TENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART XI t05 



unusual degree the characteristic points indicative of vital force, virility 

 and prepotency that arc so highly essential in those sires and dams on 

 which future generations of swine must depend for their excellence. This 

 means that the show was one which, more than ever before, was a breed- 

 ing hog show rather than one of fat carriers. The exhibitors have cer- 

 tainly made a marked progress in the important features of their pro- 

 fession in the last few years. They showed their good sense by bringing 

 to this fair no animals that could be subject to the criticism of over- 

 fitting. The general hog-raising public will unfailingly profit by this 

 situation. The middle classes were gcod. The pig classes were uniformly 

 poor on their feet, due, of course, to the general endeavor to produce 

 greater size than is natural to pigs. 



DUROC JERSEYS. 



Never before have the Durocs shown in such good form at the Iowa 

 State Fair, as there were fewer animals over-fitted this year than has 

 been the case in the past. There was also more balance in all the Duroc 

 classes, the number of extremely large or extremely small hogs being 

 reduced to the minimum. The difficult task of judging fell to Prof. W. J. 

 Kennedy, of the Iowa Agricultural College, assisted by Prof. H. H. Kildee, 

 of the same institution. These young men gave abundant evidence 

 throughout all classes that they were not there to reward friends or pun- 

 ish enemies, and the result of the judging will do much to crystallize men's 

 views of what constitutes the most sensible type of Duroc. A winner with 

 these judges had to have scale, but this had to be combined with lots of 

 quality, with good under-pinning. Almost to a man the exhibitors in the 

 Duroc classes took their medicine graciously, and now that the event is 

 over the 1909 Duroc show is regarded as the most satisfactory and success- 

 ful show that has ever been held in Iowa. In the class of aged Duroc 

 Jersey boars there was a string of good ones that has never been equaled. 

 There was real Duroc Jersey character from star.t to finish, twenty-seven 

 of them and no tail-enders. It was the ring of the show. There was no 

 walk-away for anj^one. Baxter & Comer's B. & C.'s Col. and Waltemeyer 

 Bros.' Golden Model 2d were general favorites for first place, with scarcely 

 a hair between them. The only hole the judges had to creep out of was to 

 consider that B. & C.'s Col. was carrying his fully developed form, while 

 his competitor, a year younger, had not established his mature character. 

 So when the blue was handed to B. & C.'s Col. the act met with general 

 approval. Later he proved his quality by capturing the ribbon for cham- 

 pion boar, any age. The class of senior yearling boars was the lightest 

 of the breed. But there was a warm race in which Baxter & Comer's 

 Protection's Col. came under the wire ahead of Allen & Miller's Model 

 Chief 8th by a very close shave, while Harding's Chief Perfection was so 

 close as to make it uncomfortable for the judges. 



A bunch of twenty-one junior yearling boars were shown with quality 

 enough to make it interesting. Browning's Defender headed the list, with 

 Cooper's King Orion (that was later declared champion boar bred by 



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