THE PIG 



breeds. This is hardly in accordance with the standards of 

 the Cheshire Swine Association. The standard of excellence in 

 Volume I of the herdbook states that when grown and well 

 fattened the hogs should show a dressed weight of from 400 to 

 600 pounds. That represents a heavy-weight hog. There are 

 said to be numerous instances on record of pigs dressing over 

 400 pounds when nine months old. The Cheshire barrows 

 shown at the International Live Stock Exposition in 1905 were 

 a heavy-weight lot and gave no impression of being of a small 

 breed. One of these at eight and one-half months weighed 353 

 pounds. The Cheshire is said to weigh heavy for its size. 

 Mr. A. H. Bates, once a prominent breeder of swine, has the 

 following to say in a letter which is quoted from the Cheshire 

 Herdbook : 



I find that buyers are not able to guess the weights of Cheshires. One lot 

 of thirteen culls I offered at 325 Ibs. each. The buyers thought they would 

 not weigh over 300 Ibs. They averaged 390 each. Another lot of twenty 

 culls I offered at 150 Ibs. average. They weighed 185! l^ 8 - on the average. 

 I have found it will not do to sell Cheshires by guess. 



The quality of Cheshire meat ranks high. Sanders, writing of 

 those he bred, stated that " their meat was most excellent, tender, 

 and juicy." Others have rendered similar testimony. The flesh 

 is fine grained, and, with hogs not fed too much corn, is of a 

 desirable bacon type. 



Cross-bred or grade Cheshires are not common, but are looked 

 upon with favor in some localities. Where superior and prepotent 

 boars are kept they may be used on common sows to material 

 advantage, securing a high class of pork. 



The Cheshire as a feeder is not well known. But few have 

 been tried in the great swine-producing sections of the coun- 

 try. Only experiment stations in the eastern states have fed 

 Cheshires experimentally. The Maine station reports in 1890 a 

 comparison of breeds of swine, Cheshires gaining daily 1.23 

 pounds, Yorkshires 1.14, Chester Whites 1.08, Poland-Chinas 

 i.oi, and Berkshires i.oo. Two pigs of each breed were used, 

 one of each sex, and they were fed from five to eight weeks. 

 The Berkshires ate the least food to make a pound of gain, and 

 the Cheshires the most. Experiments in 1891 at the Maine 



