e 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