The Farming Ladder by Henderson G

Author:Henderson, G. [Henderson, G.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Read Books Ltd.
Published: 2013-04-16T00:00:00+00:00

Under war conditions pigkeeping brought many new problems, though they have been overcome, and it is still a profitable branch of the business, while the pig manure is more valuable than ever for our light land under the strain of war production.

Quite early on we adopted the single litter system, under which a gilt farrows once (the finest of her brood being kept on to breed the following year), and is fattened out. This enables the herd to be kept very cheaply through the summer, while no little pigs have to be reared in winter. Latterly we have modified the system, by keeping the best gilt, as judged by all the litters produced, to go on and breed again, as stock from a sow is generally supposed to be better for breeding than that from a gilt. In this way a very high standard of selection can be maintained, ready for the cessation of hostilities when the pig breeder will come into his own again. After the last war we saw sows of no particular merit realizing over 100 apiece, and while such inflated prices do more harm than good in the long run, if any money is being thrown about we should like to have our share, to tide us over the slump that follows.

From the aesthetic point of view pigs do not appeal to everyone, though it is very pleasing to the farmer’s eye and mind to see a house full of contented, thriving pigs. That the pig is the cleanest animal on the farm, given suitable conditions, is now generally well known. Conditions of working can be clean and pleasant, far more so than in many cowsheds in winter where the animals lie in, and pigs probably lead a far pleasanter life than the majority of farm animals, so there is a lot to be said for pigkeeping. Some people get really enthusiastic. One evacuee girl we had early in the war thought them horrid the first time she saw them; but in a few days she took to feeding them regularly, until one day she was invited out to tea, and refused on the grounds that it would mean missing feeding the pigs. She was accused of loving the pigs. ‘No,’ she said, after due reflection, ‘I don’t think I love them, but they have a pathetic appeal, like slum children, only much nicer.’

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