Missouri Duroc-Jersey Breeders' Association. 317 



The total number of pigs farrowed by the 23 sows was 127, or an 

 average of about five and a half pigs to the sow. Six sows or 

 26 per cent of the lot had no pigs; 1 farrowed 3 pigs; 2 farrowed 

 5 pigs; 2 farrowed 6 pigs; 5 farrowed 7 pigs; 3 farrowed 8 pigs, 

 and the four remaining sows farrowed 9, 10, 11 and 13 pigs 

 respectively. I asked Mr. Weaver of the animal husbandry 

 department to group the sows into three groups, namely: "In- 

 ferior," "good" and "extra," and to try to make his judgment 

 conform to that of the average hog raiser. He placed 16 of the 

 sows in the first group — that is, more than 69 per cent of the 

 sows were put in the "inferior" class; this included the non- 

 breeders. He placed 6 sows, or 26 per cent, in the "good" 

 class, and 1 sow, or less than 5 per cent, in the "extra" class. 

 I think that you Duroc breeders will agree that he was not unfair 

 in the classification, for you are accustomed to better results in 

 your breeding operations. And this lot of sows, in your opinion, 

 should have produced a much larger number of pigs when I tell 

 you that quite a number of them had a good admixture of Duroc 

 blood. And I am confident that the representatives of other 

 breeds who are present will not for a moment admit that the 

 poor showing is in any way due to the admixture of Berkshire, 

 Poland or 0, I. C. blood. My own opinion is that "hog cholera 

 virus" has had something to do with it. We are going to breed 

 these sows again, to see whether they will make a better showing 

 with the next litters. We will finally kill the sows that are poor 

 breeders and make a careful examination of the generative 

 organs to see what diseased conditions exist, 



I have here a photograph of an organ affected with cholera 

 which illustrates one of the conditions that is sometimes found 

 in the womb of hogs suffering from cholera, and will show how 

 an animal that recovers from an attack may become sterile or 

 have her reproductive powers greatly diminished. This speci- 

 men shows numerous small "blood-shot" spots on the outer 

 surface. These blood-shot spots are due to the rupture of 

 numerous small blood vessels in the walls of the organ. These 

 minute ruptures frequently occur on the inside of an organ, and 

 if the disease assumes a chronic form these small ruptures may 

 develop into ulcers; this is often seen in the intestines in chronic 

 cases of cholera. The same thing at times occurs on the inside 

 of the sow's womb, resulting in a chronic catarrhal condition of 

 that organ. At other times the ovaries and fallopian tubes may 

 be involved to an extent that results in sterility. In some cases 



