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Pigs may
be considered of primary importance to the farmer, and to every other
householder, as to them the refuse of the fields, the dairy, and the
kitchen, is a feast. Though that food should be gross and dirty, they will
not reject it; and they are often reared in cold and filthy habitations;
but it is only by order and cleanliness that successful feeding can be
ensured. Where a large stock is kept, their feeding-house should be thirty
feet by fifteen; it may be divided into four rooms – the two in the middle
to be adapted for eating, and the others for sleeping apartments; each
should have an outside door, and also an inner communication, that the
keeper may get their eating-rooms swept out, their mangers cleaned, and
their food put in, while the pigs are at rest. Each of the above-mentioned
eating and sleeping rooms, in case of being required for sows and young
pigs, may be divided into two by partitions, made to remove at pleasure.
The sleeping apartments ought to be dark; and the house, as also the
square, or yard, formed by the huts or other buildings for sows, should be
paved, and well littered; and water should be within reach of the pigs.
The manger, or trough, must be always washed out before putting in their
victuals; and that which remains in it after the pigs are satisfied,
should be given to some of the young stock.
From the
different varieties having become so much intermixed and blended together
(this is especially the case in Scotland), it is difficult to describe any
particular breed of swine. The Berkshire is allowed to be a good kind.
They are generally of a brown, or rather a reddish colour, with black
spots, the ears bending forward, but not hanging down so much as those of
the large Cumberland kind; - they are short-legged and small-boned; their
flesh is fine; and they are well disposed to fatten on common fare. – The
large spotted Woburn breed is well formed, prolific, hardy, and kindly
disposed to fatten. – The Chinese black, or pot-bellied breed, are small
in size, their necks thick, and legs short. They are one of the most
profitable sorts in this island, as their flesh is delicate, and they
fatten on very indifferent food, and more readily than any other small
breed; indeed they may be said to be always ready for killing. They are
excellent for bacon, and are well adapted for being used as pork. When
young, that is, when about four months old, they are very mischievous when
not well ringed [The usual method of ringing swine is now superseded by an
improved method adopted by Mr. Tubb, which is to pare off, with a sharp
penknife, the gristle on the tops of the noses of young pigs.] And for
those who do not like very fat pork, the small breeds before mentioned
will be preferable, their flesh being equally delicate. – There is another
small breed, which is by far the best for the farmer, but it cannot be
classified; they will feed in a shorter period, and will thrive upon
articles that would starve the larger-sized animals. The kind in view will
feed upon common fare, to seven or eight stones Amsterdam, when eleven or
twelve months old, or to nine or ten stones when put up in the house to
receive better food.
For a
large establishment, a boar and two good sows, of a proper age, should
constantly be kept; and one young sow annually reared, in order to supply
the others, when they pass maturity, that is, when they arrive at three
years of age. Their time of farrowing should be so arranged that they may
produce two litters in the year – one about March, and the other towards
the beginning of August. A sow, when with young, ought not to be entirely
confined to a hut, but allowed to walk about at pleasure in the
swine-yard, or court belonging to the farm; nor should she be allowed to
sleep with a number of swine. A sow goes with young 112 days, or sixteen
weeks, not above a day over or under that time; a few hours previous to
her farrowing, she will be observed carrying straws in her mouth, to make
a bed with. When she is bringing forth her young, she ought not to have
much litter or long straw in her apartment, nor for a few days after, lest
the young pigs should be hid by it from their dam. She ought to be well
fed when giving suck; if she is once allowed to get poor, it will take
double the quantity of food and of time to restore her to her former
state. If the pigs should be numerous, they, as also the sow, should be
fed two or three times a day with milk, and wheat bran, or meal. Should
the milk be scarce, a little water, slightly warm, may be mixed with it,
taking care that the mixture be not too thick, that is, more of the nature
of a drink than of anything else; and while the pigs are feeding on this,
the sow should be turned out for an hour or two, that her milk may gather
a little. She and her pigs should lie dry and warm. If they are well fed,
the pigs will be ready for the spit in three weeks; and may be sold in six
weeks. When the pigs are taken from the sow and weaned, whether with the
breeder or purchaser, they must be regularly fed three times a day with a
little wheat bran, barley dust, or meal of some description or other,
