28 SWINE 



feed and care of the sow. The term prolificacy is used to 

 apply to the number of pigs farrowed. What is of equal 

 importance is that the sow farrows live pigs and that she 

 raise a large percentage of those farrowed. These points 

 also are influenced largely by the conditions under the 

 control of breeder and feeder. This is discussed later. 



Apart from this it is believed that there is a correla- 

 tion between conformation and prolificacy; that is, hogs 

 selected in accordance with the ideal set forth in Chap- 

 ter IV will produce more pigs per litter than those that 

 are not so well formed. Three Poland-China gilts, litter- 

 mates, placed in accordance with this standard farrowed 

 pigs in their first litters as follows: No. 1, nine pigs; No. 

 2, five; and No. 3, one pig. The result with six Chester 

 White gilts, all from the same litter, was as follows : 

 Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4 combined farrowed 35 pigs and Nos. 

 5 and 6 combined farrowed 10 pigs. This may have been 

 partly accidental, but other instances like this have come 

 to notice. 



QUALITY. 



The term quality as used in connection with swine is 

 very often misinterpreted. It is often taken to mean 

 everything in a hog that is good. Correctly speaking, a 

 hog is made up of a number of individual points such as 

 snout, jowls, eyes, ears, neck, shoulders, back, sides, ham 

 and feet, which when put together constitute what is or- 

 dinarily called form. If these various parts have proper 

 conformation in themselves and are properly put to- 

 gether, thus making a good individual, the hog is said to 

 have good form. If the hog is fat, he is said to be in 

 good or high condition. If he is lean, he is said to be in 

 poor condition, provided the market hog is under consid- 

 eration. In the breeding hog there is what is called 



