BREEDING AND FEEDING THE PIG

Shannon News, 23 December 1924, Page 3

BREEDING AND FEEDING THE PIG

The .practice of , .buying, weaned lit-, ■ ter 3 of pigs .for feeding caniiot at all times bo commended. If it pays the breeder: to sell them, as it,must, or he would not continue the .practice, it should pay the feeder to.breed them, There is, too, ‘this advantage in breed-' ing for .feeding, that a man can breed v/hat he wants, whereas it is seldom that he can buy what, is the best class of. pig for his purpose. An examination of,the various lotp^pf,y°UUS pigs offered for sale in oiir markets at once exhibits their character. They are of .all sizes and dualities, many being Offered by dealers -who buy from all sorts and conditions "of men .to sell again. The breeder of pigs of high .quality is seldom in need of either market or dealer; he has an unfailing market or his‘own, for there,i s always a demand fori what he .has .to sell. There is, t°. 0 > great risk in buying pigs which have come from no one • knows ,where, on_ account of dieease. -Next to breeding, the best plan is to buy from a .farmer, whose -stock is. well known, and consists of large, virile sows ■of a. pure breed, or of a ■ first cross,-- and a .pure-bred. boar. No attempt should; be made to feed pigs which are the produce .of a crossbred, boar, -no matter - how well: the sows, haye been bred. While in .the , main, the - sow imparts -size to * the. young, the boar imparts quality and form; hence a boar of a small breed like the .Berkshire, may be expected to influence quick feeding properties in- pigs bred 1 from a large sow which will add size in the young. ’ a