514 Feeds and Feeding. 



fat will run uniformly from 1 to 1.5 inches in thickness, without 

 excess over the shoulder. The proportion of lean to fat is much 

 greater than in the lard hog. (926) 



840. Soft pork. In bacon production a varying number of car- 

 casses are usually rejected by the packers after slaughter because 

 too soft for the requirements of the bacon market. Olein, palmitin, 

 and stearin are the three principal oils in the fat or lard of the pig. 

 Olein is liquid at ordinary temperatures, while the others are solid. 

 Shutt of the Ottawa Experimental Farms 1 concludes that soft pork 

 is largely caused by an undue proportion of olein in the fat of the 

 carcass. He finds that the fat of firm pork carries 68 per ct. olein or 

 less, and that of soft pork 75 per ct. or more. Pigs fattened exclu- 

 sively on corn give a lard carrying as much as 92 per ct. of olein, 

 while an oats-peas-barley ration produces a lard with only 67 per ct. 

 olein. 



841. Causes of soft pork. From the extensive studies of Fjord 

 and Friis of the Copenhagen (Denmark) Station, 2 and those of Day, 

 Grisdale, and Shutt of the Canadian Stations, 3 we learn that soft 

 pork unsuited to the production of high quality bacon is due on the 

 part of the animal to unthriftiness and lack of exercise, and only in 

 a small way to the breed. Imperfect feeding, marketing before being 

 finished, holding too long after finishing, and undue forcing espe- 

 cially when immature are other causes. In a large way, improper 

 feeding stuffs and feeds improperly combined tend to produce low- 

 quality bacon. 



Feeding too much Indian corn to young pigs is always objection- 

 able. Corn produces a soft pork when forming over half the finish- 

 ing ration and tends to unduly thicken the layer of fat over the 

 shoulder a common defect. Wheat and rye middlings are unsatis- 

 factory, and beans, soybeans, peanuts, and acorns produce a soft, 

 oily pork. Barley ranks first for producing the highest grade of 

 bacon, while oats and peas follow. Skim milk and whey in combi- 

 nation with the cereal grains, including corn, make a solid flesh that 

 is particularly desirable. Rape, roots, and clover are helpful, but 

 these and other succulent feeds should be judiciously used. Exercise 

 favors firmness of flesh. Pigs that have been properly fed and have 

 had freedom until they weigh 100 Ibs., if in thin condition may be 

 finished on almost any of the common meal mixtures and produce 

 fine bacon. They should be fed slightly less than the full ration. 



1 Bui. 38. 



2 Bpts. 1884, et seq. 



3 Epts. and Buls. Ont. and Ottawa Expt. Stations, 1890-96. 



