Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 259, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 November 1911 — Seme Precepts in the Winter Manage ment of the Brood Sow [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Seme Precepts in the Winter Manage ment of the Brood Sow

By PROF. W. W.

SMITH, School «f Agricakera

Pardo* Uiioariky Agricultural Frtraifcn

Our object in the care and feeding Of the brood sow during the winter should be the production of a large, vigorous, even litter of pigs and such a condition of health in the sow thgt a generous milk flow and a kind disposition will be guaranteed for the nourishment and protection of the pigs after birth. Feeding and exercise are the two items which have a particular bearing on these results. - Feeding.—l. In the fall of the year the sow should be in rather thin condition as the result of a maximum of grass and exercise and a minimum of com. 1. About the first of November, or a week or ten days before the beginning of, the mating season, the feed should be increased so that she will be gaining at mating time. Observation and experience together seem to indicate a relation between this improving condition of fleßh and the prompt appearance of heat, susceptibility to impregnation, and also, to the size of the resulting litter. 8. The sow should be fed during December and January so that a medium condition of flesh will be maintained without loss. During February she should gain in weight and somewhat in flesh until the week of farrowing. The medium condition of flesh is not only in keeping with economy in feed bills, bu| what is more important, it conduces to the general health of the sow and her disposition to exercise. The improved condition of flesh is desired during February as a store of energy to support a generous milk flow after the pigs are born, and,’ secondly, to furnish a liberal supply of food for the growth of the pigs In embryo, which

takes place chiefly during the last month of the gestation period. 4. During November and December com can be safely relied upon as the main part of the ration, especially if the sow is mature and access is had to grass or other green feed. Without these, and with a sow which is immature, it is'safer to supplement the corn;by feeding oats, a little shorts, oilmeal and tankage. Oats, however, are usually too high-priced to feed generally. Clover or alfalfa or cowpea hay, fed whole or in the cut condition, makes an unusually good supplement to corn. Their more general use would greatly improve the present practices. 6. Some excellent rations during the late winter are the following: (A) Eight parts of com, four parks of shorts and one part tankage, by measure. (B) Equal parts com and shorts with all the legume hay desired. (C) Five parts of com, one part bran and one part of linseed oilmeal. Exercise. —Exercise and fresh air are necessary to good health and the maintenance of thrift and bodily vigor. Upon the general health and vigor of the sow depend: 1. The regular appearance of heat 2. The number of eggs produced. 3. Her susceptibility when bred. 4. The successful nourishment of the pigs in embryo and the ease' of pigging. 5. The disposition of the sow. fl: Her capacity to secrete a generous milk flow. There are, of course, other factors which affect these results, but that exercise is one of them, and of particular importance, cannot be doubted.