TYPES AND MARKET CLASSES OF LIVE STOCK 285 



The shoulders are very frequently too open and prominent, 

 so that as one looks down at the top of the hog the shoulders 

 are found to be much the widest part of the animal. They 

 should be well laid in, very smooth, and have no greater width 

 than the rest of the body, such a hog being much more desirable 

 from a market and carcass point of view. The tops of the 

 shoulders should not stand open and apart, but should be laid 

 together and thickly fleshed so as to present a broad, smooth 

 surface in harmony with the rest of the top. 



The front legs should be medium short or short, this being 

 a somewhat variable feature depending on the breed, and they 

 must also be straight. It is especially important that the pas- 

 terns shall be short, upright, and very strong, and that the toes 

 shall be strong also. These points should be particularly em- 

 phasized, for it is a fact that weak, broken-down pasterns and 

 weak, spreading toes are among the most common and most 

 serious faults to be found in swine of the lard type. Weak legs 

 may be due to a natural or inherited weakness, or to improper 

 feeding during the growing period. If growing pigs are fed 

 on corn exclusively, they are liable to develop weakness of the 

 legs, because corn does not carry sufficient bone- and muscle- 

 building constituents to satisfy the demands of the animal 

 during the growing period. The bone of the market hog should 

 be fine, yet sufficient to carry the weight of the hog. Refine- 

 ment of bone is pleasing to the butcher because it is associated 

 with general refinement of the entire animal, thus insuring a 

 clean-cut carcass of quality. 



The chest is an evidence of the constitutional vigor pos- 

 sessed by the animal. It should be wide and deep, filling out 

 behind the shoulders and elbows and affording a large heart- 

 girth. The underline should not cut up between the fore legs, 

 but carry straight forward so as to give as much depth through 

 the chest as through the middle of the body. 



The back and loin of the lard hog are very important parts. 

 They should be medium long and very wide, and, as the animal 

 is viewed from the side, they should be slightly arched. The 

 top of the hog should be very deeply fleshed so as to build the 

 back and loin out level and square on either side of the middle 

 line, thus forming a rather well-marked corner at the junction 

 with the upper border of the side. There will thus be no marked 

 rounding off from the middle line, but a gentle arch over the top 

 from side to side and great width of top due to well-sprung ribs 



