Pigs : breeds and management / by Sanders Spencer ; with a chapter on diseases of the pig by Professor J. Wortley Axe ; and a chapter on bacon and ham curing by L. M. Douglas.

  • Spencer, Sanders, 1840-
Date:
1905
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Pigs : breeds and management / by Sanders Spencer ; with a chapter on diseases of the pig by Professor J. Wortley Axe ; and a chapter on bacon and ham curing by L. M. Douglas. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    inopportune moment to point out how necessary it is to have the sow pigs spayed; the food consumed when fatting will be less, the quality of the meat better, and the spayed pigs can be marketed at any time, since they are in a condition fit for killing. The losses sustained by bacon curers and others, who wish to salt the pork, from the killing of non-spayed sow pigs, is very considerable, so that all persons who handle these neglected pigs suffer a loss. Five series of experiments with 115 pigs were made to discover the feeding value of barley and maize, alone and mixed. Lot I were fed on barley alone. Lot 2 were fed first on maize, and then when they weighed some 1-20 lbs. each, barley was substituted for the maize. Lot 3 were also at first fed on maize, and this was continued until the pigs weighed 140 lbs., when barley took its place. Lot 4 were similarly fed until the pigs reached 160 lbs., when they, too, were fed on barley. Lot 5 were fed on maize throughout the experiment. Those pigs fed on maize alone made somewhat greater gains than did those pigs fed on barley alone, but the quality of the pork was not so good, as proved by 92 per cent, of the carcases of the barley fed pigs being placed in the first two classes, whilst only 62 per cent, of the carcases from the maize fed pigs were thus placed, and still worse, 14 per cent, of the latter carcases came within class four, which com- prises poor carcases sold at a much lower price. The soft- ness of the pork increased in proportion to the quantity of maize fed. Thus if we take one as perfection, the softness of the pork from the different lots was as follows :—Lot I., I'z] ; Lot II., 1*6; Lot III., 2’o ; Lot IV., 2-3 ; and Lot V., 27.