Pig Raising: a Manual for Pig Clubs

Part Four. the Home Project Notebook 57

TO THE TEACHER

Teachers of agriculture are beginning to realize that the swine industry may be utilized to advantage in the training of young farmers. Pig raising makes a good home project. Most boys in the country, and some girls, will find a way to keep one or more pigs if their interest is aroused. The class work may be centered around the project, or the project may supplement and furnish the practical work in connection with a text-book study of general agriculture. With one or two class-room recitations a week based upon reports of the progress and problems of the project, upon the practical exercises herein given, and upon the subject-matter and project outline study presented in Part IV; including also some Friday afternoon club programs as suggested, and with the actual work being done at home, a course in agriculture of real, practical worth may be given in any school. Pig raising enables a boy to enter in a small way into the live-stock business. Comparatively little capital is required and quick returns are secured. With good management a small beginning will soon result in a herd of good size. The teacher should make use of the studies connected with the pig raising project to bring out the essentials of general animal production. Much that is learned regarding the feeding and breeding of swine may be applied to raising other animals.

It is not necessary that the teacher be an expert in swine husbandry to make this project a success. The teacher may help greatly by being an interested co-worker, encouraging the boys and girls, learning with them, leading them to sources of information, and being a sympathetic friend in their work and life on the farm.

If possible, each member of the class should be induced to begin the pig raising project with a pure-bred gilt. If this is not possible, any pig may be selected, fed, and cared for according to the project directions. The home project may be carried on as an independent class activity, or it may be correlated with the work of the pig club organization. It will be an easy matter and a most desirable thing to do to organize the class into a pig club, affiliate with the state club movement, and all work together in the big business of food production.

—A. W. NOLAN.

PART I. Pig Project Calendar

PIG PROJECT CALENDAR

SEPTEMBER

1. =Organization of the club.= See plans for club organization in the appendix. The class in elementary agriculture undertaking to base its work largely upon the home project should organize as directed by the club plan. Each member of the class should become a member of the club and plan to do all the work outlined for the project. The plan should meet with the approval of the board of education, of the parents of the boys and girls undertaking the project, and should have the hearty support of the county superintendent of schools, of the teacher and of the pupils themselves who are to do the work. The state club leader at the State College of Agriculture should be notified of the organization of the club so that he may send enrollment blanks and all such literature and publications as will be helpful in the progress of the work.

2. =Getting started.= For the pig raising project members of the class or club may start with one or several pigs, or with a sow pig (or gilt) bred to farrow early in October, since this is to be a project for the entire year. A pig belonging to one of the breeds most prevalent in the community should be selected, provided, of course, that it is a breed which is adapted to local conditions and meets market requirements.

In making the selection of the gilt, consider the pedigree and the individuality of the animal. Unless you know the pedigree it is best to leave that to the reliable breeder with whom you are dealing. Every member of the class joining the pig club should learn how to pick out a good pig. In the beginning, however, it would be well to depend upon the judgment of an experienced man in the selection of the gilt for the year’s project.

3. =Beginning the record.= On the blank pages provided in Part IV of this book write a brief history and description of the breed of hog you select. Each pupil should keep a neat and accurate record of all operations, accounts, results, etc., on the pages provided for the pig raising project.

4. =Registering the pigs.= If a pure-bred gilt is the starting point of the project, the club member should get the experience of following the rules of registration for the breed. Send to the secretary of the breed association for full information and blank forms, free of charge. When an animal is sold, a certificate of registration will be appreciated by the purchaser. Fill out the registration record in the form given in Part IV of this book.

5. =A place for the pig.= The first problem after securing a good pig is that of proper care and management. Pigs need clean food, clean water, exercise and a clean bed, if they are to thrive and be profitable. See to it that your pigs have a dry, warm, clean, and well-ventilated house. Sunshine is a good warmer and disinfectant of the hog house. For the beginner the individual house of the A type or square type is recommended. A good pasture will provide cheap, clean food, exercise and a clean bed during the summer.

OCTOBER

1. =Feeding the young sow.= Not more than two-thirds of the grain ration of the young brood sow should be corn. Good feeders prefer to use ground oats and middlings with milk or tankage in connection with corn. The young sow should be kept in good, strong condition but not overloaded with fat. The following ration is one good one recommended:

(a) A pasture should furnish the bulky part of the ration.

(b) A meal ration consisting of equal parts corn, ground oats and middlings. If the pasture is a good one the sow will need little other feed for several weeks. The meal ration should be begun several weeks before farrowing.

(c) Roots may be fed whole or pulped and mixed with meal.

(d) Alfalfa or clover hay is good in the ration.

(e) Skim-milk is excellent for sows.

(f) For minerals keep a mixture of slack coal, two parts by weight, air-slacked lime, one part, and salt, one part, before the hogs all the time.

2. =Farrowing time.= At farrowing time place the sow in a sheltered building, dry, free from draughts and well-ventilated. To prevent the sow from lying against the wall of the pen and thus injuring any little pigs which may be lying there, it is a good plan to provide a guard rail made of two by eight-inch planks fastened with their edges against the sides of the pen a little above the bed. The young sow should have a liberal amount of bedding of cut straw. She should have an individual pen or house, receive kind treatment and have quiet quarters. If the sow remains quiet for twelve hours or more after farrowing, so much the better.

3. =Feeding and care of the nursing sow.= The feed after farrowing should be about the same as before. At first she should have little more than a drink. A thin slop of middlings and water will serve. The sow should not be overfed and should be given a week or ten days to come to a full ration. The following is one good ration recommended:

(a) Equal parts of ground oat and wheat middlings, allowed to soak between feeds.

(b) Sweet skim-milk added to the above ration makes it almost ideal.

(c) Corn may be used as recommended for sows before farrowing.

(d) A certain amount of bulky, succulent feed such as hay and roots helps to keep the sow healthy.

(e) When the pigs are weaned, the feed of the sow should be cut down to check the flow of the milk. Dry oats are recommended for this purpose.

4. =Record work.= Be sure to keep all records called for on the record pages, including date of farrowing, number of pigs, method of housing, feeding rations, successes, failures, etc. Provision for weighing the pigs from time to time should be provided.

5. =Reading and study.= In connection with the practical work of raising your pigs, read at this time what your text and reference books have to say about care and management of the brood sow.

NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER

1. =Feeding the pigs.= About the first thought in connection with raising pigs is that they eat. It is important that every pig in the litter get its stomach full of the first milk of the sow. The young pigs will learn to eat when about three weeks of age. If the pigs can be fed separately from the sow, better results will be obtained. In one corner of the pen place a small trough for the pigs and fence it off from the sow. At least twice a day give the pigs as much sweet skim-milk as they will clean up. Do not leave any milk to sour in the trough. Then a few days after they begin to nibble grass and drink milk, a gruel of oats and wheat middlings may be made with the milk. Later a small amount of corn soaked for twenty-four hours may be placed in the trough. Do not feed more than they will clean up. Young pigs may be weaned at from eight to ten weeks.

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