Judging 



393 



JUDGING THE FINISHED FAT BARROW OF THE LARD TYPE 



Market requirements. 



On the daily market, highest prices are paid for the 

 kind of hog which the daily records of the buyers have 

 shown to be the best killers. From the butcher or packer's 

 point of view, a good killer is one which furnishes a carcass 

 yielding a high percentage of dressed to live weight, of 

 suitable weight and condition, correct in shape, and pos- 

 sessing fine quality of fat and lean. 



High dressing percentage is of special importance be- 

 cause of the influence it exerts on the price which the 

 buyer can afford to pay for the live hog. The average 

 market hog dresses about 74 per cent of chilled carcass to 

 live weight, while the average grade of the medium-weight 

 butcher hogs will dress about 78 per cent. The first prize 

 carcasses at the last four International Livestock Exposi- 

 tions (1913, '16, '17, and '18) represented an average of 

 85 per cent of carcass to live weight, the highest being 92 

 and the lowest 80.85 per cent. 



The importance of dressing percentage as a factor in 

 determining selling price is brought out by the figures 

 presented in Table CLXXVII. These calculations were 

 made on the basis of a 10-cent market and a live weight 

 of 225 pounds. The carcasses from the low dressing hogs 

 were assumed to have the same value a pound as the 

 heavier dressing carcasses. 



TABLE CLXXVII. THE RELATION OF DRESSING PERCENT- 

 AGE TO SELLING VALUE ON FOOT 



