Pregnant sows should always be lodged separately, especially at the time of bringing forth their young, else the pigs would most probably be devoured as they fall. The sow should also be attended with due care while pigging, in order to preserve the pigs. It is found that dry, warm, comfortable lodging is of almost as much importance as food. The pigs may be weaned in about eight weeks, after which the sow requires less food than she does while nursing. In the management of these animals, it is of great utility and advantage to separate the males from the females, as it lessens their sexual desires.
FOOTNOTES:
[22] Sows are generally bred from too early—before they come to maturity. This not only stints their own growth, but their offspring give evidence of deterioration. A sow should never be put to the boar until she be a year old.
REARING PIGS.
"As the breeding of pigs is a business that affords the farmer a considerable profit and advantage in various views, it is of essential importance that he be provided with suitable kinds of food in abundance for their support. Upon this being properly and effectually done, his success and advantage will in a great measure depend. The crops capable of being cultivated with the most benefit in this intention are, beans, peas, barley, buckwheat, Indian corn, potatoes, carrots, parsnips, Swedish turnips, cabbages, &c.
"The sows considerably advanced in pig, and those with pigs, should be fed in a better manner than the stone pigs. The former should be supplied with boiled meal, potatoes, carrots, &c., so as to keep them in good condition. The sows with pigs should be kept with the litters in separate sties, and be still better fed than those with pig. When dairying is practised, the wash of that kind which has been preserved for that purpose while the dairying was profitable, must be given them, with food of the root kind, such as carrots, parsnips, &c., in as large proportions as they will need to keep them in condition."
Pea-soup is an admirable article when given in this intention; it is prepared by boiling six pecks of peas in about sixty gallons of water, till they are well broken down and diffused in the fluid: it is then put into a tub or cistern for use. When dry food is given in combination with this, or of itself, the above writer advises oats, as being much better than any other sort of grain for young pigs, barley not answering nearly so well in this application. Oats coarsely ground have been found very useful for young hogs, both in the form of wash with water, and when made of a somewhat thicker consistence. But in cases where the sows and pigs can be supported with dairy-wash and roots, as above, there will be a considerable saving made, by avoiding the use of the expensive articles of barley-meal, peas, or bran.
Mr. Donaldson remarks, that in the usual mode, the pigs reared by the farmer are fed, for some weeks after they are weaned, on whey or buttermilk, or on bran or barley-meal mixed with water. They are afterwards maintained on other food, as potatoes, carrots, the refuse of the garden, kitchen, scullery, &c., together with such additions as they can pick up in the farmyard. Sometimes they are sent into the fields at the close of harvest, where they make a comfortable living for several weeks on the gleanings of the crop; at other times, when the farm is situated in the neighborhood of woods or forests, they are sent thither to pick up the beech-nuts and acorns in the fall of the year; and when they have arrived at a proper age for fattening, they are either put into sties fitted up for the purpose, or sold to distillers, starch-makers, dairymen, or cottagers.
Nothing tends more effectually to preserve the health and promote the growth of young pigs than the liberal use of hay tea. The tea should be thickened with corn meal and shorts. This, given lukewarm, twice a day, will quicken their growth, and give the meat a rich flavor. A few parsnips[23] or carrots (boiled) may be made use of with much success.