CHAPTER IV. 



BREEDS OF SWINE. 



Before the breeds are dealt with individual!}', it will be 

 best to study the breeds in comparison with one another in 

 order to form some estimate of the importance of breed as 

 a factor in feeding swine. 



Relation of Breed to Economy of Production. Prob- 

 ably the most extensive experiments with breeds of swine 

 have been conducted by the Ontario Agricultural College, 

 and the Iowa State Experiment Station. At the Ontario 

 Agricultural College, five experiments were conducted in 

 which six breeds of swine were compared as to the cost of 

 producing loo pounds gain live weight. The average 

 amount of meal consumed for loo pounds gain, live weight, 

 in the five experiments is given below. In this table, only 

 the meal is considered. Such foods as dairy by-products 

 and green feed, which were fed sometimes, were the same 

 for all breeds, and have been omitted to simplify the 

 comparison. 



Meai, Consumed for ioo Pounds Gain, Live Weight, 

 Average of Five Experiments. 



Berkshire 364.45 lbs. 



Yorkshire 369.51 lbs. 



Tamworth 380.47 lbs. 



Duroc Jersey 384.23 lbs. 



Chester White 387.89 lbs. 



Poland China 391.42 lbs. 



Averages, however, are frequently misleading. For ex- 

 ample, in a certain experiment, one breed may sufifer from 

 some unfavorable circumstance, which is in no way related 

 to, or influenced by the breeding of the animals, yet this 



