454 Pork Production 



FUNDAMENTAL IDEALS IN BREED OR HERD IMPROVE- 

 MENT 



The measure of a breed's standing is its popularity 

 with the practical man who is producing pork for market. 

 The test of a breed's efficiency, in other words, is the per- 

 formance it gives in the hands of the farmer. This means 

 that no breed can survive the competition whose type 

 is not the utility type or whose standards of selection are 

 based more on some fad of color, type or pedigree than 

 on real individual merit. The pedigree breeder's ideal 

 should be based on the farmer's ideal. The question 

 of the ideal farmer's hog is considered in the following 

 paragraphs. 



1 . In the first place, the ideal breed or herd of hogs must 

 have brood sows capable of regularly producing large 

 even litters; i.e., the sows must be prolific. Prolific 

 breeding quality is probably the most valuable trait for 

 any breed. To a very large extent it is true that a breed is 

 popular or unpopular according as the sows are prolific 

 or not. The question then is, how can regular prolific 

 breeding traits be developed or maintained in a herd. 



The first rule is to keep in the breeding herd only those 

 sows which have demonstrated by actual performance 

 their ability to produce and raise good litters. The 

 policy of rigorous culling on the basis of breeding per- 

 formance should be one of the rules of practice in every 

 pure-bred and grade herd. To follow this rule without 

 regard to pedigree, show-ring attainments, or money 

 cost, requires on the part of the breeder nerve and a high 

 sense of his responsibility. 



The second rule which will guarantee improvement in 

 the size of the litters is to be careful to select the gilts 



