Coyote Creek Ranch

My Boar Selection Process I'm not sure why I'm doing this because I certainly don't want to stir up a hornet's nest (and it probably will), but some of my olde...r friends on this list have told me I need to explain how I select breeding stock. I do not intend to imply this is the only way to do it, but it has worked for me. The problem is that it seldom takes me over 30 seconds to normally decide whether I think a pig or cow fits our program and needs to stay or not, or let alone be purchased. But, it certainly wasn’t easy for me to write down on paper every thing that whips through my mind once I began to think about it. It is a combination of the several lifetimes of accumulated wisdom from not only my parents and grandparents, but their families in Denmark for over a 100 years before them as well. Plus my personal experiences and the interactions with breeders all over the world. Take it with the grain of salt and do your own thing. It's America and you're free to do your own thing. My family taught me a long time ago that one should always agree to disagree. At times I wonder just how thoroughly familiar many really are with the true skeletal and muscular make-up of a pig. We seem to have to continue to reinvent the wheel and repeat old mistakes. I am probably one of the few left who drove a horse before they drove a tractor. My father and grandfathers were good horsemen, just as their families had been for over a century before them in the Old Country. It was hammered into my head that no foot, no horse. Farmer horsemen had studied skeletal structure and bone development repeatedly over the years. An unsound horse was worthless! And so is a pig. Desirable breeding stock must be structurally sound to move freely whether it be on pasture or in confinement. Boars must be sound to service sows without problems or needing assistance. Sows must be able to get up and down from nursing pigs without injuring them whether in a crate or outside in a nest. One of the things Ruben Edwards and I could always agree upon back in those days over 40 years ago when I managed Stro-Wold Farms near him - - was the importance of the role the skeleton played in profitable swine production. My Dad always said that regardless of species, if one had a sound, structurally correct skeleton, one could hang any kind of muscle on it and have a functional, productive animal. Dad always visualized dropping a plumb line straight down from the base of the tail and wanted it to just touch the rear of the hocks and dew claws of the rear legs. (In your mind allow for the bulge of the ham past that line.) Those animals stayed sound. The lower rear leg was perpendicular to the ground from the hock to the pastern, directly below the tail - - NOT behind the pig NOR tucked underneath the pig. If the rear legs set in front of this line, then the front legs sat back an equal distance to maintain balance or the animal ended up setting on its rump. And, if set back of this line, the front legs had to be set farther forward on the ground or the animal ended up on its knees and nose. In either case, the animal was not square on its legs relative to its body. Pigs should be evaluated from the ground up. Beginning with their feet they should stand four square with their hooves of equal size headed straight ahead that are big and slightly spread to improve ease of movement and stability. The cloven hoof of a pig permits a degree of balance shifting, where the pig rocks his hooves slightly to adjust weight distribution. The hoof has evolved over time to bear weight in the center, a trait that allows for easier maneuvering. Cloven hooves provided a pig with balance on soft, rough, or uneven ground, such as muddy fields and marsh, or hills and brush. Moderate in length and with ample bone (not necessarily heavy - - how many pigs have you seen with broken legs from lack of bone?), the feet and legs should be set out squarely on the corners of the body. Short-legged and excessively heavy boned animals are often too early maturing and seldom have performed well in commercial feeding pens or in the farrowing house. When viewed from the front, the strong front legs should come out of the center of the shoulders, be set wide apart, and go straight down to the ground - - providing the width of chest, sturdy constitution, and over-all body capacity needed. Some have questioned my recent online comments desiring a stout front end. A longtime fellow breeder called last night and commented that he'd watched me select plenty of hogs over the years and knew exactly what I meant and would consider the word stout, appropriate too. But, he said that he didn't think most of the members online had the same visual conception of stout as we did. We really couldn't decide on a better term, but maybe bold or brawny would be better. I guess too many consider stout as very thick and bulky which I certainly never want in a younger pig. I just want a front view of wide, correctly set front legs with the length of cannon necessary for later maturity enabling