SWINE 



557 



a socket in which the tail is set, be well 

 filled on the neck up to the face, have 

 a broad, fat back with much fat on sides 

 and on belly, and be well filled in flanks 

 and in twist. Besides this, they must be 

 free from flabbiness and show a firm, 

 even and symmetrical development." 



Good butcher hogs, as compared with 

 prime butchers, may be slightly deficient 

 in form or a little lacking in quality, 

 maturity or condition. 



Common butcher hogs are found only 

 in the medium and light butcher classes. 

 They are among the better grades of 

 hogs and show evidence of having been 

 well fed and are compact, smooth and 

 firm. These animals may not be mature 

 and may be considerably more deficient 

 in form, quality and condition than 

 prime butcher hogs. Other names some- 

 times applied to this class of hogs are 

 "heavy shipping," "selected," "mediums 

 and butchers," "mediums and heavys." 

 The term "shipping hogs" usually refers 

 to hogs that are bought in the larger 

 markets and shipped elsewhere for butch- 

 ering. 



Packing hogs as a class are of poorer 

 grade than butcher hogs. It may in- 

 clude old brood sows, and all other hogs 

 except the roughs, boars, and coarse 

 stags that are heavy enough for this 

 class, and not good enough for the 

 butcher hogs class. 



Dietrich states that about 40 per cent 

 of the hogs coming to the Chicago mar- 

 ket are of this class. From this class 

 of hogs the packers make mess pork, 

 dry salt sides, while the hams and 

 shoulders are cured. These hogs are 

 usually above nine months in age. This 

 class of hogs is subdivided into the 

 heavy packing class, consisting of hogs 

 weighing 300 to 500 pounds, medium 

 packing, weighing 250 to 300 pounds, 

 and mixed packing, weighing 200 to 280 

 pounds. 



Droves of hogs are sometimes sent to 

 market in which there are heavy pack- 

 ing, medium packing, some light hogs 

 and even a few butcher hogs, and may 

 be sold as "mixed packing" or "mixed 

 hogs." These mixed droves are fre- 

 quently bought in carload lots by spec- 

 ulators, re-sorted into their proper 

 grades and sold. 



In each of these sub-classes of heavy, 

 medium and mixed packing hogs, there 

 are three grades, good, common and in- 

 ferior. 



Good packing hogs of either the heavy, 

 medium or mixed class, must be fitted 

 in good condition and show that they 

 belong to the fat hog type in form and 

 breeding, but may be too much off in 

 form, quality or condition to go into 

 the butcher hog class. Highly finished 

 old sows that bear evidence of once hav- 

 ing had pigs may be in this class, or 

 barrows, not sufficiently up in form and 

 condition, or mixed lots of sows and bar- 

 rows, varying in quality and condition, 

 but still showing evidence of good breed- 

 ing, form and quality. 



Common packing hogs are not quite 

 as good a grade of hogs as the good 

 packing hogs, while the inferior pack- 

 ing hogs include hogs poor in form, 

 coarse in quality and much lacking in 

 condition, but still good enough to be 

 fit for the block. 



Light hogs include all those within 

 the weight limits, 125 to 220 pounds, 

 except roughs, stags and boars. This 

 class makes up about 15 per cent of the 

 hogs coming into the market. In it are 

 found the bacon hogs, weighing for the 

 English trade 160 to 220 pounds, and 

 for the American trade 155 to 195 

 pounds, light mixed hogs, weighing 150 

 to 220 pounds, and light light hogs, 

 weighing 125 to 150 pounds. 



For the English bacon trade, much 

 of the bacon is cut into what is called 

 the Wiltshire sides, which is the whole 

 side of the hog with simply the head and 

 feet cut off. Bacon hogs are sub-divided 

 into choice bacon, light bacon, and fat 

 bacon. In the choice bacon class are in- 

 cluded all those hogs which conform to 

 the bacon hog type and have quality and 

 condition in the highest degree for the 

 class. 



"Choice bacon hogs — The bacon hog is 

 not a fat hog, consequently when a ba- 

 con hog is in good condition for market 

 he is an entirely different looking hog 

 froin a fat or lard hog when in such 

 condition. To be in good condition, a 

 bacon hog must have a good develop- 

 ment of lean meat or muscle, with the 

 proper amount of fat. He must be 

 smooth, well developed and have a large 

 proportion of edible meat, while the 

 proportion of fat and other offal must 

 be small. Hams, shoulders, jowls and 

 neck must also be small in proportion 

 to length and depth of sides. If a hog 

 has all these characteristics of form, 

 quality and condition, developed to a 



