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30 BULLETIN 1360, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
class and needs no explanation. Feeder and stocker are other sub- 
classes already explained under cattle. In the case of hogs, the 
feeder and stocker subclasses have been combined, because trade 
practice does not, as a rule, make their separation necessary. 
After the subclasses, there i is a divergence between the cattle and 
swine schedules. The ‘third general subdivision of cattle is the age 
selection. ‘This selection is used because, in cattle, age is frequently 
an important price-determining factor. ‘In the case of hogs, this is 
not generally true, since, as has already been indicated, practically 
all hogs are marketed at such an early age that little or no attention 
is paid to that factor. 
USE SELECTIONS OF HOGS 
Instead of the age selection, in the case of hogs there is a second 
or special use selection. Some of the slaughtered hogs go into cer- 
tain special uses, whereas others are put to still different uses. Hence 
there is a group of slaughter hogs which is known as butcher hogs, 
another group known as bacon hogs and still another known as 
packing hogs. These terms are more or less supplementary and 
merely indicate a special adaptability for certain specialized uses. 
Although there are really three use selections—butcher, bacon, and 
packing—in the accompanying schedule butcher and bacon hogs have 
been combined in a single use selection, because they ustially sell 
together on the market and final segregation is made in the packing 
house. 
Up to the present time three main types of hogs (see figs. 11 to 16) 
have been produced in this country: The lard-type hog, the bacon- 
type hog, and what may be called for the want of a better name the 
intermediate or mean-type hog. The lard-type hog is usually a 
blocky, stockily built, close-coupled animal, capable of taking on a 
large amount of fat. The bacon-type hog is longer, more rangy, and 
carries only a moderate amount of fat in proportion to lean. The 
intermediate or mean-type hog is a sort of compromise between the 
two. 
Largely because of our ability to produce great quantities of corn at 
comparatively low costs, the lard-type hog, up to the present time, 
has been the type most in favor with American swine producers. In 
spite of the fact that great quantities of bacon are produced annually 
for both domestic and for eion trade it has been generally recognized 
that the lard-type hog is not the ideal for producing the highest 
grade bacon. Slaughterers, however, have overcome many of the 
deficiencies of the lard-type hog from the standpoint of bacon pro- 
duction by slaughtering the animals at a comparatively early age 
and before they had attained excessive weight. This policy has “fitted 
in well with general conditions prevailing in this country. It has 
permitted swine producers to feed great quantities of corn and 
thereby keep down production costs. It has maintained our repu- 
tation as the greatest lard producers in the world and at the same 
time has made it possible, by careful selection of lightweight hogs, 
to still produce a first quality bacon. 
Recently there has been a tendency toward increased production 
of the mean-type hog. Still more recently considerable sentiment 
has developed in favor of producing a strictly bacon-type hog in 