faster, more efficient feed converversion, and mature size with longevity. I'll try to send Brian some pictures of what many of my past herd boars looked like at a younger age. Maybe that will help explain my thoughts. Be certain to compare the picture of Grizzly before and after going to a boar stud. Likewise, the rear legs are also set wide apart and all bones vertically aligned, with thickness between them to support the mass of red meat and muscle development desired. This distributes the body weight equally, placing the stress and strain of movement on the strongest, most durable parts of the feet and legs - - minimizing structural soundness problems. The solid, wide toes on each foot need to be very uniform in size and shape. If not, a leg with uneven toe size tends to turn and twist - - affecting the knee, shoulder, or hock joint alignment. In addition, the pasterns need some flex or cushion. The pasterns are sloping to provide a cushioning effect, and the toes rest squarely on the floor surface. A sound pig should move fluidly or appear to float in their joints as they walk. Longevity in the breeding herd is almost completely dependent on structural correctness/soundness. With age and use, I can accept it if they are turned slightly outward, but never inward. They must have strong pasterns with about a 45 degree angle extending from the point of their toe along the top of the hoof up through the middle of the pastern. Pigs that have more slope will have weaker pasterns (with age they sag and the toes do not wear down and become long ski toed) and those with less have no cushion. Nor should they be too long. From the middle of their pasterns upward the forelegs should be straight when viewed from the sides. Likewise, pigs should not be posty (too straight above the hock), either. From the knees, the foreleg should be straight to the elbow at the chest floor. At the elbow, the bone extends forward to join the shoulder blade at the point of the shoulder. The shoulder blade should slope back to tie tightly (smoothly) into the backbone, with no coarse open shoulders. Research and experience shows we need proper angulation in the rear legs. The tail needs to set as high as possible, the rump is then nearly level from the last vertebrae to the tailhead. Thus the hip joint sets higher. This slope from the hooks (hip bones) to the pins (hip joints) should be about 20 degrees. A leveler hip causes the hind legs to be placed out of line with the hip and possibly too straight (posty) while a greater slope may push the hind legs under the hip and cause the animal to tuck or camp over himself and walk on the back of his pasterns. With this condition the toes do not often get worn down enough, excessive hoof growth occurs resulting in lameness. Pigs with some angle to their shoulder and hock tend to have more longevity than those straighter in their design. Sound hind legs are vital to the breeding capacity of boars, since during mating, most of the boar’s weight is supported by his hind legs. A boar with rear leg defects often suffers pain on moving or mounting and this may interfere with his desire to mate. Posty or straight hind legs predisposes the boar to swollen hocks and to arthritis in the hip and stifle joints. (Which can also affect meat quality.) Posty rear legs with straight pasterns tend to result in more stifled boars. As boars with faulty conformation grow older, problems become more apparent and tend to interfere to a greater extent with serving ability, thus reducing their useful longevity in your herd and often increasing your unplanned replacement costs. Any swelling is often associated with pain and reduced mating performance. Camped rear feet or sickle hocked boars tend to be clumsy, particularly at service and when dismounting. Any of these conditions can adversely affect the boar’s serving capacity, and often causes the boar to break down prematurely and end his breeding life in your herd. Be aware that the leg set of many pigs fitted for shows and sales may be that way because of frequent hoof trimming - - keep your eyes open. You might want to compare the bone extending from the elbow to the point of shoulder with the bone extending from the hock to the stifle. They should be nearly parallel. The shoulder blade and the leg bone in the stifle should both move upward and towards the back at about 90 degree angles from the other bone in the joint (actually 45 degrees when measured with ground, not each other). These angles provide the shock absorbers that supports the body. The thigh leg bone extending upward from the stifle should tie into the pelvic bone about level with the pin bones under and on either side of the tail head. The rear leg joints must be properly angled to allow the hip, stifle, and hock joints to absorb pressure equally. From the side profile, a sound pig with longevity tends to be tall at the shoulder, have less arch (flatter - - but not perfectly flat) in it's top, with a more level rump, and a higher, longer tail setting. So, in the ideal pig, shoulder height should be equal