TENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VII 303 



may be a detriment to the breed. And when the breeder awakens to 

 this fact then the tendencies will be to the other extreme. 



A few years ago the writer had the privilege of exhibiting the champion 

 ten ears and the champion single ear of corn of the state. They were of 

 medium size, uniform type and well covered butts and tips. They were 

 easy winners. The next year we showed a similar sample of corn and 

 did not get a pleasant look. The type had changed; the larger type 

 was in demand elsewhere. Since that time each corn show increases the 

 size of the most popular type, until th(>y are giving premiums to corn 

 that will not, in many cases, mature in our climate. And so it goes. 

 It seems there is no fixed type to adhere to. Diflferent individual breed- 

 ers have different standards of excellence in other lines, as well as the 

 hogs. Possibly in no other breed of live stock are the types so widely 

 different as in the hog of today. 



The question is, which is the correct type of a pork hog today? At 

 Ames we are taught this thought should be kept in mind in breeding all 

 meat producing animals, viz., that the ultimate end of all meat producing 

 animals is the block. And that fact should not be lost sight of in select- 

 ing matrons for the herd, or judging breeding stock at fairs. We fre- 

 quently hear hog breeders say, "We do not care for the pork type nor 

 for the type the farmer demands — we sell to breeders." This Is surely 

 a mistake. There may be a few breeders that can sell all their stock to 

 breeders, but the buyer must in turn sell to farmer pork producers. So 

 the whole hog breeding business must bo based on the fact that the 

 ultimate end is the block. The selling of breeders is all right and the 

 taking of premiums is grand, yet, if in producing breeders and winning 

 premiums you divert the type by striving for an ideal whose ultimate 

 and larger object is not the most economical production of pork, you have 

 failed to meet the demands made upon you an'd the obligations you have 

 assumed for the betterment of the hog kind. The pork hog is a specialist. 

 It is his aim in life to eat and sleep, grow fat and die and raise the 

 mortgage or educate the boys and girls, or perform any post-mortem 

 financial operation the farmer elects. And the packers seem to prefer 

 his death to occur at about 250 pounds weight. 



Bixby, Swift's man, says 250 to 270 pounds is the popular type from 

 now on. Sinclair's man, Mr. Abbott, says that about 250 or a little less. 

 Of course there are' a few exceptions to these weights, but 250 pounds 

 seem to be the desirable weight. And they, the packers, made it the 

 weight of the popular pork hog of today by offering the highest price 

 on the weight that suits their needs the best. If the packers wanted five 

 or six hundred pound hogs they could get them simply by offering the 

 premium for that kind. It is the packers' needs we must supply. So 

 then the question on hand resolves itself to this form: "What type of 

 a hog will reach the desired weight of 250 pounds the quickest with the 

 least feed and cut with the least waste." This question was asked the 

 head hog buyer of one of the large killing concerns a few days since: 

 "Which would you pay the most for, a load of big-boned, coarse hogs or a 

 load of medium boned hogs that are smooth and well formed?" The 

 answerer was: "Reason will teach you that we would discriminate 



