408 Western Live-stock Management 
cant changes are going on in the pig’s body. A certain 
amount of muscular cells undergo fatty degeneration, 
making the meat more tender and delicious to the epicure, 
but at the same time rendering the pig weaker and less 
efficient as a machine for transforming feed into pork. 
This is one reason why more and more feed is required 
to produce gains as the pig approaches market maturity 
and why, when once fat, he should be marketed as soon 
as possible. The debilitation process also accounts in a 
measure for the greater susceptibility of fat pigs to disease. 
Fattening increases the body weight which has to be 
maintained and this in turn increases the cost of the gains. 
WHEN TO BEGIN FATTENING 
The western markets nearly all demand a smooth, 
nicely finished pig weighing about 200 pounds. It is 
found that with a pig in good growing condition at the 
start, it takes about sixty days on full feed to produce the 
desired finish and that during this sixty day period, he 
will put on about 100 pounds of live weight. This means, 
therefore, that the fattening process should begin when 
the pig is not to exceed 100 pounds live weight. If 
heavier than this, he will not be fat until too large for the 
market requirements, while if too small at the start, he 
will become too fat to gain economically before reaching 
market weight. Of course if the pig has been grown on 
liberal feed and is already in fair condition, he will require 
less time to fatten than if he had been grown less rapidly 
and is thinner in flesh at the start. A pig at 100 pounds 
live weight should be from four to six months old. If 
much older than six months, it is practically impossible 
to finish him into a good market hog and he will always be 
rough and ill-shaped. 
