The Pig: Breeding, Rearing, and Marketing

by Sanders Spencer

It is far too frequently forgotten that the chief value of a record of the pedigree is that by it one can trace the breeding of the animal's progenitors, and thus one is enabled to form some opinion of the probable produce—providing it is possible to learn the chief characteristics of the progenitors. Failing this, the only course open is to note the names of the breeders of the more recent parents, as from this a certain amount of information as to the probable qualities of the parents may be obtained or surmised.

Another point on which at least a diversity of opinion exists, is the wisdom of giving so much consideration to the fact that the herd from which the sire is purchased shall have been recently successful in the show yard, or in extreme cases, that the sire itself shall have been a prize winner. It is urged that the mere fact that a sire has succeeded in winning one or more prizes is a proof that it possesses in a marked degree those qualities which are most highly prized. This may be conceded, yet there is no certainty that the mating of this winning sire even with dams that have also been prize winners shall result in the production of young the equal of the parents, since the winners at the various shows may be of dissimilar types and breeding.

But the case would be quite different if the winning sire and dam came from the same old established herd in which the animals had been bred for generations on similar lines. It is this concentration of certain qualities in generation after generation which renders the pedigree animal so intensely prepotent, particularly when mated with animals of an ordinary character or not possessing concentrated breeding. Indeed, it may be safely assumed that the power of a parent to impress its own individuality and qualities on its produce, depends to a very large extent, if not entirely, on the comparative hereditary extent of those qualities in comparison with the other qualities possessed by itself, or by the animal with which it may have been mated.

In other words, it is contended that the sire or the dam has not the power to impress certain of its characteristics on its young, merely because of its sex, but that this power depends on the proportion in the sire or dam of the blood of progenitors who possessed in a marked degree certain qualities.

It is with the breeding of animals as with the manufacture of a compound article. The character and quality of that compound will vary according to the proportion of the various ingredients used in its manufacture. It is to this law or fact that the marked impressiveness of certain strains of blood is attributable.

Again, the marked and long continued success of the blood of the animals bred by a few of our most successful breeders of live stock is in the main due to the fact that the owners set up a standard and persistently selected and bred together only animals possessing to a greater or lesser extent the particular qualities which together comprised that standard. There is not the slightest doubt that in carrying out their system they were often compelled to mate animals related in blood the one to the other, but in this there is little risk providing that all those animals which show the slightest symptom of delicacy of constitution are persistently draughted out.

It will be inferred from the above remarks that we hold to the belief that the breeding of the boar should receive attention as well as the following points in its form and character.

One of the most important of these points is good temper. This is a quality not usually attributed to the pig in its wild state, and consequently not natural to the domesticated pig, yet on the possession of it depends to a very great extent the thrift and well doing of the produce of the boar. The produce of an irritable boar are almost certain to inherit this quality which is fatal to profitable fatting. In sows this weakness is still more unfortunate, as a bad tempered sow is almost invariably an indifferent mother. The rigid avoidance of this failing of bad temper in a boar is advisable not only because this quality is almost invariably hereditary, but a savage boar is a continual source of danger to man and beast. It may be said that little trouble is likely if the boar is kept in confinement, but there are times, such as when sows are placed with him, when a certain amount of liberty must be given to him, and it is generally on such occasions of excitement when the bad temper is the most in evidence. The mere fact that irritability and nervousness are natural to the pig should make us the more careful to avoid any increase in the failing by using a boar which is the least inclined to be bad tempered.

Many persons hold that in the selection of a boar one of the principal points is size. They contend that size, in pigs especially, is imperative if a profitable return is to be made. This view may have arisen to a greater or lesser extent from the want of method and observation which is characteristic of so many stock owners. The one point which to them is of the greatest importance is the selling price of the fat or store animal sold being fully up to the average. Little or no thought is given to the value of the food eaten by each animal. If it had been, very frequently it would have been found that the smaller animal of a lot had actually given the best return for the food it had consumed. It is not the size alone of the animal which determines its value as the producer of meat, but more than anything it is the feeding qualities of the animal fattened. In addition to this there never was a time when the consumer more strongly demanded small joints of meat, and these of the best quality and with as little bone as possible.

Apart from this a very large boar is a mistake as it is invariably awkward when serving—it can be used only for large and strong sows, and its average period of usefulness is decidedly shorter than that of a medium sized and compact boar. A large boar generally possesses an undue proportion of bone, its shoulders are heavy, and its ankles round, and feet large and spreading. Now these are all objections. The bone of a boar should be solid, not porous; the ankles compact and the feet small, and the pasterns short. The head should be wide so that the brain can be well developed, the head inclined to be short rather than long, since an animal with an extremely long head is certain to be deficient in natural flesh.