to hip height. Pigs that are not level-made and lack shoulder height will appear as if they run downhill - - higher at the point of the hips and lower at the shoulders. Conformation is of course the primary determinant of how sound an animal will be. An unsound pig tends to be too straight on its front and/or rear legs, resulting in an arched back, short stride, and unwillingness to move. Those strong topped, excessively high arched pigs of the past were often poorly structured and many lacked soundness and durability, too. When the spine of the animal is arched very high, the shoulder blade of the pig is nearly in a straight line up from the front leg. This straightness of the shoulder blade which positions the shoulder blade bone more directly over the other bones of the front legs puts greater pressure on the knee joint. As a result, the knee joints often buckle. Some pigs even rest on their knees to eat. The abnormally straight front leg posture also often results in abrasion of the foot pads and toes. And, such pigs often take a shorter stride upfront. The animals with high arched tops often had a rump that was too steep and a tail setting too low. The hip, the stifle, and the hock joints were then locked in a straight-line position with each step the animal took. The pasterns were short and straight, which gave the appearance that the animal was up on their tiptoes. Such animals usually have a short, choppy goose step stride because their joint angles cannot open much or they swing their rear legs out in an arc to move them forward. When too straight on both front and rear legs as most high arched (roached back) pigs were, the rear feet of these straight-legged animals often exhibited excessive sole wear with a higher tendency toward subsequent injury (cracks, tears, bruises), uneven wear, or swelling of the pads of the feet and, consequently, lameness. Poor rear leg structure may prevent a boar from successfully staying mounted on a female during mating. Unsound front legs may limit a boar's desire to mount a female. Boars whose rear legs are too straight and tuck often have difficulty mounting and riding forward far enough to service the sow, tend to lunge on and often breaking down a sow, and will occasionally fall backward and sit down when mounting. Note the location of the boar's sheath/penis in relation to it's belly length. I like to see at least 3 sharp teats in front of the sheath on each side, but also want the sheath set far enough forward that when mounted his penis is high enough to easily enter the gilt's vulva without assistance. And don't forget those longer necked, taller fronted boars can jump easier and ride farther forward to stay on and adequately service the sow. All those little things add up. I don't need boars that tuck underneath because they simply slide down on their nuts as they try to breed a sow or mount a dummy. Or, the sow collapses on her rump when the boar tries to breed her. Sometimes such growing pigs sat on their rumps while eating. And at any age, I want long enough necks they don't have to spread their front legs like a giraffe to eat. The problem that we face as we put animals into our breeding programs is that if we elevate and level the rump by raising the position of the ischium bone too much we affect the reproductive ability of the gilts. If we elevate the vulva to an unnatural position for normal mating to a boar, we change the internal angle of the birth canal for problem-free farrowing. We learned a long time ago in beef and dairy cattle (which already have leveler top lines) that as we leveled the rump we created problems. A slightly sloping rump was conducive to greater ease of calving. We had to note the size and placement of her vulva, and avoid a tailhead set too far up into a level rump. This situation often resulted in a cow with a vulva that tilted forward creating fertility, mating, calving, and/or hygienic issues. Now we're doing this to many of our pigs. The proper articulation of the bones in the pelvic region certainly affects farrowing ease. One has to find a happy medium. We also affect the soundness of the rear legs. As we raise the rear of the pelvic girdle, we often increase or straighten the joint angles of the bones of the rear leg. We tend to lose that desired long, loose stride with its shock absorbing effect in the stifle, hock, and pasterns. They become posty, and either goose-step or swing their legs out in a semi-circular arc to move forward. There seems to be more pressure on the stifle joint with less play - - thus more stretching of muscle and torn ligaments and tendons, and unsound, crippled pigs. Mother nature is not kind to extremes. The skull gives an indication of bone size and width of the skeleton. The width between the outside edges of the eye sockets corresponds to the internal width of the hog's thoracic body cavity, and thus affects the capacity of the respiratory, digestive, and reproductive systems. The shape of the jaw generally relates to the rib cage - - a fuller, wider, deeper jaw tends to be associated