The Berkshire is a black pig with a pinkish skin, and a little white on the face, pasterns, and tip of the tail. It has a moder ately short head with a deep, compact carcass, and wide, low and well-developed hind-quarters, with heavy hams. The skin carries an abundance of fine hair. The Berkshire is an early maturity breed which has been somewhat inbred, and is not so hardy and prolific as most breeds. The boars cross well with common stock. The breed produces meat of outstanding quality and is extremely difficult to beat in carcass competitions ; it does best when fed for the pork market.
The Tamworth is one of the oldest breeds of pigs and is con sidered to be directly descended from the wild native pig. The colour is red or chestnut. The head, body and legs are long, and the ribs deep and flat. Originally a local breed in the districts around the Staffordshire town from which it takes its name, it is now extensively bred, and highly valued as a bacon pig.
The Cumberland is a pig of the Large White type. It is, how ever, shorter and thicker in form ; it has a dished face and drooping ears. The hair is fine and sparse. The breed fattens readily and the pork is of good quality.
The Long White Lop-Eared was formed by amalgamating the Old Glamorgan and Welsh breeds, which were of a similar type. The general conformation is very similar to that of the Large Black. The animals are hardy and they do well in the open air.
The Large White Ulster is of the Large White type but com pared with that breed it is shorter in the body, finer in the hair, thinner in the skin and possesses drooping ears. It is very suit able for the bacon trade and is kept in Ulster practically to the exclusion of all other breeds.
The Gloucestershire Old Spots is an old local type which was constituted as a pure breed in 1914. The breed is rather thicker in form than is the Large White. The colour is black and white in fairly large clearly defined spots. The head is of medium length ; the ears are long and drooping. The animals are hardy and they are very suitable for the heavy pork trade.
The Wessex Saddleback and the Essex are two breeds of very similar conformation and colour markings. The colour is black with a white "saddle" and white fore-legs. The Essex also has white on the hind legs, the tail and the nose. The animals are of medium size and are considered to be hardy.
Management.—The brood sow should be lengthy and of a prolific strain, known to milk well. She is moderately fed and put to a boar of her own age when large enough, i.e., seven to eight months old. She remains in a state of oestrum for about three days, and if not pregnant comes in heat again in three weeks. Breeding swine, male and female, run most of their time at pas ture and receive a liberal allowance of green food or raw roots.
The period of gestation is sixteen weeks. Six to eight pigs are reared of the first litter, and ten to twelve afterwards. Many brood sows are fattened to greatest profit after the second or third litter, but on the other hand the animals may be kept as long as they are satisfactory breeders. Two litters are produced in one year, as pigs are usually weaned at two months old, and the sow will take the boar at from three days to a week after the pigs are removed, according to condition.
The digestive system of the pig is not fitted to deal with fibrous or bulky fodders and the food should be highly concen trated. In practice pigs are fed largely on dairy by-products such as whey and separated milk, milling offals, cereal meals, waste potatoes and kitchen scraps. Pigs do well on mixtures of milk products and cereal meals or offals. If no milk or whey is avail able the meals or potatoes should be balanced with i o% of white fish meal or meat meal or other foodstuff rich in albuminoids. Kitchen scraps should be cooked and the fat skimmed off before being given to pigs. Potatoes are best fed in a cooked condition. Chalk and other mineral matter are often added.
Every endeavour should be made to provide young pigs with some milk or milk product for a time after weaning. Fattening pigs should be given from * to lb. of mixed cereal meals, or their equivalent of other foods, for every week of age. Thus at 12 weeks the pig should get about 21 lb. of dry meal or its equivalent per day; at 20 weeks, about 44 lb.; at 3o weeks, about 71 lb. Another rough rule is to give i lb. of meal for every 25 lb. live weight. With dry food, water will of course have to be avail able. Sows in pig require about 5 lb. of meal or its equivalent per day; sows in milk need io or 12 lb. It is usual to spread the ration over three meals per day.
Porker pigs are frequently slaughtered when about 41 months old and i oo lb. live weight ; they yield about 65 lb. of dressed carcass. Many pigs are, however, marketed for pork at much greater weights. A typical bacon pig should weigh about 220 lb. live weight or 165 lb. carcass weight and should be ready for slaughter when 7-8 months old.
Wallace, Farm Live Stock of Great Britain (1923) ; C. S. Plumb, Types and Breeds of Farm Animals; Watson and More, Agriculture: The Science and Practice of British Farming (1928) ; Henry and Morrison, Feeds and Feeding. Also The Herd Books of the Breed Societies, and official publications of the Agricul tural Departments of Great Britain, Canada and the United States.