74 DISEASES OF SWINE 



Yorkshire in size and appearance. The head is short in proportion 

 to the length of the body, and the face is considerably dished and 

 wide between the eyes. The ears of this breed are small, fine, and 

 pointed. In the young animal they stand almost erect. In older 

 hogs they point somewhat forward. 



The neck is inclined to be rather short and full, the shoulders 

 well formed and rounded. The body of the Cheshire is long, but 

 is hkely to show a lack of depth. The back is fairly broad and 

 almost straight, the arching being very shght or entirely absent. 

 Loins are also broad, well fleshed, and straight. The tail is rather 

 small, slender, and pointed. The hams are broad and quite well 

 filled out, extending well down on to the hock. 



In the pure-bred Cheshire hog the legs are incUned to be a 

 trifle beyond the medium in length, and are quite fine of bone. 

 In fact, the bony framework may tend to become overdehcate and 

 produce apparent weakness. Pasterns are fairly firm and the foot 

 is well placed on the ground. The legs are rather wide apart and 

 give excellent motion and grazing power. The hair of the Cheshire 

 hog is of fine texture and white in color. Black hair is regarded 

 as a disqualification, although dark blue spots on the skin are 

 not regarded as disqualifying. 



In disposition the Cheshires are very peaceful and easily handled. 

 This makes them fairly good breeders, and the breed is also fairly 

 good as a feeder. Experiments made several years ago at the 

 Maine State Experiment Station showed that the Cheshire does 

 not make a corresponding gain with other breeds on the same 

 amount of feed. This breed crosses fairly well with other types of 

 American swine. Especially does the mixing of this type do well 

 when crossed with those of larger frame and heavier bone. 



The Cheshire produces a meat which is of excellent firmness and 

 fine grain. When cooked it has a juicy, sweet, tender quaUty, which 

 is very palatable. This fineness of grain of the meat tends to give 

 the animals much heavier weight than would be judged from their 

 size. Plumb, in his work on "Breeds and Breeding," quotes an 

 instance of where a breeder attempted to sell some animals of this 

 breed at lump weight for 325 pounds. The buyer refused, as he 

 averaged the hogs to weigh about 300 pounds. When actually 

 scaled they proved to weigh an average of 390. It is not unusual 



