54 SWINE 



In the standard of excellence given the hog is consid- 

 ered by means of twenty-five different points. An at- 

 tempt was made to have these various points represent 

 the principal characters of the hog as nearly as possible, 

 or the characteristics that in breeding operations are 

 transmitted from parent to offspring more or less inde- 

 pendently. First the general characteristics are given 

 and these are followed by the individual points that go 

 to make up form. 



Under size it is specified that a six months' old hog 

 should weigh 200 pounds, and that it should weigh 400 

 pounds at one year and 800 pounds at two years of age. 

 It is assumed that the hog will come to maturity at about 

 this latter age. This, however, should not be taken as a 

 hard and fast rule. Some hogs under the best of condi- 

 tions will weigh more than the above specified amounts, 

 and others will weigh considerably less. The conditions 

 under which the hogs are kept and the systems that are 

 used in feeding are not yet as well developed as they 

 should be, consequently there is considerable variation 

 in the size of hogs. This difference also is greatly modi- 

 fied by the wa}^ hogs are selected for breeding purposes 

 through several generations. When a hog is perfect in 

 weight, or is as large as desirable, it is given a score of 15 

 points on the basis of 100, which is the total score for the 

 animal. This is apportioned among the various points or 

 parts of a hog in accordance with what that individual 

 point should be considered worth as part of the entire 

 hog in order to have as nearly a perfect hog as possible. 

 The size is given first consideration because the size 

 of a hog is perhaps the one point that is most striking 

 and first noted by the average man. 



