SHRINKAGE OF SOFT PORK. 5 



1 and 2 of the Appendix. It has been claimed by a few men that 

 ' hogs whose carcasses would chill out oily or firm could be distin- 

 guished when alive, but other tests, as well as those reported in 

 I this bulletin, show that it can not be done. At some of the markets, 

 '■ especially in the South, hogs with split, cropped, or deeply notched 

 ears and showing traces of "razorback" characteristics often sell at 

 a discount because the buyers are afraid the carcasses of such hogs 

 will be oily. Such suspicion has sometimes caused those who had 

 fattened their hogs on corn to receive an unwarranted discount. 

 ; Discrimination of this nature has been one of the causes of general 

 dissatisfaction because the extra expense of making the flesh firm 

 by feeding corn was not justified from the feeder's viewpoint. 



In some lots in these tests every hog chilled out as selected, but 

 in others hogs bought as oily chilled firm or soft. It was to be 

 I expected, therefore, that some of the lots would contain more than 

 j one grade of carcass and for that reason conclusions can not be drawn 

 ' regarding the shrinkage of such lots in the chill room. The results 

 of the live-weight and chill-room test records are found in Tables 1 

 and 2 of the Appendix. 

 j The test lots were carefully marked and kept separate from the 

 I time they were weighed over the stockyards scales until the end of 

 the retaining period. The latter was 19 days at Fort Worth and 

 1 21 days at East St. Louis after the meat was taken out of smoke. 

 i' The following weights were taken on each lot: 



'After being cut and trimmed. 



After pumping. 



Out of cure. 



Out of smoke 6 hours. 



Out of smoke 24 hours. 



Out of smoke 6 days. 



Out of smoke 11 days. 



.Out of smoke 19 and 21 days. 



From these records the gain or loss in weight from each process, 

 together with the total loss, was determined. 



METHODS OF HANDLING THE MEAT. 



After the carcasses had remained in the cooler temperature for 

 36 to 44 hours they were examined and classified by the cooler 

 experts of the packing companies as oily, soft, or firm, according to 

 the degree of firmness. The classifications thus made were checked 

 by the representative of the Bureau of Markets. 



In cases where the live hogs selected as being firm or oily did not 

 chill out as expected when bought, other carcasses of hogs of the 

 same size and killed the same day which did represent the kind 

 desired, were substituted for the undesirable ones. Each test there- 

 fore consisted of 25 carcasses which were uniformly firm, oily, etc. 



Live weight. 



Warm dressed weight. 



Chilled dressed weight. 



Wholesale cuts 



