The Twin Falls times. [volume] (Twin Falls, Idaho) 1905-1916, 1912-01-19

wants an animal that will put on tn,
greatest weight with a given amour
OF feed, whether it be offal, shoulders
bone, legs or tall Let us draw tn,
line direct from the breeder to the con
| sumner. What does the consumer want
He desires especially loin, bacon ant
ham. Assuming that conditions will
be so adjusted that the hog giving tn,
| greatest percentage of these valuabl,
cuts will command a relatively highe
market price, which it does at tn
! present time to limited degree, bu
| which / believe will be more pro
nounced in the future, will 1t not b,
more profitable to raise such a hog
| providing you do not sacrifice to too
marked a degree of prolificacy ant
vigor of constitution 1t takes just a.
much feed to make shoulder, loin, legs
offal and bone as it does the choices
cuts. 1t is up to the breeders to sue.
cessfully work out the types that will
produce animals giving these desired
qualities, because the man feeding fol-
market cannot be expected to do sc
under the present market conditions
He is considering merely the present
situation, but, as is quite often the
case, he may find it desirable to grad
ually work his brood sows onto the
market, and purchase new breeding
stuff. 1t is up to the breeder to de-
velop the type, and when that is done
1t will be only short time until the
hogs on our markets will be most de-
sirable, as every progressive stock
raiser fully realizes that he must have
good blood in the stock producing the
animals he is feeding for the market.
One cross of pure blood animals of
different breeds, he knows, may be
excellent but that when he gets be-
yond that he stands good chance Of
getting bunch of mongrels, and he
must go back to the breeder for his
breeding stock; consequently the
breeder has a good hold on the situa-
ton so far as type is concerned.
have burdened you with brief clas-
sifications of the various breeds as
outlined by the various swine record
associations, not original with me, and
i am now going to impose upon you
my views of good hog, and for the
sake of hospitality, l will agree with
you that my opinion does not amount
to much. When it comes to this hog
w
an outlaw, as l believe there are only
two kinds of hogs, the lard and the
bacon types, that is, that if one fea-
ture is especially desirable in one
breed of lard type, it is just as much
needed in any ofthe other breeds of
the lard type. Consequently in select
ing hogs with the view of purchasing
or in selecting to a uniform type for
a I ho
rules for the lard type, no matter what
the breed My remarks in this connec-
ton will be confined to the lard type
as my experience has all been con-
fined to the lard hog.
The first feature I look at is the
back. The back should be slightly
arched-at any rate should not be
swayback, unless it is good old
brood sow that has raised 20 pigs a
year for seven years-then it is al
right The straighter the side lines
that back carries from shoulder to
ham, the better. | certainly like to
see the loin as wide as the shoulder,
although it is exceptional that you get
it. The top of the hips should be on a
horizontal line with the top of the
shoulder The under line of the body
should parallel this line. That is, be
practically straight, carried out to the
jowl, the latter being slightly full.
The next point with we is the feet,
to which l believe l pay more atten-
ton than the average breeder and pos
sibly more than is necessary. In any
but an aged hog they should stand
right up on their tip-toes. If they are
down on their pasterns, or ankles,
weakness is indicated If an aged hog
stands up we'll on it's toes it has my
Out in this country where
we have an abundance of good alfalfa
range it is certainly important that
heir feet be good, as hog that is
weak on it's pasterns will not rustic to
The same extent as a hog with good
feet, nor will it carry the weight in
ended of it. The legs should be
straight, short, and strong. In walk
ng the leg should move straight for
ward instead of with swinging stride |
The hind legs should not be too long,
as this raises the hips higher than
he shoulders, although this is quite a
common fault and not what l would
very Objectionable.
| like to see the ribs not only we'll |
sprung but the sides carried down
straight and deep. | do not want any
triangular shaped bodies. The body
should be of good length, but l do not |
believe in extremes. Often times a
1og, on account of it's great width of
back, appears to be short, when such |
IS not the case. The girth around the
heart should not be restricted A large
heart girth indicates good feeding cap
acity and strength of constitution The
head should be set right in the should
is, have the body give the
appearance of commencing right at
the ears. l do not like a long snout. |
The shorter it is the better, but will
admit there are a lot of good length
brood sows with long shouts, and they
are alright, especially SO, if crossed
with a refined boar, but you should
breed away from the long snout as
rapidly as possible. At the present
time long snout is usually accom-
panied by coarseness and great
strength of constitution, while the es
pecially short snout often indicates
over-refinement, although l believe by
careful and judicious selection the fine.