Selection and Judging of Swine

Animal Science 1

Unit 21

Selection of Breeding Stock

• Consumers want lean meat and less fat • Producers use modern technology and improved

breeding programs to produce that pork• The kind of environment and health

management techniques used by the producer also influence the rate and efficiency of lean growth in market hogs.

Selection of Breeding Stock

• Market hogs today are produced using some sort of crossbreeding program

• Terminal crossbreeding tends to produce leaner pork and is used to produce the majority of the market hogs in the U.S.

• Good quality, heavily muscled hogs bring a premium price at the market

Use of Ultrasound

• Used to measure the fat and lean pork content of live hogs and carcasses

• 2 types are currently used

A-Mode Machines

• Use sound waves from a transducer

• Measure the time required for these waves to reflect back to the machine

• Measurement is then converted into a distance measurement

• Less expensive

• Less accurate

Real-time Machines

• Sometimes called B-Mode machines

• Use sound waves at the same time to create a two dimesional image that can be viewed on a monitor as it is created.

• Higher costs

• Better choice for making genetic selections for lean content

Parts of the Hog: Live Animal

Parts of the Hog: Carcass

• 4 primal cuts– Ham– Loin– Boston shoulder (Boston butt)– Picnic shoulder

• These four cuts are the most valuable part of the hog carcass.

Parts of the Hog: Carcass

Assingment

• Read p. 400-405

• You do not have to read Judging Hogs

• Outline those pages.