Introduction to Hog
Hog, a domestic animal believed to be descended from the wild swine of Asia and of Europe. Mature swine are called hogs and young swine are called pigs, but in common usage hogs, pigs, and swine are often used as synonyms. The female hog is called a sow; the male, a boar. The young hog after being weaned is called a shoat or shote. A virgin female is called a gilt. A male hog castrated before reaching maturity is called a barrow; one castrated as an adult, a stag.
Hogs are now found on all inhabited continents and in nearly every farming region of the United States. They were domesticated in China by about 2900 B.C. and in Europe by about 1500 B.C. Fossil remains of wild hogs have been found in Europe and Asia but not in America. The swine that gave rise to modern breeds were descended from the European wild boar and the Indian wild boar. Chinese hogs were brought to Europe and crossed with European hogs, establishing the foundation for present breeds. This article discusses domesticated breeds. For information about some wild species, s.
The Chester White is a large American breed.The flesh of the hog is used extensively as a food, but Muslims and many Jews avoid it for religious reasons. Pork is eaten fresh or cured (preserved) in various ways as bacon, sausage, and ham. Parts of the intestines are used as sausage casings. Lard is the refined fat of hogs. Pigskin is a good-quality leather. Brushes are made from hog bristles. Parts of the carcass that are of no other use are ground up, dried, and used as fertilizer or as tankage for feeding other hogs.
Certain organs and organ systems of hogs are similar in anatomy and physiology to those of humans, and hogs are often used in research experiments. A special breed of small hog, called the mini-pig, is used as a laboratory animal to test the effects of food additives, drugs, pesticides, and environmental pollutants. Heart valves from hogs are often used to replace defective human heart valves. The hormones insulin and heparin are extracted from the hog carcass and used in medicine. Hog skin is used as a skin graft for burn victims.
Hog termsBarrow is a male hog whose reproductive organs have been removed by an operation.Boar is a male hog of any age.Farrow means to give birth to pigs.Gilt is a female hog usually less than 1 year old that has not given birth to pigs.Herd is a group of hogs.Litter is the group of pigs a sow gives birth to at one time.Pig is a young hog. The term is sometimes used for a hog of any age.Pork is the flesh, or meat, of hogs.Shote, or shoat, is a pig about 8 weeks old that has been weaned (taken off its mother's milk).Sow is an adult female hog.Swine is another name for hogs.Description
The hog is a cloven-hoofed mammal with four short legs, a heavy, round body, and a large head ending in a snout. Each foot has four toes, each toe ending in a hoof, but the innermost and outermost toes are rudimentary and too short to reach the ground. The long snout contains the mouth and nostrils. The mouth has 44 teeth. The lower canine teeth are extra large, forming tusks in the male. There is a muscular disk at the end of the snout, which is used for rooting up food from the ground. The thick skin is covered with bristles.
Hogs vary in color and markings according to breed. They also vary to some extent in size and body type. Average weight of a full-grown boar is 600 to 900 pounds (270 to 410 kg). A sow weighs 450 to 800 pounds (200 to 360 kg).
The spotted swine is white with black, blotchy spots.Hog Raising
Traditionally, hogs are kept in outdoor pens and are fed garbage and leftovers. On most modern pig farms, however, they live indoors and are fed a scientifically formulated diet. In a farrow-to-finish operation, the hogs are housed in four units—a unit for pregnant sows, a unit where sows give birth, a nursery, and a growing-finishing unit. All the units have slatted floors for sanitary purposes. In a feeder-pig operation, the farmer raises only piglets and sells them to finishing farms where they are raised to market weight.
Hogs are fed a diet composed mainly of corn and cereal grains. It is supplemented with wheat, corn bran, blood meal, meat meal, and bone meal. Pregnant sows are fed a diet of alfalfa meal supplemented with vitamins and minerals.
The duroc is an American breed of large, red hogs with drooping ears.Among the qualities that hog breeders value and develop in their stock are early maturity; ability to bear large numbers of young; symmetry of build; and good flavor and heavy yield of lean meat.
A gilt is first bred when about eight months old. After 16 to 17 weeks a litter of 9 or 10 pigs is born. Older sows have 10 to 12 pigs in a litter, and sometimes bear two litters a year. The pigs are weaned when four to six weeks old, and are marketed when they have reached a weight of 200 to 220 pounds (90 to 100 kg), at five or six months of age.
Hogs are susceptible to several infectious diseases. Modern farms maintain rigid schedules for vaccinating the animals as well as spraying them to kill parasites. Bang's disease, or brucellosis, is a bacterial disease that causes sterility. Hog cholera is the most destructive of the many diseases that can afflict the hog. Porcine stress syndrome, a condition that occurs in hogs that have been handled or moved after having been kept in confinement, is often fatal. Death can also occur as a result of deficiencies of selenium and vitamin E in the diet. Trichinosis, a disease caused by a parasite, can be contracted by human beings who eat infected pork. .)
Breeds of Hogs
There are two leading types of breeds: lard type and bacon type. Lard-type breeds are heavier, and stockier, than bacon-type breeds in the United States. At one time they were raised chiefly for lard production, as the name indicates. A change of eating habits in the United States early in the 20th century led to the development of leaner lard-type breeds raised chiefly for meat.
Lard-type breeds that originated in the United States include the Chester White; the red Duroc, originally called Duroc Jersey; the Poland China, black with white feet; the Spotted Poland China, similar to the former but with white spots on its body; and the Hampshire, black with a white belt around the forepart of the body. The Berkshire, marked like the Poland China but smaller, is a breed developed in England.
The Berkshire hog is a small breed with black skin and white feet.Bacon-type breeds include the Tamworth, an English breed that owes its origin to the Irish Grazer, brought in from Ireland; the Yorkshire, a white English breed; and the Landrace, a white breed from Denmark.
Important breeds of hogsBreedPlace and date of originIdentifying featuresAmerican Landrace Indiana, 1930'sWhite; drooping ears; long bodyBerkshire England, 1700'sBlack with white markings; erect ears; short snoutChester White Pennsylvania, early 1800'sWhite; drooping earsDanish Landrace Denmark, late 1800'sWhite; drooping earsDuroc New York, early 1800'sRed; drooping earsHampshire Kentucky, early 1800'sBlack with white band around shoulders and front legsPietrain Belgium, early 1900'sDirty white with black or reddish spots; semidrooping earsPoland China Ohio, late 1800'sBlack with white markings; drooping earsSpotted Swine Ohio and Indiana, late 1800'sBlack and white spottedYorkshire England, early 1800'sWhite; erect earsDomesticated hogs are descendants of Sus scrofa (the European wild boar) and S. cristatus (the Asiatic wild boar) of the family Suidae.