fine day, in spring and summer, or be turned into the farm-yard among the cattle in the winter, as fresh air and exercise tend to prevent them from becoming rickety or crooked in the legs.
The most nutritious and succulent food that circumstances will permit should be furnished them. Newly-weaned pigs require five or six meals in the twenty-four hours. In about ten days, one may be omitted; in another week, a second; and then they should do with three regular meals each day. A little sulphur mingled with the food, or a small quantity of Epsom or Glauber salts dissolved in the water, will frequently prove beneficial. A plentiful supply of clear, cold water should always be within their reach; the food left in the trough after the animals have finished eating should be removed, and the trough thoroughly rinsed out before any more is put into it. Strict attention should also be paid to cleanliness. The boars and sows should be kept apart from the period of weaning.
The question, which is more profitable, to breed swine, or to buy young pigs and fatten them, can best be determined by those interested; since they know best what resources they can command, and what chance of profits each of these separate branches offers.