312 Types and Market Classes of Live Stock 



Economy of the pig as a meat producer. — W. W. Smith of Purdue 

 University states ^ that the cost of the pig at birth is much less than 

 that of the calf or lamb, and that the cost of subsequent gains is lower. 

 He states that to produce 100 pounds of gain during the market-finish- 

 ing period, 1,000-pound steers require an average of 800 pounds of 

 grain and 475 pounds of legume hay; 65-pound lambs require 400 

 pounds of grain and 500 pounds of legume hay; and 200-pound pigs 

 require 450 pounds of grain and no hay. He mentions also that the 

 brood sow brings a relatively better price when sent to market after 

 her days of usefulness in the herd are over than does the cow or the 

 ewe. 



When to the above facts it is added that during ten years at the 

 Chicago market ^ all hogs marketed there brought an average price 

 of $9.65 per cwt., all beef steers $8.85, all butcher cows and heifers 

 $6.35, all fat lambs $9.60, all yearling wethers $7.90, and all older sheep 

 $6.70, it might be assumed that hogs are easily the most profitable of 

 all meat-producing animals. This may be true. But the above figures 

 do not include heavy losses of pigs which occur annually, especially 

 between farrowing time and weaning time. A much larger percentage 

 of the pigs born annually fail to reach the market than is true of calves 

 or lambs. The initial (birth) cost of every dead pig must be added to 

 the initial cost of his surviving litter mates, and the feed he consumed 

 and the labor he required must be added to the cost of feeding them 

 in order to determine the cost of producing pork. Furthermore, the 

 ability of steers and lambs to produce fairly good carcasses on grass 

 and roughage alone, and the absolute failure of the pig under the same 

 conditions should be kept in mind. 



Economy of the pig as a producer of human food. — The pig ranks 

 very high among all farm animals in ability to manufacture a large 

 amount of human food from a given quantity of feed. Dr. W. H. 

 Jordan of the New York (Geneva) Experiment Station has compiled 

 the following table ^ showing how the farm animals compare in the 

 economy with which they convert their feed into edible solids. "Edible 

 solids" means marketable product minus all water, bone, and gristle. 

 Note the high rank of the pig: 



I Pork Production, p. 7. 



2 Compiled from the Drovers Journal Year Books of Figures covering the years 

 1909 to 1918 inclusive. 



3 The Feeding of Animals, p. 423. 



