The Pig Part 6

The buyers of pure bred animals for crossing purposes have also become more careful in their selection. They have ceased to imagine that because the owner of certain animals most of which he has purchased is successful in winning prizes at the chief agricultural shows, the whole of the animals in his stud, herd, or flock must be of equal excellence or at all events sufficiently good for the production of profitable commercial stock. Action on this mistaken belief has led to much disappointment in the past, since the home bred animals may have been of totally different blood from those which have won prizes, and further they may not be inbred for a sufficiently long time on distinct lines to render them prepotent enough to impress their good qualities on their produce.

Amongst the objections made to cross-breeding is the heavy cost of replacing the breeding stock, as to obtain a first cross, a succession of sires and dams must be purchased. Many persons meet this difficulty by merely buying sires of a breed similar to the first used, but then the produce ceases to be cross-breds and become grades until such time as by the use of a certain number of sires of a similar breed the produce become eligible for entry in the herd book of the sires which have been continuously used. This system of breeding insures a greater uniformity in the produce providing that the sires selected are of similar breeding, type, and character, than even by the system of crossing sire and dam of two pure breeds.

The risk attending too close breeding as in the breeding of pure breds is also avoided provided that the herd from which the sires are bought is sufficiently large to furnish a change of blood, yet of similar breeding.

No one possessing a knowledge of the ordinary farm stock of the country will for one moment deny that there is still vast room for improvement in our live stock, and particularly in our pigs, and it is equally the fact that our Government has not shown a readiness equal to that of some foreign Governments, and even of the authorities in some of our colonies to a.s.sist farmers in obtaining the use of improved sires. Take Canada as an instance. For years the Dominion Live Stock Branch has been purchasing and delivering free into districts needing them, male animals for the use of farmers and stock owners free, save stallions, for which a covering fee has to be paid sufficient to cover the insurance of the stallion. The other important condition which relates to all the sires provided by the authorities is that the cost of maintenance shall be paid by the Local a.s.sociation which has the management of the sire and the arrangement of its services.

Another noticeable point is that all the sires allocated to the various districts are Canadian bred, and so far as is possible are purchased in the province in which they are to be located. The object is undoubtedly to encourage in Canada the breeding of pure bred animals and may thus far be considered satisfactory, but it is acting on an a.s.sumption which may not be justified that there exists in the Dominion a sufficiency of stock equal in quality and breeding to those which it may be possible to import.

Within the past three or four years our Board of Agriculture have taken some steps to a.s.sist our farmers to improve their stock. The a.s.sistance has taken the form of offering premiums of fixed amounts to private persons or a.s.sociations who hired or purchased approved stallions, bulls, and boars which were placed at fixed fees at the service of the stock of the public. Already great benefit has been derived from the use of the stallions and bulls, and this to a far greater extent than in the pigs, as owing to an unfortunate condition which was attempted to be enforced as to the formation of pig clubs and impracticable conditions the number of boars located in the country has been much smaller than would have been had the conditions at present in force been adopted at the initiation of the scheme.

The boar conditions are now of a similar character to those in force from the first with regard to stallions and bulls. In addition to the supply of male animals at comparatively low fees an attempt has been made to a.s.sist in the recording of the milk yield of cows, a matter of the highest importance. If only this could be extended to sows there would soon cease to be cause for the far too common complaint of the owners of sows of certain breeds of pedigree pigs, as to the limited quant.i.ty of milk which is provided by the sows for their litters of pigs.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Photo, Francis Davis, Needingworth._

THREE MIDDLE WHITE BREEDING SOWS.

The Property of the Author. Also portion of 17 Sties at Holywell Manor, near St. Ives.

To face page 48.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Photo, Sport and General._

A MIDDLE WHITE BOAR.

From the Author's Pig Farm.

To face page 49.]

CHAPTER IV

DENt.i.tION AND AGE OF PIGS

Although the majority of pig sellers may claim to be, and may be able to substantiate the claim to be, equally as honest as the majority of others in trade, yet there may be a small minority who are apt to attempt to palm off pigs as being older than they really are. It is most annoying when you are anxious to purchase pigs of say six or seven months old which are quite ready to be quickly fattened, to have pigs of four or five months old which continue to make growth instead of flesh, so that they are not ready for killing until two or three months after they are required for conversion into bacon.

