SWINE GEORGE E. DAY. 



Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa, Ontario, for the pur- 

 pose of finding out the causes of softness in bacon. The 

 conclusions which follow represent the principal points 

 brought to light in these investigations. 



Exclusive Meal Feeding. This is perhaps one of the 

 most common causes of softness, especially when hogs are 

 confined in pens from birth to time of marketing. Some 

 kinds of meal are more injurious than others ; but wherever 

 exclusive meal feeding is practiced and the exercise is lim- 

 ited, more or less softness is almost sure to result. 



Corn. Of the grains in common use, corn has the great- 

 est tendency to cause softness. Its injurious tendency can 

 be modified by mixing it largely with other meal and by 

 feeding skim milk, green foods, and roots, but its tendency 

 to produce softness is so strong that it must be regarded as 

 an undesirable food for bacon hogs. 



Beans. This food appears to have a similar effect to 

 that produced by corn, and is possibly even more injurious. 



Lack of Exercise. Lack of exercise has a tendency to 

 produce softness, but this tendency can be largely overcome 

 by judicious feeding. 



Unthriftiness. Unthrifty hogs, no matter what the 

 cause ma}' be, almost invariably produce soft bacon. 



Lack of Finish. Thin hogs have a marked tendency 

 towards softness. Marketing hogs before they are properly 

 finished, is, no doubt, responsible for a good deal of softness. 



Holding Back. When a hog is finished it should be 

 marketed at once in order to produce firm bacon. If the 

 feed is cut down so that the hog makes no gain in weight for 

 some time, or loses in weight, the bacon from such a hog 

 is almost sure to be soft. 



Lack of Maturity. Generally speaking, the more im- 

 mature a hog is, the greater the tendency to be soft. Almost 

 invariably the largest percentage of softness occurs among 

 the light sides of bacon. The practice of unduly forcing 



