Through this
device my brood sows had access to a water bath eight inches deep,
whenever they were in the fields. My hogs, young or old, have never been
permitted to wallow in mud. We have no mud-holes at Four Oaks to grow
stale and breed disease. The breeding hogs have exercise lots and baths,
but the young growing and fattening stock have neither. They are kept in
runs twenty feet by one hundred, in bunches of from twenty to forty,
according to age, from the time they are weaned until they leave the
place for good. This plan, which I did not intend to change, opened a
question in my mind that gave me pause. It was this: Can I hope, even
with the utmost care, to keep the house for growing and fattening swine
free from disease if I keep it constantly full of swine?
The more I thought about it the less probable it appeared. The pig-house
had cost me $4320. Another would cost as much, if not more, and I did
not like to go to the expense unless it were necessary. I worked over
this problem for several days, and finally came to the conclusion that
I should never feel easy about my swine until I had two houses for them,
besides the brood-house for the sows.
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