Types and Market Classes of Live Stock 



339 



price than neat, trim animals that are smooth on the belly. The 

 accompanying drawings show the importance of the underline in de- 

 termining the value of the side cut from a hog. The trimming from a 

 seedy sow goes to the rendering tank and is made into a cheap grade of 

 lard. 



Side from 

 low-flanked hog 



Side from 

 high-flanked hog 



Side from 

 seedy sow 



Fig. 127. — Effect of underline on trimming of side. T, trimming. 



2. Finish. — The degree of fatness or finish is shown by the depth 

 of fat along the back, by the quantity of leaf fat, by a plump, full 

 appearance throughout, and by good width of back and side in propor- 

 tion to length of body. The leaf is the internal fat, including the kidney 

 fat, lying under the ribs and extending to the "skirt" or diaphragm. 

 Packers like hogs well fattened because this means a higher yield of 

 lard and a higher dressing percentage. As a rule, the heavier the hog 

 the more fat he carries, because the nearer an animal approaches 

 maturity the more easily it takes on fat. 



That the hog is by nature disposed to take on more fat than any 

 of the other domestic animals is shown by the following table of analyses 

 made at the Rothamsted (England) Experiment Station. ' After fast- 

 ing from 18 to 24 hours the animals were killed and the entire bodies 

 analysed. 



These figures show why the corn crop has formed a closer alliance 

 with hogs than with any other of our domestic animals. The hog is 

 naturally disposed to take on a very high degree of fatness, and hog fat 

 is more valuable than the fat of cattle or sheep. Packers desire a 

 thick covering of outside fat on the carcass of a lard hog, the thickness 

 varying according to the weight of the carcass. Wentworth and 



'Jour. Roy. Agr. Soc. Eng., 1898. 



