528 THE PIG 



pigs of this breed can be brought to excessive fatness on less 

 food by half than any other breed. It will not, however, increase 

 as rapidly in actual gains as the larger breeds. At the Vermont 

 Experiment Station Small Yorkshires made an average daily 

 gain of 1.04 pounds live weight, having an average weight of 

 201 pounds after 184 days of feeding, starting at 23 pounds. 

 It required 353 pounds of feed for 100 pounds gain, and the 

 carcasses dressed 84.1 per cent. This record somewhat excelled 

 that of the Berkshire. 



The Small Yorkshire as a grazing pig will do extremely well, 

 at least that is the experience in England. Professor Long states 

 that when a Small White pig is fit for exhibition it gets very 

 little but grass, and that he has repeatedly seen fat pigs of this 

 breed which in summer were entirely grass-fed. 



The quality of Small Yorkshire meat, while of fine grain and 

 sweet, is not in favor to-day in Great Britain, containing as it 

 does a high percentage of fat. Mr. John Walker, writing in 1905 

 in Pigs for Profit, says : 



As far as quality goes these pigs are despised by the butcher because 

 they give such a very small proportion of lean to fat that the public leaves 

 the joints of pork on the butcher's slab, it being so leanless, while the bacon 

 curer will have naught to do with the fat little animals. 



The cross-bred or grade Small Yorkshire pig is in general an 

 improvement over the pure-bred, if mated to a larger breed, for 

 thereby a better grade of pork is produced and a more hardy and 

 prolific stock results. 



The fecundity of the Small Yorkshire is about medium, with a 

 tendency to small litters, such as might be expected from a breed 

 tending to excess of fat development. The nursing females pro- 

 duce but a moderate amount of milk. 



The popularity of the Small Yorkshire has decreased to such an 

 extent that it is but slightly bred to-day in England or America. 

 As a breed it was largely developed by fanciers, often for show. 

 Its excessive fat, however, caused it to become unpopular in the 

 British market, where a lean type of bacon is most in favor. 

 According to Volume XX of the National Pig Breeders' Asso- 

 ciation of Great Britain, only two or three breeders now enter 

 their pigs, while of the Large Whites there are entered 1000 out 