Although the object of the Council of the Smithfield Club is to prevent fraud of a different character, i.e. the exhibition in cla.s.ses limited to certain ages of pigs of an age greater than that given on the entry form, yet the following table showing the normal state of the dent.i.tion of pigs at certain fixed ages will enable purchasers to discover whether or not the seller has attempted to deceive him. It may at once be admitted that there will be a limited number of cases in which the state of dent.i.tion of pigs is abnormal, but after examining the teeth of some thousands of pigs during the past sixty years, we have no hesitation in a.s.serting that more than half, at least, of the variations from the normal are allayed dent.i.tion. It is claimed that a man of experience is quite able to arrive at the approximate age of a pig by its development and appearance; some few persons may have that instinctive knowledge more or less fully developed, but this examination of the state of dent.i.tion is of the greatest possible a.s.sistance in arriving at the actual age of the pig, particularly desirable as it is in case of a difference of opinion between buyer and seller.

The following are the conditions of the state of dent.i.tion to which all pigs have to conform ere they are allowed to compete for the prizes offered by the Smithfield Club at their annual shows:--

"Pigs having their corner permanent incisors cut will be considered as exceeding six months.

"Pigs having their permanent tusks more than half up will be considered as exceeding nine months.

"Pigs having their central permanent incisors up, and any of the first three permanent molars cut, will be considered as exceeding twelve months.

"Pigs having their lateral temporary incisors shed, and the permanents appearing will be considered as exceeding fifteen months.

"Pigs having their lateral permanent incisors fully up will be considered as exceeding eighteen months."

As the majority of the pigs bought of dealers by amateurs are young pigs it may be advisable to state that a pig of the age of eight weeks old should have its two central incisors fully grown. A pig three months old should have all four temporary incisors cut, the two outside ones being more than half as long as the two central incisors.

As the first set of the teeth of a pig like that of a child are merely temporary, and as these give place at fairly definite ages of the owner to permanent ones, it may be well to endeavour to describe as clearly as possible the position and appearance of the temporaries as compared with the permanents. The pig is one of the few animals which is possessed of teeth at its birth; these number eight, two on each side of the upper and lower jaw. It has been suggested that these early teeth are provided to a.s.sist the pigling to grasp firmly the sow's teat when in the act of sucking. These eight teeth vary somewhat in length; those pigs which are carried by the sow beyond the usual period of sixteen weeks frequently have longer and even sharper teeth than those of pigs which are born at the usual time. These longer teeth are also sometimes of a dark colour.

This is doubtless the origin of the remark commonly made by old-fashioned pigmen that "pigs born with black teeth never do well."

This might have been so prior to the discovery that the breaking off the sharp teeth of the newly born pigs frequently saved trouble, and often the life of the little pigs. Pigs whose teeth are discoloured at birth are usually more robust rather than the reverse, since the sow carrying them beyond the allotted time is invariably in a vigorous state of health, and her pigs consequently more fully developed.

When the pig is about a month old, the two central incisors are cut in each jaw, these are two of the four front teeth in each jaw of the pig at a subsequent age. Two temporary molars are also cut on each side of the jaw above and below, with the first temporary molar in each place ready to come through the gum.

At two months the temporary central incisors are fully developed, and the two lateral temporary incisors can be seen in the gums, if they are not already through. All three temporary molars are now about level.

When the pig is about three months old its temporary teeth are all in position, the temporary lateral incisors are through, and nearly as long as the temporary central incisors. Owing to the lengthening of the jaws the two temporary corner teeth which were present at birth will have become further apart. When the pig is about five months, the fourth molar in either jaw shows itself in the gums, then at six months the wolf teeth show between the tusks and the premolars, and the fourth molar is nearly level with the first premolar. The corner incisors and the tusks usually disappear, and are replaced by permanents when the pig is nine months old. The second permanent molar also shows itself. At twelve months the two central temporary incisors give place to the permanents; these last are more square in form than the temporaries, and are thus easily distinguished. The three temporary molars will also be ready for displacement by three permanents. These last will be level with the other permanent molars when the pig is fifteen months. The two lateral incisors will also have given place to permanents. At eighteen months the third permanent molars will be coming through, and at the age of twenty months the pig's teeth are fully developed.

CHAPTER V

SELECTION OF THE BOAR

The hackneyed saying "The sire is half the herd" appears to have a different meaning to varying persons. To some it conveys the idea that the selection of the sire is of far more importance than the selection of the dam because the influence of the sire is so much more powerful than that of the dam on at least the external form and character of the produce. The late Mr. James Howard, who took a particularly keen interest in the breeding of pigs, used to declare that the appearance and form of the young pigs far more generally followed those of the sire than of the dam; whilst the influence of the latter was more shown in the character and const.i.tution of their joint produce; or in other words, that the boar stamped his character to a greater extent on the external points of the young, whilst the sow more strongly influenced the internal parts of the youngsters. It is quite possible that this idea has gained ground to a large extent from the fact that the use of a pure bred sire on ordinary or grade females has been very much more common than the crossing of pure bred females by the ordinary or non-pedigree sire; as also from the far greater numbers of young which each pure bred sire would improve, than would be improved by each pure bred female which might be crossed.