with a bolder spring of ribs, while a flatter jaw usually indicates a narrower, slab-sided pig. Long necked hogs typically are sounder and more efficient at reproduction. Flexible necks that can rotate the head in all directions are also a good sign that the skeleton is mobile, with greater ease of movement. A long, pliable neck allows a boar to mount a sow or dummy easier, and permits a sow greater ease in getting up and down in her nest or in the farrowing crate. And, it also gives pigs easier access to feed and water. The manner in which the ribs spring from the backbone has a direct influence on the width and capacity of the live pig. And, the length of the ribs influence total depth. The true natural width of the hog and its skeleton is best determined by evaluating the rib cage. The height of the vertebrae, and spring (curvature) and depth of the ribs help determine the shape, width, thickness, and total muscling in this region. The length of the lateral spinal processes that project from both sides of the lumbar vertebrae have a direct effect on the muscling and width of loin. Below these two areas lie the heart, lungs, other important vitalorgans, and the digestive system. The rib cage houses and protects the vital organs - - especially the heart and lungs. The ribs should spread or spring as wide and deep as possible to support the maximum muscle volume. A strong constitution and good feeding qualities seem to fundamentally depend on the capacity of the body cavity in this region. The best and most successful breeders I've known over the years were always using bigger framed, later maturing breeding animals. They demanded an extended front end, and a big burly squirrel tail - - both of which are an extension of the spine, as well as noting the head and the forearm. Sound unbiased research has consistently determined that levelness of the topline and flexibility in the spine generally are excellent indicators of soundness and skeletal youth, and representative of leanness and longevity. A hog with a more youthful appearing skeleton tends to be more durable, agile, and less likely to suffer in adverse conditions. As growing pigs, their later maturity helped them grow faster and more efficiently. A greater percent of their daily ration went to growth rather than just body maintenance for a longer period of time. Keep in mind, and never forget, that age - - especially over-aging - - gives the illusion of greater substance. Young pigs should not look like old, mature hogs. Age makes bone. Calendar genetics is nothing new in the seed stock business. I mouth every pig I buy. In the 30's and 40's nearly every ag college and research station studied dentition at different ages and published bulletins illustrating such - - they're easy to find online. Anyone with very much experience raising hogs realizes that the total length of a pig, and the differences which occur between pigs, is a combination of the variations in the length of the vertebrae in the neck, back, loin, and rump regions. This is of importance to us as breeders because in the past we have been able to select for and produce pigs with varying degrees of length or shortness as desired. I've always thought too many pigs were very short in the rump compared to the rest of their body. My Dad referred to them as goose-rumped and said it looked like someone had hit them in thea_ _ with a scoop shovel. Note that a boar's muscle is shaped somewhat differently than that of a gilt. The main job of a gilt is to breed and farrow easily. The pelvic proportions on boars and gilts are different, relative to their function. These differences need to be kept in mind when making selections. And along that line, boars need to look like boars, and sows like sows, and neither should look like a barrow. Proper masculinity and femininity in the respective sexes indicates their hormones are correct and makes reproduction efforts easier. I haven't said much about muscle yet - - and this is really where I get exasperated. In the early 60's as a student at Iowa State, Dr.'s Ed Kline, Dave Topel, as well as other ISU Animal Science staff, had those of us on the meats and livestock judging teams slaughter and freeze upright steers, barrows, and lambs of various sizes and shapes. On some, we peeled off the hide, then trimmed off the fat, and finally boned out the muscle from one side of the carcass so we could compare what was actually under the hide to what the animal looked like on the other intact side. On others, we made crosssectional cuts or slices - - such as at the first rib, the tenth rib, the ham, etc. It was a tremendous learning experience which really helped us to note and compare the differences in carcass composition and carcass values of different live animals. We learned where on the live animal to look for indicators of muscle development, degrees of finish or excess fat, and true body cavity capacity as it actually was on the carcass. Starting at the front of of the animal, it was obvious that the shoulder blades are attached to the outside of the rib