360 EEPOKT OF THE BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 



sively grass-fed, come from the corn-growing belt, comprising the 

 States of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Ne- 

 braska, Minnesota, and the Territory of Dakota. Cattle raising in 

 the United States is a progressive industry, engaging a large amount 

 of capital and skill. Nearly all the choice breeds known are repre- 

 sented among the herds brought to market. The so-c ailed " native " 

 cattle descendants of the stock which the early Spanish explorers 

 turned loose in the fifteenth century have been re-enforced by the 

 introduction (5f finely-bred Shorthorn, Hereford, Polled- Angus, and 

 other improved cattle from the stock farms of Europe. Animals of 

 the purest breed, which have transmitted their pedigrees unimpaired, 

 are to be found in nearly all the States. 



Most of the hogs handled in the packing-houses of the West are 

 grown in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Wisconsin, Nebraska, 

 Ohio, and Indiana. These are known as the "corn-surplus" States, 

 where so much Indian corn is grown that it is cheaper to send it to 

 market in the form of hog flesh than to attempt its direct transpor- 

 tation in the kernel. The hogs raised in these States are almost 

 exclusively of high-grade Berkshire and Poland-China breeds, un- 

 surpassed for purity of strain, and all the qualities most esteemed 

 for meat-raising purposes. The method of feeding them is clean 

 and simple. As soon as they are able to shift for themselves the 

 young pigs are turned out to pasture, being also fed with corn at 

 certain hours of the day, or permitted to follow corn-fed cattle 

 and to share their supplies. At the age of about six months the 



Eigs are brought in and penned, and the work of fattening them 

 Dr market commences. They are then no longer called "pigs" a 

 name technically applied only to young animals, less than six months 

 old but become the "hogs "of commerce. They are supplied in 

 their pens with all the corn they can eat, and are given access to an 

 abundance of clear, fresh water this last being found by experience 

 to be an essential requisite to the raising of the best quality of pork. 

 The practice of feeding offal to swine is unknown in the pork-packing 

 centers. It is chiefly confined to small butchers in country towns. 

 The hogs thus fed are unsuitable for packing. They are slaughtered 

 by their owners and sold in the local markets, and, when eaten im- 

 perfectly cooked or cured, are probably responsible for the few 

 authenticated cases of trichinosis occasionally recorded in the public 

 press of the t United States. In Kentucky and other States where 

 distilled spirits are manufactured on a large scale, hogs are sometimes 

 fed on the grain " slops." The flesh of animals so nourished is soft, 

 not adapted for curing, and can not be shipped to foreign markets. 

 The hogs that are sent to the great pork packing centers have been 

 fed almost exclusively on grass, and mast, and Indian corn. When 

 they have reached a weight ranging from 150 to 450 pounds per head 

 they are ready for market. The farmer hauls them in wagons or 

 sleighs, according to the season, to the nearest railway station and 

 consigns them to some commission merchant in Chicago, Cincinnati, 

 St. Louis, or other pork-packing city. The hogs are carried by the 

 railroads in well- ventilated, covered cars, and are tended and fed and 

 watered by the way with more or less care. Precautions are taken 

 to protect them from bruises or other injuries. The mark of a whip- 

 lash or of a prodding pole is sufficient to secure the rejection of the 

 animal by the packer. For this reason they are hauled to the rail- 

 road instead of being driven. 



