394 Types and Market Classes of Live Stock 



November, December, January, and February when the spring pig 

 crop is marketed, and again in May and June when most fall pigs are 

 marketed, there is very little spread in the price of butcher hogs of all 

 weights. Usually at these seasons the entire spread in price of all 

 butcher hogs of the same weight is only 10 to 25 cents per cwt. The • 

 market-topping load with its fancy quality often sells only 5 or 10 cents 

 higher than the bulk of hogs sold that day. The value of the market 

 hog is determined to a much greater degree by his weight alone, with 

 much less regard to both quality and finish than is true of cattle or 

 sheep, and that is why the most profitable type of lard hog is essentially 

 that type in which the sows are most prolific and in which the pigs make 

 their gains most economically. Type in hogs is almost entirely a matter 

 of meeting producers' requirements, whereas type in cattle and sheep 

 must give much more consideration to factors which the packer desires 

 and for which he pays a premium large enough to insure their incorpora- 

 tion in the type aimed at by cattle and sheep producers. 



Lard-hog type does include, however, many points desired by the 

 packer which are incorporated without in any way lessening economy 

 of production. These are smoothness, freedom from coarseness, sym- 

 metry, and good condition. All these points desired by packers may 

 be included and are in fact demanded in the modem type of lard hog 

 without lessening his efficiency in economy of production. 



As indicating that the importance of size in hogs is now generally 

 recognized, it may be stated that all of the breeds classed as lard hogs 

 in the United States have been modified in recent years so as to con- 

 form more closely to the so-called "big type." 



Charles D. Kirkpatrick of Keokuk County, Iowa, states ^ that he 

 raises about 400 hogs for market annually, and he compares his results 

 with big-type hogs in recent years with his earlier experiences with the 

 smaller and finer type then in vogue. He concludes an excellent 

 article as follows: 



"The big type has proved fully as important on the sow side of the 

 herd as in the feeding pen. The farrowing troubles of the old-fash- 

 ioned, thick-built sows caused a deal of disagreeable work, and fre- 

 quently were the cause of heavy losses. At present there is neither a 

 pair of forceps nor a snare in my hog-house equipment; I haven't 

 helped a sow deliver a pig this season, and I haven't had a veterinarian 

 on the place since a year ago last spring. So far this year the average 

 litter saved to weaning time is nearly seven. 



"Length of legs and stretch of body, of course, can be perverted 

 into a gun barrel type of hog. A weasel is not my ideal of conforma- 

 tion for a herd boar. But for my part I have no quarrel with the 



Breeder's Gazette, Dec. 14, 1922, p. 835. 