cage with muscle. If that muscle is thick and heavy as desired - - whether it be a barrow, lamb, or steer - - the shoulder will be very noticeable, especially if the animal has the desired spring and squareness of rib. When a muscular animal walks, the muscle will bulge, flex, and express itself as the muscles contract and relax. If one cannot see the shoulder blade as the animal walks, then there is usually way too much fat over the top of it. In live hogs, shoulder blades are good indicator tools with which to judge how lean or fat the animal is. Good cattlemen, sheepmen, and horsemen always looked to the shoulder, arm, and forearm areas as indicators of muscling. Our studies, as well as carcass contests, confirmed importance of such muscling in the best top-cutting pork carcasses. The shoulders of the best barrows showed depth and width. Yet, the skeletal structure and muscle development, when combined with a minimal amount of fat, do not permit an animal to be as full in the heart girth and fore-rib area behind the shoulders as what the width of the shoulders are. It will not be full and smooth behind the shoulders. If it is, it's because of excess finish (fat). A meaty, trim animal does not carry its width or thickness uniformly from front to rear. Animals that do appear so usually carry excessive amounts of fat deposited over the fore-rib and shoulders as well in the elbow pocket. Uniformity simply means they are uniformly carrying a lot of excessive waste fat in several places throughout the body. In the lab we started to say those good meaty, trim carcasses of all species were Coke bottle shaped - - long, clean in the neck, bulged out at the shoulders, not as big in the middle, then bulged out again in the rear. In the past it was often thought that greater body depth indicated greater body capacity and therefore resulted in faster-gaining, more efficient animals. I still regularly hear such comments from our judges. Many studies have refuted such assumptions. For all practical purposes, body depth stops at the point of elbow which is approximately in line with the sternum. No matter how deep bodied the animal appears to be, that depth increases very slowly, and very little after the early growing stage because of the limited elongation of the ribs. Extremely tall, flat, deep-sided breeding animals have difficulty surviving and reproducing because they lack internal width for their vital organs. Visual selection for moderate length of leg combined with appropriate body length in boars and gilts should be used to avoid extremes in skeletal size. The ribs spring or arch out from the vertebrae of the backbone and connect to the sternum at the bottom - - below which there is no where or way to increase the body cavity and its capacity. There is very little muscle in the lower half of the central part of an animal body. In fact, research studies have shown that within a population of similar aged and animals on normal commercial rations, there is little variation in body depth between individual animals. As an animal fattens, it can only deposit so much fat within (intramuscularly) its muscles. The remaining fat is then intermuscularly deposited on the outside and between its muscles. Therefore the extra depth currently observed on most show pigs is simply due to extra flab and waste fat deposits all along the underline and in the flank areas between the skin and abdominal wall rather than red meat and muscle. Thus, animals actually get their roominess and capacity from thickness and width, not from extra fed-on depth in the foreflank, middle, and rear flank areas. Research indicates that animals can gain extra body capacity through additional body length and width. And, this is true only up to a certain point. Furthermore, once sufficient length of body is present for the barrow to efficiently assimilate its feed or for the sow or gilt to carry and nurse a large litter of pigs, the extra length and resulting capacity is of limited value. Differences in true body capacity as opposed to just belly fill affects dressing percentages for the packer. Much of the belly or so-called capacity we see on today's show pigs has been artificially induced by feeding large amounts of bulky, fibrous material - - which would be very uneconomical, impractical, and inefficient in commercial production. Such a condition is not appreciated by the packer. Today's extremely meaty pigs which possess a minimal amount of backfat will have that easily observed groove down the center of their back immediately above their dorsal thoracic and lumbar vertebrae. Research demonstrates that the heavy muscled pigs today have more thickness and firmness of muscle in the side than in hogs of the past. The underline of the live pig is part of the belly of the pork carcass from which the packer produces bacon. A neat, trim, firm underline is desired by the packer because a high quality bacon side must be firm. Less trimming of flabby fat is necessary along the bottom side as the bacon belly is trimmed out. Back in the 60's and early 70's, Archie