328 



Types and Market Classes of Live Stock 



watery and flabby, whereas further feeding and more age result in a 

 more desirable carcass. Young pigs have a very strong tendency to 

 utilize their feed for growth, and as they become older and are more 

 matured they fatten much more readily. It is for this reason that the 

 best bacon comes from hogs within certain limits of weight. Bacon 

 pigs vary in the weight at which they acquire the proper degree of 

 finish depending upon how they are fed and also upon the breed and 

 the individual. When various breeds are fed alike, or individuals of 

 the same breed are fed alike, some reach the proper finish earlier than 

 others. George B. Roth well states^ that some strains of Berkshires 

 are finished at 170 pounds, others at 200; and that some Yorkshires 







Fig. 120. — Fancy market bacon pig. 



finish best at 210 to 220 pounds and over. Experience has shown that 

 a weight of 160 pounds is the minimum weight at which to market a 

 bacon hog and that the upper limit is 220 pounds. These figures 

 represent the extremes; the best bacon carcasses are from hogs that 

 weighed 185 to 200 pounds. This does not mean that the bacon hog 

 reaches maturity at a weight of 200 or 220 pounds, or that it is desirable 

 that he should do so. The matured weight for boars in good flesh 

 should be not less than 700 pounds, and for sows not less than 500 

 pounds. 



When the carcass of a bacon hog is split down the back, the layer 

 of fat along the spine and back should be not less than 1 inch or more 



^Dominion Experimental Farms, Seasonable Hints, No. 24, Nov., 1922, p. 34. 



