MATING THE YOUNG SOW
As in most other details in the management of our domesticated animals
there exists a variety of opinion as to the age at which the young sow,
or, as it is commonly locally termed, a gilt, yelt, yilt, hilt, elt,
etc., should be mated with the boar. Perhaps the most important point to
consider is the time of the year when the anticipated pigs should
arrive. If possible the period between the middle of the month of
September and the middle of December should be avoided. The long nights
and the short and dull days generally experienced during this period are
most unsuitable for young pigs. Many litters of pigs farrowed in October
are not any larger nor nearly as thrifty in the month of March as those
farrowed during the early portion of January in the following year, and
very frequently the loss amongst the October and November farrowed pigs
from lameness, or, as it is commonly termed, cramp, is very large. An
attempt should be made so that the two litters which should be bred each
year from the sow arrive so that they are weaned during the longer and
brighter days of the year; thus a sow which farrows in the beginning of
February may be expected to farrow again in July. The weather is
sometimes rather cold for little pigs early in the year, but it is
surprising how little they are affected by it providing the sow
furnishes a good supply of milk and the bedding is dry and plentiful.
The pigs farrowed in the months of January and February are generally
the most profitable, as they will be ready for the consumption of the
separated milk, butter milk, whey, etc., which is generally abundant in
the month of May in districts where dairying and cheese making are
followed. These pigs are also ready for turning out to grass in April or
May, or as soon as the weather is suitable, and the grass has grown
sufficiently. These young pigs will grow and thrive splendidly providing
that some additional food is fed to them and shelter provided.
This natural system of pig raising is of great benefit to those pigs
which are intended for breeding purposes and was consistently followed
by the writer from the year 1863. It was by no means a new plan even at
that period, although strange claims have recently been made that the
system is a novel one and originated in the fertile brain of one or two
enthusiasts who have gone the whole hog in pig breeding. In the middle
of the last century it was quite a common practice in parts of the
counties of Cambridge, Essex, and Suffolk to graze the seeds which
comprised clovers, trefoils, etc., with pigs which received in addition
extra food, such as peas or beans in accordance with the amount of
vegetable food obtainable or the purpose for which the pigs were
required; those intended for pork receiving the larger supply.
Although it may not be possible to allow the young boar pigs to have
their liberty after they become five months old, yet the sow pigs will
grow and develop far better in the field if properly fed than they will
in an inclosed sty; further, the young pigs which they produce will be
much more lusty than if the sows had been kept in close confinement.
Although the sow pig will generally come in heat when she is about six
months old, it is advisable that she should not be mated until she is
some eight months old, so that her first litter of pigs is not farrowed
until she is about a year old, when she should be quite strong enough to
rear a fair litter of pigs and also to grow and develop into a fully
natured specimen of its breed.
In some districts where the breeding pigs are generally kept in
confinement and high keeping is followed the sow pigs are mated with the
boar at an earlier age, but the system has its disadvantages which more
than outweigh the saving of the extra few weeks of the keep of the yelt
ere she is put to the boar. This early mating is especially harmful if
the number of the pigs in the first litter should be large. So few pig
keepers have the hardihood to knock a certain portion of the too
numerous litter on the head, and so reduce the number to say seven or
eight, which most young sows should be able to rear fairly well and
without any undue drain on the sow's system--but the whole of the large
litter are left on the sow, which becomes very much reduced in
condition, and checked in growth, whilst the too large litter of pigs
are badly reared and frequently become a source of trouble and
annoyance to the owner.
On the other hand, there are many practical pig keepers who make it a
rule to delay the mating of their young sows beyond the eight months'
age. They contend that a sow pig at eight months is not sufficiently
matured to bear the strain of producing a litter of pigs when she is
about one year old, and then to furnish the pigs with a sufficiency of
milk to give them a good start in life. The plan which they adopt is to
mate the sow when she is about a year old so that she is some sixteen
months old before her family troubles commence.
Another very curious reason has been recently made public by an
enthusiastic novice for delaying the mating of the yelt until she is at
least a year old. It is the following, that it is quite possible to
ensure that the produce of young sows which have reached the age of
sixteen or seventeen months ere they farrow their first litter shall
possess the desired characteristics of the breed, whereas this is by no
means certain if the young pigs arrive before the sow has reached that
age or is about a year old. Unfortunately, we have see no attempt made
to account for this alleged curious variation in the qualities inherited
from a parent of about one year old and the parent which had arrived at
the more matured age of about sixteen months, so that it is impossible
to discover a solution of the strange problem.
Therefore, we should be unable to admit the correctness of the assertion
even though it was not directly in opposition to our belief which is
founded on experience of a most extensive character extending over some
sixty years. To aver that the power of a young sow to impress its
hereditary characteristics on its young are only fully developed by
deferring the arrival of the young pigs for four or five months, or
until the sow is sixteen instead of twelve months old when she farrows
must surely cause surprise, if not, disbelief. Perhaps the object of the
propounder of the theory was to create a discussion--it could not have
been to bring his name prominently before the public.
Another advantage in mating the young sow so that her first litter
appears when she is about a year old, her daughters will in turn farrow
during the most suitable months of the year, providing of course that
she herself had been farrowed in early spring or about the month of
July.
When the sow pig which is intended to be kept for breeding has been
farrowed in some other part of the year, it is advisable to defer beyond
the eight months the mating of her so that she farrows at the best
times, or perhaps even better than that, if the pigs are not intended
for breeding purposes, would it be to have the sow mated when she is
about eight months old, and then allow the pigs to remain on the sow a
few weeks beyond the usual period of eight weeks so that the pigs are
taken off the sow three or four days before it is desired to have her
again mated with the boar. The risk of the sow returning to the boar
will be minimised, as a sow which has been baulked is sometimes
difficult to settle. In addition, the sow will be stronger and more
vigorous and likely to produce a strong litter of pigs, whilst the
piglings will scarcely miss their mother's milk when they are weaned
from her.
Those pig breeders who are in favour of withholding the boar from the
young sow until she is about a year old aver that early mating results
in the sow becoming worn out and useless for breeding at a much younger
age than if she be not mated until she is well matured. This is not in
accordance with the writer's experience, as many of his sows which
farrowed their first litter when they were about a year old continued to
breed regularly until they were six or seven years old--indeed, one
Middle White, Holywell Victoria Countess farrowed her last litter when
she was in her eleventh year. This sow also disproved the confident
assertion that the showing of sows renders them comparatively useless
for breeding purposes, since she not only continued to rear her pigs
well, but she produced a number of most successful prize winning boars
and sows, and also won many prizes herself from the age of five months
to five years.
The principal cause of premature old age amongst sows is not due to
their being first mated when they are eight months old, but to the want
of care in the management and feeding of the sow during her pregnancy
and whilst she is suckling her litter of pigs. To a sow with a good
constitution the act of breeding and rearing a family of pigs is only
the most important act of nature which cannot be harmful to her,
providing that she received that amount of proper food and attention
which nature required.
There may be very occasional instances of harm being done to the
breeding sow by over feeding, or rather by injudicious feeding, but in
comparison there are hundreds of instances where under feeding and
neglect are the cause of trouble and loss.