HOW TO MAKE PIGS PAY.

Patea Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 953, 1 November 1882, Page 4

HOW TO MAKE PIGS PAY.

* Pigs must be made to take care of themselves. A farmer cannot afford to wait on them only so far as such labor will turn to profitable account. It pays a farmer to make tbe pens warm, to give the pigs plenty of bedding, and to shovel out manure. Advantage must be taken also of the season to make the gain on them while, the warm weather lasts, as winter fattening is nearly always done at a discount, and always requires stimulating or hardy food, which is the most expensive. A pig will gain as fast again on the same amount of food in warm weather. I have learned this by experience, and it also accords with the philosophy of the cane. I, last season, slaughtered a pen of pigs which did not gain anything for a month. They were fed (jf al! the cooked corn they would eat, but they would not eat any more than enough to hold their own. I consider the month’s feeding a total loss, except the manure which they made, and that would not more than compensate for the labour connected with them. The rise in price which was hoped for did not come. It may be set down as a general rule that pigs should be put into market before cold weather. In old times, holding pigs till late in the season was good economy, as the prices invariably went up. But now-adays such instances arc rare, as the surplus of the West fully supplies the market. I question the economy in this direction of wintering shoats. There is no possible profit in them if wintered on corn, as the growth will not be equal to the cost. It costs as much to winter a pig of this class as it would a breeding sow.

Breeding sows are the kind of porcine stock upon which a farmer shou'd calculate profits. They-should bear young twice a year, and should be kept a number of years. An.old’mother is. more profitable every way than a young one, as she will bear more young, of better size, and take better care of them , not only at the time of birth, but during the period of suckling. When properly trained or educated, an old dam is not half the trouble to take care of as a young one. A pig designed for this purpose should be educated, and if there has been painstaking to fit her for maternal life, tbe care of herself and young will be materially lessened, and the risks or losses will amount to little or nothing. She should be made to follow her owner anywhere. She should always be kept orderly to avoid the risks of jumping fences or other unruly acts. The most important thing is not to allow the breeding sow to get her full growth ; that condition should only be bad -when fitted for slaughter. What I mean is, that a breeding sow is not a porker to be made fat and heavy, but rather to be kept lean and simply in a thrifty or strong condition. When fat and heavy she will not take sufficient exercise to be a healthy breeder, and moreover when she has young she will be clumsy and liable to tread on the little pigs or lay on them.

A fat,. overgrown sow will not get up when she feels or hears a young one on whom she is lying, whereas one in a lighter condition and not so lazy and sluggish would jump up before the little one was suffocated or crushed. A fat sow is liable to be more feverish at the time of weaning, and hence an unnatural mother is liable to destroy her young; neither will such an one have so good a supply of milk. 1 have spoken of double crops in the economy of pig-raising.. This idea I make practical by first raising a crop of early sweet corn, which is is fed to the pigs, being cut up green (stalks and all). On the same land a crop of turnips is produced, the seed being sown after the last cultivating of the corn. After a crop of clover has been taken off, the sarnie ground may be turned over, • and having been thoroughly cultivated and put in good order, a crop of turnips may also he produced. If the clover should be an early variety, Swedish turnips, more nutritious, may be grown. A crop of turnips may be made to follow barley. A few acres of turnips grown as a supplementary crop, to which the pigs must he made to help themselves, will make a basis for a plentiful supply of feed, which will lessen materially the cost of pork-making. An acre which may be made to produce from twenty to thirty tons of mangels will lay the foundation for cheap wintering. The grain demand will then be cut down to extra feeding to the mothers while suckling, and to th young pigs during the summer and autumn. The breeding sows should be made to live exclusively, with the above exception, on roots and grass or other cheap succulent food, such as sweet cornstalks, sugar cane, apples, &c. Under this system there is profit in pigs.—F. D. Curtice, in New York Tribune.