MEAT PRODUCTION 407 



The most desirable weights in high class bacon run 

 from, say 160 to 220 pounds. Other things being equal, 

 the lighter weights are preferred. These weights should 

 be attained in from six to seven months. To reach them 

 more quickly would involve feeding that would produce 

 meat with an excess of fat and softness. To produce 

 them more slowly would cut in seriously on the profits. 



Unless the growth is steady and continuous, the desired 

 weights will not be attained. It should average about 30 

 pounds a month during each month. Of course it will not 

 average that much the first three months, but will average 

 more during the months that follow. Food that will 

 produce very quick development, especially during the 

 later stages of growth, will produce meat more or less 

 lacking in firmness. 



Exercise is essential to the development of muscle. 

 Too little exercise accompanied even by ordinary feeding 

 would result in the production of too small a percentage 

 of lean meat. The bacon carcass should possess not only 

 a large proportion of lean in the sides but also in the 

 hams and elsewhere. Too much exercise will retard growth 

 unduly. Because of the exercise which it furnishes, the 

 pasturing of bacon swine during the season of growth has 

 an important bearing upon the development of muscle. 



With bacon swine, the fattening or finishing period 

 is less pronounced than with the other types of swine. It 

 is more a firming and thickening of the carcass than a 

 fattening of the same, and yet it is not to be understood 

 that a bacon carcass is synonymous with a lean and thin 

 carcass. The finishing of bacon is accomplished through 

 feeding foods which contain a reasonably high percentage 

 of protein and carbohydrates, but not an excess of either. 



During pregnancy and the nursing period that follows, 

 the food fed to the bacon and lard types of swine is es- 

 sentially the same, that is to say, in both instances it should 

 be essentially nitrogenous in character (see p. 124). But 

 during the growing period subsequently to weaning, the 



