A Method of Select°o11 for
·-Q
A
MEAT-TYPE HUGS c
  [
By C. E. Barnhart, Animal Husbandry Section
Consumers today want pork with less fat than they into the herd are selected on the basis of this informa- A
commonly find, and more lean meat. Some experiment tion, as well as their acceptability from a breed-type S
stations are trying to meet this demand by developing standpoint. Recently, before placing gilts in the breed- ,_
new breeds of hogs, either by cross-breeding of our ing herd we have measured their leanness by means
American breeds or by introducing foreign breeds for of "live backfat probes" as a further attempt to im- *
crossing. prove the carcass quality of the herd. The "live
l·`our years ago the Kentucky Agricultural Experi- backfat probe" has proved a reliable guide in pre- —$~
ment Station began a project to explore methods of dicting carcass quality in hogs, and is a practical L
selection that purebred breeders might use in their method for breeders to use in selecting breeding stock.  
own herds to identify superior strains of breeding Although the Kentucky pro_ject hasn`t been in prog- '
stock. The purebred Hampshire herd maintained at ress long enough to establish any definite conclusions 9
the Experiment Station farm at Lexington and the regarding the amount of improvement that is being r
purebred l)uroc herd at the Princeton Substation com- made, however, the data collected to this point are en- 4
pose the breeding units. Birth and 56-day weight couraging. Considerable differences in rate of gain,
records are kept on each litter farrowed. \VVhen the feed efficiency, and carcass quality were noted between 2.,
litters are weaned, one gilt and one barrow from each the different litters tested at the beginning of the proj- ;
litter are placed in a dry lot and self-fed a complete ect. By eliminating the poorer performing strains
mixed ration until reaching 200 pounds. These test from the herd, it appears that the variability is being *’
pigs are then taken to the Experiment Station meat reduced and the average level of performance in- ,
laboratory, where they are slaughtered, and detailed creased. lt is encouraging to note that of the -17 test  
carcass measurements are made. pigs slaughtered the first year of this project, 57 per-
Whether sows and boars retnain in the herd is de- cent produced choice No. l carcasses, during 1954,  
pendent upon their reproductive efficiency as well as the 30 test pigs slaughtered produced 25 choice No. 1 ~
the performance of their pigs. Replacements going carcasses or 83 percent. L
At left: Swine litter testing facilities at the Experiment Station farm were built with
funds from a $25,000 grant from the Henry Fischer Packing Company of Louisville. Two _`
pigs from each litter are fed from weaning to market weight to test rate of efficiency and `*
gain. At right: A promising gilt of the Experiment Station herd is being "backfat probed" _
by the author, assisted by swine herdsman T. \V. Cathey.  
+
~\ i·*,>’,  , _ ‘:  _  "   ,.. ..... .   —·
  ` i‘$`*f" ’   .?°"  ' »   V \  V   D ‘ .
‘  , ‘ if .    ·..—   * .   .   · `  
1•<:¢‘ · ‘fr`$? ‘ " -  ff ·¥·';. ·*-» I ~“‘ " -V°“i'V""‘··      
  . · t · sr. sr!  9.   .   as . .   ( ,;= ‘ ,·=- · .      ·- *
,f5t‘;` · ` •° ’ — Zi it RYA}!  sgitza. `· ‘.'     ‘    7*     •'
        " .- .... ~ ---»   f   `    5%  ``lliii A. ` f
 [E-h_¤_j;; r l:. il l ,2, Q ~· j »   j.  ti /       ~
‘·       · e ‘ if · · cit qt-*·* =’  
 - ·  ¥ }js,·· j   dp  if .g, _ I rl I 2 ·= V _:       · g
  * . . - .··‘   ·     . V     I . ·   _ .-,-   - -t*’ V.  
  V i  - i ·z{,»¢`·r—-     , -   w; aa ‘’‘   ‘   V . ~ »-    .Pa;;;"*"f.~."" ‘
V i   T"`   gl-I?  . V. " if    it   .     . ‘i.··. %    
     *‘ »··‘ I   i     · *1----:7 ~   f   ·‘ t    `
. — » · —· -. •.t-4: ;.· ._ ,4   .. ~ —   ··.»z~»- &:.a.·~@e¥>.r~ x  .  ·~   
12 Umveasrrr or Kisxrucxr T
L