TYPES AND MARKET CLASSES OF LIVE STOCK 293 



assistance of very much outside fat, such as greatly assists in 

 giving smoothness to the lard hog. 



Proper quality in a market bacon is very important because 

 a rough or coarse appearance detracts much from the price, and 

 because it is desired that the flesh be in fine texture. In both 

 market hogs and breeding stock, a fine, smooth coat of hair 

 denotes quality. Well-developed wrinkles or seams in the skin 

 indicate coarse-grained flesh, and injure the appearance of the 

 finished product. The snout, face, jowl, and ear should show 

 refinement yet not to an extreme that indicates lack of vigor 

 .and feeding qualities. The bone should be flinty and smooth, 

 rather than porous and rough. Coarse bone is very objection- 

 able because it indicates hard feeding qualities and slow ma- 

 turity. The butcher prefers a fine-boned hog, but the breeder 

 wants the boar to stand on heavy, clean bone covered with skin 

 that shows no coarseness. The brood sow should have finer 

 bone than the boar, but it should be in every way proportionate 

 to her weight, plus the added weight resulting from pregnancy. 



Proper condition for a market bacon hog is a feature re- 

 quiring considerable practice in judging. There is danger, of 

 too high a degree of fatness, even though the live weight be 

 within the limits that have been mentioned. People who live 

 in the cornbelt experience some difficulty in accepting a properly 

 finished market bacon hog as such when first taking up a study 

 of this type. To them the hog looks considerably underdone. 

 The indications of the proper degree of fatness are difficult to 

 describe. The hog has a well-fed, thrifty appearance, but not 

 ;a finished look comparable to that of the properly finished lard 

 hog. The flesh is firm and the hog is reasonably well filled out 

 Soft flesh at the lower part of the hams, at the lower border of 

 the shoulder, or on the jowl, is undesirable because it indicates 

 -an over-fat condition and an uneven distribution of the fat. 

 Smoothness and firmness of fleshing are decidedly essential. 



The style of the bacon hog should be marked. He should 

 be very active, thus indicating a full mascular development. 

 He should walk without apparent effort. A writhing move- 

 ment when walking is taken as an indication of weakness in 

 muscling along the back and loin. 



The head varies in shape a great deal, depending to a large 

 extent upon the breed, but there is also much variation between 

 -individuals belonging to the same breed. Length of snout varies 



