_ CHAPTER XII. HOUSING OF PIGS
In the general management of pigs there are many points on which improvements might be effected without any very considerable amount of trouble or expense. Far too frequently this neglect or want of care and thought is observable in the housing of pigs. Many of the sties in the country districts are neither wind nor water tight, and they are far too often in a most unsanitary condition, indeed in such a disgraceful state that some excuse was afforded for the drastic, if injudicious order of the sanitary authorities which prohibited the erection of a pigsty within from sixty to one hundred feet of a dwelling house. Undoubtedly it would have been wiser to have permitted the keeping of pigs within a much shorter distance of the house only so long as the necessary steps were taken to prevent a nuisance or a risk of the residents in the house suffering in health. The proximity of a pigsty to a house can be rendered perfectly innocuous with ordinary care, and the cottager not be deprived of very considerable advantages not only in making a profit, but in the provision of manure for his allotment or garden which will benefit greatly from its application.
The mistakes or want of care in the erection of pigsties is by no means confined to the owners of cottages or small holdings, as a considerable proportion of the piggeries on which great outlay is expended are equally as unsuitable if not so insanitary. Even in so-called model buildings the piggery has often been the last thing thought of; the stables, the cow house, etc., have been conveniently placed for feeding the occupants, for air, light, and sun, and then the piggery has been placed in whatever spot may have been left unoccupied, and as this generally happens to be on the northern side of the buildings, the unhappy pigs are deprived of the rays of the sun, which are to them quite as necessary, if not more so, than to any others of our domesticated animals.
This same want of sun, and the exposure to cold is noticeable in only a lesser degree in those buildings which comprise a double row of sties with a passage down the centre, a store and a cooking and mixing house at one end, and an exercise or feeding yard adjoining. It matters not whether the building be placed north or south, or east or west, one half of the sties have a wrong aspect; even if the sties facing the west can be said to possess one. The trouble is still greater with the system of having a yard attached to each sty. The north or east wind renders the sties with such an aspect a most uncomfortable and unhealthy place for young pigs during more than half the year, whilst older pigs cannot thrive on the same amount of food as they would if their quarters were comfortable. Apart from the waste of food which results from these draughty and cold sties, the latter are the chief cause, with injudicious feeding, of that most troublesome ailment amongst pigs, rheumatic gout, or, as it is commonly termed, cramp. How very draughty and uncomfortable these sties are which have an open yard attached, and an inlet at all times usable, can be readily discovered in cold and windy weather by noticing the position in which the occupant has made its bed. This will be found not on the highest part of the sty, which will be opposite to the opening into the yard, but in the corner next to the opening, since in this position it is less exposed to the cold wind which rushes into the sty through the opening.
Apart from the unhealthiness to the pigs resulting from the exposure to draughts it is not apparent to the writer that any advantage is gained from the provision of these yards. In many instances they serve only for an excuse to limit the height of the sties, as unless these are of a fair height there is a considerable difficulty in cleaning them out. The money expended on building the yard would easily cover the extra cost of raising the side walls of the pigsty by two feet, and thus not only render it free from draughts, but also make it far more healthy and less subject to the extremes of heat and cold.
The ordinary sty with a yard attached is unhealthy for a growing or matured pig, but in the colder weather it is simply cruel for newly born pigs, of which numbers are annually lost from exposure or are greatly checked in their growth.
One of the very best places in which to house pigs in the experience of the writer was a large barn with a thatched roof. This was divided off into sties by partitions some 4 ft. 6 in. high; owing to the height of the building the temperature was not unduly high in the hottest weather nor did the pigs suffer to any extent during severe weather. These advantages arose mainly from the slight changes in temperature, and an abundant supply of uncontaminated air.
One of the greatest drawbacks to the majority of the pigsties is the absence of ventilation without draught. This trouble is especially noticeable where the side walls are not more than about 4 ft. high, whilst the proximity of the roof to the pigs increases the sufferings of the pigs from the heat when the weather is excessively hot.
Some of our most successful pig feeders on a large scale have found it profitable to erect cheap buildings very similar to small barns, the side walls being at least 10 feet high. This will permit of thorough ventilation, quite free from draughts, whilst the variations in the temperature will be comparatively slight. The building being complete within itself, and entirely used for the pigs, there is no disturbance of the pigs between the feeding times, so that the pigs will rest and grow fat. These houses are most suitable for a number of fattening pigs, whereas for sows and for young sows smaller sties or houses are more convenient. These should be at least 10 ft. square, the front 6 ft. 6 in. high, the doors divided so that the upper half can be opened when the weather is favourable; ventilation can be obtained by hanging or sliding doors just under the eaves so that the pigs are not affected by the draught; the floor should be laid with brick and gradually incline to the front of the building so that the liquid can run through an aperture in the lower part of the front wall into a cesspool placed close to the building. A row of these houses, which should face to the south, can be more cheaply erected than a single house, as the wooden partitions between the houses need not be more than 4 ft. high, and one of these would take the place of two gables or ends. Several of the houses which the writer erected had brick foundations and feather-edged boarded sides and ends; the roofs were of tiles unpointed, as in this way the houses were much cooler in the summer, whilst in the winter the upper portions of the houses were packed with straw which still permitted of the escape of the foul air, yet greatly added to the warmth and comfort of the building.
The one thing of all others most needful in the sty or house for the well doing of pigs is a sufficiency of pure air without draughts; pigs of even a few days old will suffer less from cold than from moist and foul hot air. It is not the most costly building in which pigs will thrive best, but the one in which they are the most comfortable and free from the extremes of heat and cold with a dry bed on which to rest and be thankful.
When making a tour of the Agricultural Experiment Stations and Agricultural Schools in Denmark some few years since, the writer saw near Aarhuss what was then a novelty in the form of a two decker pigsty, i.e. a sty with a sleeping place above--one could scarcely term it an upstairs room as access was gained not by stairs but by an inclined board with struts of wood fastened across it to give a firm holding to the pigs as they ascended to the upper story. The incline was very steep, but the pigs seemed to have no difficulty in getting up and down. The advantages claimed for it by the principal were that the sleeping compartment was so much cleaner and sweeter; that less straw was required for bedding, and that the pigs were far more comfortable and rested better than when boxed up, especially in the summer season when the heat in the lower portion was very oppressive. The feeding took place in the lower portion. It was stated that nearly the whole of the urine and dung was deposited below. This was a great advantage as the moisture ran off at once into the drains, and the solids were easily cleared out as there was no litter mixed with them, or the dung could be readily washed into the drains by water from a hose, which was used in the summer for the purpose of bathing or of washing the pigs.
The chief objection to the plan would be its expense, as unless the pigsties were in a barn or a shed already erected for some other purpose the pigsty would have to be so much higher on the side walls and consequently more strongly built. _