METHODS OF BREEDING 103 



ing will result in loss of size, vitality, and thriftiness in 

 the offspring. The pigs may be farrowed weak and die 

 before very long, or if they live they may not grow as 

 rapidly and develop size as they should; hence they will 

 be less profitable. 



Occasionally it is recognized that inbreeding results 

 in the production of outstanding individuals. This be- 

 ing true, it is well to consider what is the probable com- 

 position or make-up of the pigs of a litter, whether by in- 

 breeding or out crossing. 



Character of Offspring. As previously noted under the 

 subject head of swine judging, a pig is made up of a 

 number of individual parts and general characteristics 

 that are called characters. That is, the pig has individual 

 parts such as snout, head, ears, feet, legs, shoulders, etc. 

 Then it has general characteristics such as quality, color, 

 form, proportion of lean to fat meat, etc., all of which may 

 be taken as separate considerations which, when properly 

 put together, make up the individual. If it can be im- 

 agined that all of these characters were dissected, or 

 taken separately and then put together, it can easily be 

 seen that the complete hog as finally made will be good 

 or bad in proportion as the various parts which go to 

 make up the individual are good or bad. 



In general it is said that a pig receives one-half of its 

 characters from its immediate parents, one-fourth from 

 its grandparents, one-eighth from its great-grandparents, 

 and so on backward. From this it can easily be seen that 

 often pigs from the same litter are not necessarily re- 

 lated in every particular. Certain characters represented 

 by different pigs may have originated from entirely dif- 

 ferent sources ranging back of the immediate parents 

 through the grand-parents, great-grand-parents, and so on 



