FOOD AND QUALITY OF BACON 281 



Firm Bacon. Roots and green foods should be 

 gradually reduced in the later stages of fattening ; in 

 fact, they may be discontinued altogether during the 

 last two or three weeks of the fattening period. The 

 liquid portion of ration should also be gradually reduced, 

 until the meals in it make it quite a thick slop by the 

 end of the fattening period. This method appears to 

 rid the tissues of excess of water before the animal is 

 killed, thus giving a firmer bacon. 



Firm bacon is produced by those concentrated foods 

 which are poor in fat and fairly rich in albuminoids ; 

 e.g., barley meal, skim milk, pea meal, bean meal, 

 etc. Pea meal and bean meal are rich in albumin- 

 oids, and if fed in excess of 3 or 4 Ibs. per head 

 per day, would probably produce flesh which was too 

 firm. Barley meal and bran gave the best quality of 

 carcass in the Wiltshire experiments. 



Tainted Bacon. Distillery refuse gives a watery, soft 

 flesh which glistens when cut. It becomes tainted, and 

 soon goes bad. Kitchen scraps may make the fat too oily. 

 Fish-fed pigs yield a flesh which tastes distinctly fishy. 



Grading Carcasses. The following gives the method 

 of classifying dressed carcasses of pigs adopted by 

 Messrs Harris & Co. in the Wiltshire bacon trade : 



Dressed Weight. 



A. Highest price . 130 Ibs. to 190 Ibs. . under 2^ ins. 



B. Second price . 190 Ibs. to 210 Ibs. . under 2^ ins. 



C. Third price . 210 Ibs. to 230 Ibs. . under 2f ins. 



D. Fourth price . over 230 Ibs. . under 3 ins. 

 Soft pigs and small pigs have deductions from scale prices. 



Dressed Weight. Includes everything but intestines, 

 sweetbread, kidneys, spleen, liver, heart, skirt, and 

 lungs. (The feet, head, brain, tongue, and fleck are 

 included.) Shrinkage allowed = 2 Ibs. per pig. 



