BREEDS OF SWINE 425 



BREEDING AND MANAGEMENT. 



Pure Blood or Grades. Swine offer a greater opportunity for 

 improvement than any other class of live stock. There is no reason 

 why any farmer should raise scrubs. Starting with a pure bred sire, 

 and continuing to use a sire of the same breed, but a few years are 

 required to establish a grade herd equal to pure-breds in every way 

 for pork production. Even when starting with an inferior lot of 

 sows, by using a good boar and rejecting all inferior animals each 

 year, a uniform herd can be developed. (Wis. B. 184.) 



As to whether pure-breds, grades or scrubs shall be grown, rests 

 largely with the aesthetic tastes of the producer. Cross breds and 

 scrubs may make as economical gains as high grades and pure 

 bloods, but they will lack that excellency of conformation that is so 

 gratifying to the feeder and that so quickly appeals to the buyer. 

 (Mo. Cir. 28.) 



Good grades are much more reliable breeders than are crosses 

 and are to be preferred. The native stock has the vigor of constitu- 

 tion, which is always necessary, and has no inherited prepotency to 

 develop in any certain direction. When mated with a pure-blood, 

 the result is usually an animal with the vigor of the native ancestor 

 and the characteristics of the pure-blood parent shown in its better 

 form and fattening qualities. Succeeding crosses in the same direc- 

 tion strengthen this tendency toward improvement. The great ob- 

 jection to "grading up" in this way is the fact that, no matter how 

 fine specimens the animals may be, they can never be sold as pure- 

 bloods, and an animal which is a grade will never sell for breeding 

 at as high a price as will one which is of pure blood and entitled to 

 registration. 



The most satisfactory results will be obtained from a grade sow 

 mated to a pure-bred boar. (Utah Bui. 94; F. B. 100.) 



Inbreeding. While inbreeding is the quickest and surest way 

 to fix type, it should be practiced with great care. As it intensifies 

 both the good and the bad characteristics, it should only be done 

 when care is taken to select the best individuals of the type to breed, 

 and to discard all others. (F. B. 205.) 



Selection of Individuals. The selection of breed is a matter of 

 fancy; the selection of the individual animals for the foundation of 

 the herd is the basis for profit or losses. 



The first consideration should be to get both boar and sows from 

 prolific strains, and of the type demanded by the market. Except 

 during the few weeks when the pigs are suckling, it costs as much to 

 keep a sow that has one to four pigs in a litter, as it does to keep one 

 that has eight to ten pigs. The first cost of the new born pig is de- 

 termined by the cost of keeping the dam, divided by the number of 

 pigs in the litter. 



Uniformity in type is essential for the largest profits. No two 

 breeds or types "feed exactly alike, and where there is a mixture there 

 is a variation in finish and weight that lowers the selling price. 



There are three serious defects to avoid in selecting animals 

 for breeding stock: Weakness through the heart, weak or swayed 



