Talk:Swineherd

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Barbara Shack 13:28, 20 February 2006 (UTC)Help would be appreciated from someone with experience with pigs, with country life or someone who has been to Agricultural College.[reply]

What kind of help do you need? I know a bit about intensive and semi-intensive farming, but nothing about free-range pigs. --Scott Davis ^Talk 12:37, 22 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Barbara,

Thanks for your article, "SWINEHERD." While reading this article, a couple of ideas for improving it occurred to me. I don't wish to edit your article but would like to tender my suggestions to you so that you might, if you find that they have merit.

1.The following section seems more appropriate to an article on swine husbandry than an article on swineherd(s).

2.The image (a bearded pig) seems to go well with the following section, but an image of a swinherd going about the business of caring for swine, for example, might be more appropriate to the subject of the article.

Pig farming today is still carried out in a manner that can be compared to that practiced in Roman times. Marcus Terentius Varro recommended waiting until sows are one year and eight months old before mating them and recommended continuing to breed them until they were seven years old. Today sows can be mated at six or seven months, but it is not recommended to breed them more than three times. Mortality and parasite infections were more frequent in antiquity. Farmers therefore waited until they knew which sows were healthy before breeding from healthy sows. Modern pigs can breed earlier, possibly due to selective breeding but they weaken after the third litter.

Thanks for your consideration. Al (talk) 04:24, 26 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]