DRAFTING PIGS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 649, 7 March 1914, Page 3

DRAFTING PIGS.

"Every seaso'n we have to crate a good many pigs for transport," a correspondent writes, "and we used to have a great deal of trouble in getting the pig we wanted from the feeding lots into the smaller pens, and from the'e into the Tate. Often it was necessary to drive pigs around the yard several times, until, perhaps, some of the number was over heated or injured. Now, instead of having a lot of trouble, we use a device consisting of three shct gates hinged together. We use strong dnor hinges, and three of them to each joint. The hinge should be secured to the cleats rather than the panels of the sections. This allows each section to fold over on to the centre piece when not in use. One section is 4ft long, while the other two are 6ft long. In folding the sections together the short one i folded in first. This allows the long one to lay vext to it. The total hngth is 16ft At first this may seem a little short, but we have tried different lengths, and rind this is to be the most handy. It is often necessary to make quick moves in drafting so that the three gates must not bs made too heavy and unwieldy to handle. The panels may be either 4 nr 6 inch boards. However, we find inch panels plenty strong enough, and it reduces the weight of the whole de vice considerably. The lower panels are 4 inches apart; aboye that they are 6 inches. When we want to crate a pig we pen a small lot up in one of the smaller lots, and with one of us at each end of the string device we approach the lot which contains the pig we wish to crate. By moving towards them slowly they will not be frightened, and often we can work in among them and get our gates thrown around the pig we are after almost before he knows it. Sometimes we can use the fence as a fourth side to advantage. In such cases we may have several pigs enclosed, and this allows mure room to work. As soon as we have enclosed the pig we are after with the gates, one of us goes into the crate, which we bring righ+ into the yard and place the open zv.a of it at the gap which we make between the two ends of the gate. A few minutes more and we have succeeded in accomplishing our object. Regarding cost, our experience is that it is comDaratively nothing compared with the work and injury to the pig that it saves. It requires only a few hours of time to get it up, and it will last for years. We have used thi3 device for some time, and would not know how to get along without it."