mixed with water, made milk-warm; in a few weeks after, they may have some
potatoes, turnips, or any kind of grain; and after the harvest is
concluded, they may be allowed to range at large among the fields, to pick
up any left corn, beans, or peas. Before going out in the morning, they
may receive a feeding of offal grain; and in the evening, an allowance of
yams or turnips. They may also get the refuse from the garden, kitchen,
and dairy; milk and whey is the finest of all fattening. When the pigs are
put up to close feeding, they should have three meals a day of potatoes,
which have been strained, mixed with barley or any other meal, moistened
with milk, whey, or water, and seasoned with a little salt; it should be
given regularly, and only in such quantities as will be consumed with a
relish. This will be found the best and most economical food; but where
the trouble attending the preparation of it is considered too great, the
next best method is to mix oats with barley, in the proportion of one part
to four of barley, which will prevent the pigs from eating it too quickly;
the oats being husky, require a longer time to be chewed. Buck-wheat is a
quick and good fattening, somewhat similar to barley, not so good as peas;
but peas are sometimes put amongst buck, for the same purpose that oats
are mixed with barley. Pigs that are fed from the refuse of breweries are
liable to eruptive diseases. Whenever grains are used for feeding, they
should be fresh, and given in moderate quantities, and should only form a
part of their diet; they will also feed well on the spent hops of the
breweries. Sweet whey, unless given in very moderate quantities, is
injurious to pigs; but when it becomes sourish, it proves very wholesome
food. It is too general a practice to pay no attention to feeding pigs
until they are put up, perhaps in November or December, when, with a
little pains, they might be as fat, and weigh nearly as much, at the time
they begin to feed, as at the period when they are fed, which may be about
four or five weeks after they are put up. For pork, they are usually
fattened from six to nine months old; for bacon and hams, from nine months
to a year and a half.
Pigs are
subject to inflammatory and eruptive diseases, both of which require
bleeding, purgatives, and cool air in an open field. The most easy way of
bleeding pigs is be cutting off the tail, or part of the ear.
Purgative
powder for pigs, jalap one drachm. Should this be found insufficient,
eleven or twelve grains of scamony may be added, or ten grains of calomel;
but it is better to try the jalap alone first.
When pigs
are to be made into bacon hams, they should be allowed to fast twenty-four
hours before the time of killing, and in killing them great attention
ought to be had to prevent the knife from striking against the bone at the
bottom of the gullet, by which a morbid state of the flesh in the
fore-quarter will be avoided. After the pig has been killed and dressed,
it should hang up till the next day, when it must be sawn down the back
bone from the tail to the point of the snout; then all the seam, or tallow
should be removed, with the feet, tail, and ears, and such trifling pieces
as may appear offensive to the eye. The side being laid upon a table, with
the skin side uppermost, salt should be taken in indefinite quantities,
and rubbed in well, particularly upon the shoulders and hams, for at least
half an hour; the side weighing about six stones. In turning the side,
four ounces of saltpetre, ground very fine, should be sprinkled very
uniformly over the inside and ends of the shanks, above which ought to be
laid a covering of salt, about an inch thick, over the whole inside, and
gently clapped down by the hand into every crevice, but by no means rubbed
in on that side. The side may then be placed upon boards, on a floor where
no frost can affect it. If more than one side is cured, they may be laid
one above another to any depth, provided the back and belly parts be laid
alternately, and the skin side always downmost. The whole should be
covered with a cloth, and some, though not a very heavy weight, put upon
the top.
After
lying in this state for ten days, they are to be taken up, and rubbed
again upon the skin side with salt, for about a quarter of an hour, and
covering again the inside with salt, without rubbing, and without any more
saltpetre. After the second rubbing, the sides are again put into their
former position, and allowed to remain there for another ten days, when
they may be taken up, and wholly covered over with barley-meal, and hung
up with cords by the shanks, which may be pierced with wooden pins to
allow the cord a better hold, to the roof of the kitchen. After hanging
there in the heat for two months, they may be hung up in any cool, but dry
apartment. As the family requires them, the pieces may be cut out to any
size that may be found most convenient.
From the
middle of September to the middle of April is the proper curing season.
These
approved directions for curing, are given here to make the chapter
complete. Various other receipts on the subject will be found under the
head of Pork. |
