Live Stock Breeders' Association. 219 



that appeals more quickly to the buyer than that of evenness in 

 characteristics and excellency of conformation. Aside from this 

 there is nothing more gratifying to the feeder than to have about 

 him hogs that show some care in selection and breeding. 



Much depends upon the selections made of individuals that 

 make up our breeding herd. After having decided upon the breed 

 that appeals to our own personal tastes and is most suited to local 

 conditions, then we should choose a boar to head that herd that 

 would have the following general characteristics : First, and above 

 all, he must show strongly the breed characteristics of the breed of 

 which he is a representative. Then he must show strong masculine 

 characteristics. He must show masculinity in the head — not be 

 too finely featured — wide between the eyes, and not fine in the 

 snout nor the jowl. The head, neck and shoulders should blend 

 well. The neck should be short with some crest and thickness ; the 

 shoulders should be smooth and compact on top, deep and wide 

 between the legs, and blend well with a large, full heart girth. 

 We should be disappointed if there were no indications of shield 

 on the boar, thus showing a lack of masculinity, but we do not 

 want thick, heavy shoulders. The body should be long, smooth, 

 evenly fleshed, with a slight arch of good depth and with a wide, 

 strong loin. The hind quarters should be long, deep and wide, well 

 let down in the ham, and having a width equal to that of the shoul- 

 ders and body. Supporting all this should be four short legs, show- 

 ing good, strong bone of a fine quality, having short pasterns, and 

 standing well on the toes. The covering of hair should be abundant 

 and of medium quality. He should be active, not sluggish, yet 

 docile, and of a quiet disposition. With these characteristics are 

 usually found active digestion and an inclination to take on flesh 

 readily. 



The sow should possess essentially all the characteristics of the 

 boar, except that she should show refinement in those character- 

 istics that indicate femininity. The body should be long, showing 

 great digestive capacity and room for carrying young, and with 

 twelve to fourteen evenly sized teats. The hind quarters always 

 should be broad to obviate difficulty in parturition. There should 

 always be a good width between the eyes, for narrowness in the 

 head indicates meanness of disposition, difficulty in managing, and 

 nervous, restless pigs. So much regarding origination or breeding, 

 but we notice in our formula for success in the hog business that 

 equal importance has been placed upon nutrition as compared with 

 origination — equal stress upon nutrition or feeding as compared 

 with breeding. 



