PIGS .sx SIZEABLE PORKERS AND BACONERS .sx Do pig-keepers always study their markets ?sx I am afraid that many do not .sx It is quite true that in many parts of the country where there are weekly marts for the sale of fat and young store pigs by auction there is less need for the consignors considering what sizes in porkers are in greatest demand in London or elsewhere , so long as they get a fair good price locally .sx If pig-keepers are under any sort of contract to supply a buyer with pigs of a given weight they must do their utmost to meet the requirements .sx Porkers are of three distinct sizes , viz .sx , 90 to 100 lb .sx live weight , which gives an approximate dead weight of 60 to 80 lb .sx These are called " smalls" .sx Medium porkers range from 100 to 125 lb .sx live weight and give an approximate dead weight of 80 to 100 lb .sx The largest porkers weigh 125 to 150 lb .sx and scale 100 to 120 lb .sx dead weight .sx Bacon pigs are also , roughly , divided into three classes :sx - .sx A. - 170 to 230 lb .sx alive , and 130 to 170 lb .sx dead weight .sx B. - 230 to 270 lb .sx alive , and 170 to 200 lb .sx dead weight .sx C. - 270 to 290 lb .sx alive , and 200 to 210 lb .sx dead weight .sx The first class ( A ) are the best sizes for general bacon curing .sx The class B are also acceptable , but C are considered overweight , or a trifle too large .sx It will be noted that in the case of the overweights the relative dead weight is considerably less per cent .sx than in the smaller sizes .sx That is because the excessively large pigs yield a relatively smaller dressed carcase and a higher percentage of offal and waste .sx Old sows fall into the last category .sx It does not pay to keep pigs too long .sx The greatest profits are netted for the smaller porkers and smaller baconers , especially when sty fed .sx Pigs run on grass land for a season may be kept to a greater age and weight .sx J. W. .sx SOWS' MILK YIELDS .sx Four German workers have recently published the results of inquiries they have made into the amount and composition of the milk produced by sows in raising litters , states a writer in the Journal of the Ministry of Agriculture , and the following details are given :sx - .sx In one trial 14 improved German sows produced milk varying from 277 lb .sx to 490 lb .sx during a suckling period of 10 weeks ; one Berkshire included with this lot gave 482 lb .sx and so compared well with the German sows .sx The yield rises slowly for about four weeks ( very roughly from 6 lb .sx to 8 lb .sx per day ) and then tails off .sx Front teats yield more than rear ones , and there is a correspondingly greater increase in weight of those piglings suckling them , each pigling usually settling down to one particular teat in three or four days and keeping to it .sx On the average the litter increases nearly 1 lb .sx in live weight for every 3 lb .sx of milk .sx Sow's milk is very rich , as it contains round about 7 per cent .sx of fat and over 6 per cent .sx of protein .sx The composition varies largely from sow to sow and also from teat to teat in the same sow , but there is no definite trend in composition from the fore to the rear teats .sx During lactation sows lose largely in their own body weight ; this loss occurs principally in the first few weeks , and may amount to anything from 20 lb .sx upwards .sx Experiments showed that the .sx SOW'S LOSS IN BODY WEIGHT .sx was less by 20 per cent .sx , and the milk yield greater by 40 per cent .sx , when a high protein ration ( nutritive ratio of 1 :sx 4.9 ) was fed , than when a low protein ration ( nutritive ratio of 1 :sx 9.2 ) was used .sx If the sow is to be highly productive she must not only have a large litter of the right sort of pigs , but must also provide a plentiful supply of milk for them .sx Except in experiments it is impossible to ascertain how much milk a sow is giving , but the yield is fairly accurately shown by the increases in the weights of the piglings in the first few weeks .sx The weight of the litter at , say , six weeks old measures both the fertility and the milking capabilities of the sow together ( plus an unknown inheritance from the boar) .sx Pig-recording will , therefore , help in picking out the high-milk-yielding sows , and , as far as the experience of the German workers goes , it seems that there is very wide variation , and consequently much chance of effecting an improvement .sx SHEEP .sx " WOOL-BALL " IN LAMBS .sx " Wool-ball , " which so frequently proves fatal in lambs , may be caused either through the lambs swallowing wool plucked from their own bodies , or from around the udder of the ewes they are suckling .sx In the one case it may arise from the presence of parasites which the lambs resent and bite at , and as a consequence , get little tufts of wool in their mouths , which they naturally chew and swallow .sx Cleanliness is obviously the remedy for this evil .sx If the ewes are not milking very well the lambs are not satisfied , and in their eagerness to draw the last drop of milk from an empty udder they may get hold of a tangle of wool which tastes just as well as a dry teat .sx They may keep on sucking and chewing at the strand of wool , which they usually succeed in plucking from the body of the ewe and swallowing .sx TO PREVENT .sx this , it is advisable to clip away all the locks of wool hanging around the udder .sx But a more important point is the feeding of the ewes so as to maintain a good flow of milk .sx There is less trouble , as a rule , with flocks that lamb later in the season when the grass is good , and the ewes find plenty of succulent food than in the case of ewes lambing before there is plenty of good grazing .sx Ewes and lambs , provided the weather is not too cold and wet , thrive best in the open fields .sx If confined too much to straw folds both ewes and lambs lose tone and mope .sx By keeping the fleeces clean , allowing the animals plenty of range over fresh ground , and feeding well , most troubles can be averted .sx J. W. .sx HORSES .sx MANAGEMENT OF IN-FOAL MARES .sx It is most often the pampered fat mare that is likely to have a bad time during foaling , as her internal organs are loaded with masses of fat .sx The average period a mare carries her young is from 335 to 345 days , roughly about eleven months .sx Foaling may occur after 307 days , or may be prolonged up to 365 days .sx The duration of being in foal is usually shorter in weakly , ill-conditioned and poorly-fed mares than in fat ones .sx Then again it is shorter in very old mares .sx Commoner-bred mares if put to a thorough-bred stallion go longer than when a coarse-bred stallion is used .sx In breeding mules , if the mare is put to a donkey she carries the foal nearly a year .sx As mares differ considerably in constitution and temperament , no cast-iron rules and regulations as to their treatment can be laid down .sx Each animal must , to a certain extent , be treated according to her particular requirements .sx BEFORE FOALING .sx Some while before the mare is due to foal have the loose box cleaned out and disinfected , also see that the stable is not kept too hot , as what one generally finds is that an animal which has been lying out rough all the winter , when brought into a nice warm box near foaling time promptly gets a cold and a cough as a result of the too hot a stable .sx Good bruised oats , some scalded bran and long hay , and perhaps a few crushed carrots , if in season , or green forage , is best for her .sx Keep a piece of rock salt in her manger to lick , or perhaps a mineral mixture added to her food .sx As time approaches for the mare to foal , care should be taken to prevent sudden frights and violent galloping .sx WORKING MARES .sx Mares turned out on poor , wet pastures are more likely to slip their foals or produce foals with a low vitality .sx As to when an in-foal mare should cease doing light work is a question more of individual management than anything else .sx Generally speaking it is considered that she should knock off work about three weeks or a month before due to foal , although some owners keep them at work practically up to the time of foaling .sx Daily exercise or run in a straw yard is beneficial and better than standing all day in the stable .sx An hour or two out at grass in a quiet meadow answers well , as it accustoms the mare to green forage and the sudden change from dry to green stuff after foaling which is so likely to upset her milk and scour the foal .sx Let her have free access to drinking water , so she does not drink too much .sx In cold weather the water may be slightly chilled before giving it to her .sx F. F. WENTWORTH .sx The Shire Horse Society , 12 , Hanover Square , London , W.C.1 , have just published Vol. 52 of their Stud Book , entries in which number 1,180 .sx A butter-making competition is to be held at this year's Highland Show , an innovation for this fixture .sx It is proposed to give a Prince of Wales gold medal as a championship prize and a silver medal to the runner-up .sx A party of 28 lecturers and students from the Institute of Agricultural Marketing , Berlin University , under the leadership of the Director of the Institute , Dr. K. Brandt , arrived in England on Sunday , March 1 , for a week's visit in order to study the marketing of agricultural products in this country .sx THE Farmers Express FORMERLY Mark Lane Express AND Live Stock Record .sx THE POSSIBILITIES OF LUCERNE .sx DR. H. G. THORNTON , of Rothamsted , in his most interesting and instructive address to the Farmers' Club at its March meeting , gave ample reasons for the favour shown to lucerne , and pleaded powerfully for the area being much extended .sx The case for such extension as presented by him resolves itself into one direct appeal based on a great scientific victory of the last six years .sx The inoculation of this particular and most valuable crop with bacteria which fix nitrogen was first seriously taken up in 1888 , but it was not until 1924 that , progress having passed through a long laboratory stage , the Royal Agricultural Society took up the matter agriculturally .sx It has now handed on the torch to Rothamsted .sx The roots of lucerne can now be reinforced in their characteristic " blobs , " " warts " or " nodules " by nitrogen-fixing bacteria which live for at least eight years , and can survive the frosts and rains that have hitherto restricted lucerne cultivation to England south-east , as the lecturer showed , of a line drawn from the coast at Grimsby to that at Poole .sx The extended growth of lucerne would undoubtedly enable farmers to dispense with a good deal of agricultural labour , and this was warmly urged by speakers as a reason for an immediate adoption of this policy .sx Sir Merrik Burrell , however , in his excellent speech on behalf of the R.A.S.E. , and Mr. Egerton Quested , in his two brief but very useful speeches interpolated as Chairman , wisely , in our view , abstained from this as a recommendation .sx Lucerne , Sir Merrik told the Club , had been taken up by him in Sussex on Mr. Egerton Quested's advice thirty years ago , and throughout that long period it had never " let him down .sx " The value of inoculation was undoubted , and the tabled records presented by Dr. Thornton spoke for themselves .sx These records agriculturists will heed and study carefully , but three impressive facts stand out .sx Lord Clinton , trying lucerne in rainy Devonshire , won an extra ton per acre from inoculated land ; a firm growing the plant near Lincoln raised its results by a ton and a half ; while Colonel Brassey , who farms in Gloucestershire , found that when lucerne is previously in effect a failure , the inoculated plants come on wonderfully .sx