Sow Bra Prevents Damage To Teats

Sow Bra Prevents Damage to Teats HOG EQUIPMENT & IDEAS Hog Equipment & Ideas (351) 16-2-34 An 8-year-old Iowa farm boy won a national inventions contest for second graders with a sow "bra" he developed to keep teats from being damaged on sows reared in raised crates. Curtis Schroeder of Lost Nation, says his father, Alan, had been experiencing damaged teats on sows for sometime. "It usually happens a few hours before they farrow. They get up and down a lot on the metal flooring, tearing their teats so that they can't produce milk and their pigs starve," he says. His solution was to make a large sling that runs under the body of the sow. It comes off when pigs start arriving. "I sewed two standard size bath towels together and then attached three 37-in. long narrow strips of cloth to one side, spaced evenly. I attached curtain rings to the other side of the cloth. The ends of the strips tit through the rings and are held in place by velcro strips fastened to the cloth. The velcro strips are 12 in. long so the jacket can be adjusted to fit gilts and 5th litter sows. "It took me about 2 hrs. to make the first one and it cost about $15.50. The first time I used it we had it on the sow for about 10 hrs. with no problems. I took it to our invention convention at school and placed fast. I also won at the regional and state level. My family and I won a trip to Washington, D.C., where I won the national prize for second graders. Now my parents and I are looking for a market for the jacket and we plan to patent it." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Curtis Schroeder, Rt. 1, Box 125, Lost Nation, Iowa 52254 (ph 319 246-2654).

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