Vicki Rice
(Continued from Page D2O)
With the boars loose in the
crate behind them, the sows
usually back up to them.”
As far as any difficulties in
handling the 400 pound boars
is concerned, the 130 pound
farmer says “No problems.”
She adds they could care less
that she’s in the pen with
them during the breeding.
After the breeding and
gestation comes the long
awaited day of farrowing.
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time they are bom the pigs
have their first encounter
with the former dental
assistant their needle
teeth are cut.
When they are three to
four days old, their tails are
cut off as close to the body as
possible so no stub is left to
bite. They receive their first
iron shot and wind up with
orange bellies after having
their umbilical cords
sprayed with medication.
Who does all of this work?
Vicki, who says she loves
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baby pigs, especially the
runts who have to be bottle
fed.
For the unlucky lot who
don’t get Vicki’s individual
attention and tender loving
care with a baby bottle, they
have to be satisfied with
mamma pig and a creep feed
ration that is made more
inviting with an iron additive
that “smells heavenly like
coconut pudding.” This
helps get the pigs interested
in the feed along with
helping them get over upset
stomachs, according to
Vicki.
By the time the pigs are
between two and three
weeks old, the baby boars
are m for another of life’s
lessons. Vicki handles the
castration of the pigs on her
own, too.
“When I was first taught
how to castrate by the
Purina representative Jim
Owens, he had me hold the
pigs between my legs. But it
was too hard my hands
weren’t big enough to hold
the pig and do the castrating
too. So, I got help a
mechanical holder that holds
the pig upside down.”
At about this same time,
the pigs are weaned,
wormed and embark on a
short ride back to a nursery
of double deck cages.
Vicki points out she tries to
put each litter together in a
cage because “it’s enough of
a change leaving their
mother without getting stuck
in a pen with strangers.”
She adds, however, she
never puts more than ten
pigs m a crate. If the litter is
larger than ten, there is
some inevitable shuffling of
pig litters. Likewise, all of
the runts are picked out and
grouped together.
When the pigs are eight
weeks old and have grown to
45 pounds on a controlled
diet, they are ready to
market, selling to two local
buyers.
“When the tune comes to
move them to the truck, I
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load them into grocery carts
and push them out,” says
Vicki. She explains that this
assembly line technique
saves a lot of chasing and
stress. “The pigs go to cages
after farrowing they’ve
never been on concrete. It’s
Just so much easier on us and
the pigs to push them out m
the cart.”
The Rices market all their
pigs and buy any
replacement gilts they need.
Their fust purchase of gilts
last May started their
farrowing operation off last
November, and since then
they have gotten 10
replacement gilts this past
May with an additional 10
coming in September.
The gilts weigh between
190 to 200 pounds when they
arrive. After 60 days, during
which time they get to the
right size for breeding, are
tested for pseudorabies, and
are acclamated to the bam,
the gilts are ready for ser
vicing.
With one complete
farrowing under their belt,
the Rices have finished with
an enviable record. Their
average litter size is 9.95
with a weaning average of
9.38.
Says Vicki, “The only pigs
we lose are lose that ac
cidently get laid on, and this
happens all too often when
the weather gets hot. The
baby pigs try to crawl up
alongside their mothers
where the floor is generally
moist and cool, and they get
crushed.”
Like other hog producers,
the Rices have had some
troubles. Their first year in
the business found 13 cases
of Smedi in the the barn, and
they have a hard time
keeping up with the record
books too. But says Vicki,
“It’s a challenge and an
opportunity.”
She smiles as the in
terview comes to a close and
says, “I always said I
refused co be a farmer’s wife
I’m not I’m a farmer.”
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Lancaster Firming, Saturday, September 6,1950—021
Heavy rainfall
threatens crops
several countries
LANCASTER - Rainfall
in Canada, the USSR, China
and South America posed
threats to crop conditions
last week, according to a
weekly report issued
Monday by the Joint
Agricultural Weather
Facility of the U.S.
Departments of Commerce
and Agriculture. In
Australia and parts of the
United States, however, ram
was beneficial to crop
development.
Highlights of the report
follow.
UNITED STATES. A
series of beneficial, in
termittent showers spread
east last week along the
frontal system from the
central and northern Great
Plains to the central East
Coast regions. Rainfall
exceeding five inches caused
damaging flooding in West
Virginia.
Crop development in the
Mississippi Delta and Gulf
Coastal States continued to
be hurt by lack of rain and
temperatures ranging four
to seven degrees above
normal.
In the Pacific Northwest,
generally cool dry weather
with temperatures two to
five degrees below seasonal
averages aided late summer
harvest activity.
CANADA. Cool, wet
weather delayed ripening of
spring grains and hampered
harvesting activities in the
southeastern Pacific. The
heavy ram, however, helped
replenish soil moisture
reserves in that regiqn.
In southern Saskat-
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chewan, favorable weather
aided ripening and har
vesting of gram crops.
USSR. Heavy rainfall in
the northwest has slowed
harvesting which will delay
planting of next year’s
winter grain crop.
Widespread areas m the
south and east portions of the
New Lands experienced
unproved harvest weather
as a mild “sukhovei” a
hot, dry wind—briefly
touched the southern fringes
of the crop area.
CHINA. Continued wet
weather in the Yangtze
Valley may have caused
substantial losses to the
nearly mature cotton and
rice crops. Most locations
received three to four times
the normal rainfall,
resulting in widespread
flooding.
EUROPE. Much of the
west had favorable harvest
weather and the above
normal rains in the east fell
on areas which had been
relatively dry in the previous
week, lessening the
detrimental effect on the
harvest.
AUSTRALIA. Substantial
rain was especially
beneficial to the crop in New
South Wales where dry
conditions have prevailed
recently. Rainfall also
benefitted the crop in Vic
toria.
SOUTH AMERICA. Heavy
rain in Santa Catarina State,
Brazil, possibly caused some
fields to become
waterlogged, posing
potential damage to the
winter grain crop.
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in