>58 



FARMER'S CYCLOPEDIA OF LIVE STOCK 



marked degree, it would be considered a 

 choice bacon hog." 



When hogs have been well bred and 

 cared for, and weigh between 160 to 220 

 pounds, they furnish the best quality of 

 bacon. Hogs weighing less than this 

 are likely to be younger and the meat 

 more watery, while hogs weighing more 

 are likely to be too fat. 



The light bacon hog resembles the 

 choice bacon, but is lighter in weight 

 and usually poorer in condition, and 

 may be coarser in quality, while a fat 

 bacon hog resembles a choice bacon hog 

 but is too fat. 



The United States bacon hog is a hog 

 ranging in weight from 155 to 195 

 pounds and in age from 6 to 8 months. 

 They conform in a general way to the 

 bacon hog type but are simply selected 

 from light hogs in general. About 20 

 per cent of the light hogs that come 

 into the Chicago markets are of this 

 type. The best of this class of hogs are 



Fig. 352 — ROASTING PIGS 

 (Courtesy of Illinois Esper. Station) 



handled as choice United States bacon, 

 and are made up mostly from shipments 

 outside of the corn belt. These hogs 

 have more fat on the outside and less 

 lean meat on the inside than typical 

 bacon hogs of the English type. "Good 

 bacon hogs of this class may be of poorer 

 quality, may be lower in conditions, may 

 be too fat or too much of the fat hog type. 

 . . . If there is still more marked de- 

 ficiency in these characteristics the hogs 

 will grade as a common bacon hog." 



Pigs as a market class range in 

 weight from 60 to 125 pounds and in 

 age from 3^2 to 6 months. All hogs 

 of this weight are included in the pig 

 class. The greatest demand for these 

 pigs is in winter, since they are hard to 



preserve fresh in summer and are too 

 young to cure. They constitute about 10 

 per cent of the hogs coming to the Chi- 

 cago market, and grade as choice, good 

 and common. They are choice when 

 they approach the ideal fat hog in form 

 and condition, and good or common as 

 these qualities are less marked. 



Roughs include hogs of all sizes that 

 are coarse, rough and lacking in condi- 

 tion. If too inferior to be classed as 

 packing hogs or as light mixed hogs, 

 they go into the class of roughs. "The 

 pork from these hogs is used for the 

 cheaper class of trade for both packing 

 and fresh meat purchasers. In market 

 reports, pigs and roughs are frequently 

 classed together, not because they be- 

 long in the same class, but because they 

 sell approximately at the same price." 



Stags are castrated old boars and sell 

 with a dockage of 80 pounds. If of 

 good quality and condition, they may 

 go in with some of the various grades 

 of packing hogs, but when coarse and 

 staggy in appearance, they are sold in 

 the same class with boars. 



"Boars are always sold in a class by 

 themselves and bring from $2 to $3 per 

 hundred weight less than the best hogs 

 on the market at the same time. They 

 always sell straight with no dockage. 

 There is no distinction as to grade, 

 they simply sell as boars." These ani- 

 mals are used to supply pork to the 

 cheaper class of trade and for sausage 

 making. 



Roasting pigs include pigs from three 

 to six weeks old weighing from 15 to 30 

 pounds each. They come to market in 

 relatively small numbers, chiefly during 

 the holiday season. They are usually of 

 a nearly uniform grade and are taken 

 directly from their dams, dressed with 

 head and feet on and served like chicken 

 or turkey. Prices for roasting pigs 

 range from regular live hog prices to 

 that paid for poultry. 



Feeders are hogs bought in the mar- 

 kets to be taken back to the country for 

 further feeding. Only a comparatively 

 small number are re-shipped for this 

 purpose, owing to the small chances of 

 profit and the possibility of contracting 

 disease in passing through the large 

 markets. 



Governments are hogs inspected by 

 the government officials and rejected as 

 not being sound in every respect. Such 

 hogs are tagged by the inspector and re- 



