Page:Swine; a book for students and farmers.djvu/61

Rh Characteristics. Large Yorkshires are one of the largest breeds of swine. They vary considerably in type, and it requires skill in selection to breed them of uniform character. When intelligently selected, they are profitable feeders, growing rapidly, and becoming ready for the packer at an early age. As previously noted, they are well adapted to produce bacon for the English market, as they furnish a long side, and a good proportion of lean to fat. They are reasonably hardy and very prolific. Being more than ordinarily prepotent, they are exceptionally valuable for crossing on the fatter types of hogs, giving to the progeny greater length and less tendency to excessive fatness. They are rather better adapted to pen feeding than to grazing.

Hints on Selection. Large Yorkshires vary considerably in type and general qualities. The more old fashioned strains frequently possessed extremely short, turned-up snouts, with the lower jaw projecting beyond the upper. While many good hogs possess this peculiarity, it is too commonly associated with very undesirable qualities to deserve popularity. Animals with this peculiarity of snout often have a heavy jowl, neck, and shoulder, a short side, and a general lack of quality. Then there is another extreme: the long, scrawny neck, narrow chest, long, coarse-boned, puffy legs, and bristly coat. This type is even more objectionable than the other. Hogs of this type frequently have good length, but they are not a good bacon type, because they lack quality, which is essential to the production of the best bacon. They are also hard feeders, and a good bacon hog is an economical producer. Coarseness is more objectionable in the sow than in the boar, but care must be taken not to get the bone too fine. The bone of the sow should be strong, but should be very clean-cut in appearance, and the legs should be of only medium length. In addition to the things looked for in any boar of bacon breed, the Large Yorkshire boar should possess a large ear, and heavy bone,