If only for this reason alone, we would always recommend buyers who are desirous of grading up and improving their farm stock to attempt to do this by the purchase or use of the pure bred or improved sire. The original outlay is infinitely less, whilst the immediate results are comparatively longer.

It is scarcely desirable to go further into the question as to the comparative influence on the young of the sire and the dam since our actual knowledge of the subject is by no means large. Indeed, it is at the least doubtful, if by the closest observation any definite opinion on the subject is possible, so great is the difference which varying parents have on the chief characteristics of their joint progeny, and even in the separate specimens which they have procreated. Of course, it is quite possible to breed animals especially well developed or endowed with certain qualities, providing that the parents have been for generations selected because of their possession in a marked degree of those particular qualities sought. It is in this power of prepotency that one of the chief benefits from the use of a pure bred sire or dam arises. By the term pure bred is not meant merely that the names of a certain number of the forbears of the animal shall have been recorded in the register of the breed, but that the animal shall for a certain number of generations have been bred on similar lines so that it shall possess a considerable amount of concentrated blood. This is a point to which sufficient care is not generally given by purchasers of so-called pedigree sires to be used on the ordinary bred or graded stock. The far too common practice is to purchase each boar required from a totally different herd, or from one of quite dissimilar breeding, with the result that there is not the slightest uniformity in the appearance or character of the herd, or of the mature animals when ready for market.

It is far too frequently forgotten that the chief value of a record of the pedigree is that by it one can trace the breeding of the animal's progenitors, and thus one is enabled to form some opinion of the probable produce--providing it is possible to learn the chief characteristics of the progenitors. Failing this, the only course open is to note the names of the breeders of the more recent parents, as from this a certain amount of information as to the probable qualities of the parents may be obtained or surmised.

Another point on which at least a diversity of opinion exists, is the wisdom of giving so much consideration to the fact that the herd from which the sire is purchased shall have been recently successful in the show yard, or in extreme cases, that the sire itself shall have been a prize winner. It is urged that the mere fact that a sire has succeeded in winning one or more prizes is a proof that it possesses in a marked degree those qualities which are most highly prized. This may be conceded, yet there is no certainty that the mating of this winning sire even with dams that have also been prize winners shall result in the production of young the equal of the parents, since the winners at the various shows may be of dissimilar types and breeding.

But the case would be quite different if the winning sire and dam came from the same old established herd in which the animals had been bred for generations on similar lines. It is this concentration of certain qualities in generation after generation which renders the pedigree animal so intensely prepotent, particularly when mated with animals of an ordinary character or not possessing concentrated breeding. Indeed, it may be safely a.s.sumed that the power of a parent to impress its own individuality and qualities on its produce, depends to a very large extent, if not entirely, on the comparative hereditary extent of those qualities in comparison with the other qualities possessed by itself, or by the animal with which it may have been mated.

In other words, it is contended that the sire or the dam has not the power to impress certain of its characteristics on its young, merely because of its s.e.x, but that this power depends on the proportion in the sire or dam of the blood of progenitors who possessed in a marked degree certain qualities.

It is with the breeding of animals as with the manufacture of a compound article. The character and quality of that compound will vary according to the proportion of the various ingredients used in its manufacture. It is to this law or fact that the marked impressiveness of certain strains of blood is attributable.

Again, the marked and long continued success of the blood of the animals bred by a few of our most successful breeders of live stock is in the main due to the fact that the owners set up a standard and persistently selected and bred together only animals possessing to a greater or lesser extent the particular qualities which together comprised that standard. There is not the slightest doubt that in carrying out their system they were often compelled to mate animals related in blood the one to the other, but in this there is little risk providing that all those animals which show the slightest symptom of delicacy of const.i.tution are persistently draughted out.

It will be inferred from the above remarks that we hold to the belief that the breeding of the boar should receive attention as well as the following points in its form and character.

One of the most important of these points is good temper. This is a quality not usually attributed to the pig in its wild state, and consequently not natural to the domesticated pig, yet on the possession of it depends to a very great extent the thrift and well doing of the produce of the boar. The produce of an irritable boar are almost certain to inherit this quality which is fatal to profitable fatting. In sows this weakness is still more unfortunate, as a bad tempered sow is almost invariably an indifferent mother. The rigid avoidance of this failing of bad temper in a boar is advisable not only because this quality is almost invariably hereditary, but a savage boar is a continual source of danger to man and beast. It may be said that little trouble is likely if the boar is kept in confinement, but there are times, such as when sows are placed with him, when a certain amount of liberty must be given to him, and it is generally on such occasions of excitement when the bad temper is the most in evidence. The mere fact that irritability and nervousness are natural to the pig should make us the more careful to avoid any increase in the failing by using a boar which is the least inclined to be bad tempered.