White, head hog buyer at Hormel in Fremont, Nebraska sent a lot of commercial boar buyers to me from eastern Nebraska and western Iowa. When I asked him why he liked my Polands, he often told me that bacon is worth more than a lot of people realize and that my boars sired the thick, meaty bellies he wanted in the plant. Hormel did the same for Myron Dammann with his Berks at Austin. Speaking of the back, remember that pigs do not have to be extremely wide or thick to be heavy muscled. Trim pigs with less thickness because of a minimal amount of fat cover often yield a higher percentage of lean meat than wider, thicker appearing pigs that get that additional width from the excess fat deposits they're carrying. Also keep in mind that there is less variation in the value of the different wholesale/retail parts of the pork carcass than for a steer or lamb. Therefore one needs to maintain a balance in the development of all parts of the market pig. Packers will tell you that when viewed from the side, pigs that have the highest point of the shoulders on the same level as the highest point of the rump tend to come closer to attaining this balance. The greatest muscle mass in the animal's body is in the rear quarters area. If an animal is truly meaty and muscular, this area will be the thickest part of the animal's body, and that width or thickness will be greatest through the center of the ham (stifle muscle area) - - regardless of whether we view it from the top or rear. The market ham of the packer includes the rump. But in live judging, we often discuss them separately. The rump needs to fit neatly into the back without an obvious break or pinch and flare out from the loin and be covered with ample muscle. A long, wide rump with the tail set as far out and up on the corner as possible increases muscle length and it adds to the total size and muscle volume of the ham. The ham should be thick and muscular, of large total dimensions, but very trim. It too, like the rump, flares out from the loin area. A good ham fits or ties far up into the side with a long hip bone and carries down to tie in above the hock joint, leaving the area neat and clean at the base and trim in the crotch. Extensive carcass work over the years has shown that pigs heavily muscled in the ham are equally so in the shoulder and loin, and if devoid in one area, equally devoid in the other. However, the skeletal structure and muscle development does not permit the trim, lean pig to have the extreme bulge and depth at the base of the ham we sought in the past (and some still do). This condition was, and is, brought about primarily by excessive fat deposits in the cushion of the ham and the crotch area which falsely gives the impression of greater muscle development. Often, these overly fat, deep hammed pigs also tended to be puffy in their hock joints, too. The muscle structure of the lower, inner ham just does not develop and cannot naturally form that depth and bulge in this manner. Yet, never forget the influence of the additional muscle development of the upper inner ham from a pig set wider apart on its rear legs - - it facilitates greater total ham volume (feel your own inner thighs to appreciate that muscling compared to the outside). When a trim, muscular hammed pig walks, the muscles of the stifle are clearly visible as they flex and bulge, and one can easily see the muscle seams throughout the ham. Pigs in which the hams are very round and smooth in appearance are so because the muscle seams have been filled with excess fat and cannot be seen. You'll note that in most cases, the accurate visual appraisal of various conditions depends upon the degree of fat present. Over the years, it's often been said that the prettiest color to the eye of the livestock man is fat. I think that's still true today. Fat often creates optical illusions. What frustrates me is the total disregard or lack of knowledge of these effects by many breeders and judges alike. We raise pigs to produce pork for consumers to eat. It is important that pigs produce meat that has high eating quality. A minimal baseline level of fat in meat products seems to be essential for desirable palatability and eating quality due to acceptable moisture retention, juiciness, flavour and texture in the cooked product. It is well accepted that a moderate level or more of marbling (the small particles of fat interlaced within the lean tissue) in pork affects the flavour and tenderness and is needed to cook to a texture where it is moist and juicy for preferred eating qualities. Please understand that the most desirable pork is a rich, uniform reddish-pink in colour, firm and fine-grained, well-marbled, and covered with an outer layer of firm white fat. Color is important because it impacts consumers’ first impressions of the meat. Ideal market pigs should have about 3/4's of an inch of backfat over the loin. When the consumer dislikes fat and wants only a minimal amount, and time consuming and expensive for the packer to trim off; why do we condone more than 3/4th's to 1 inch? Now, I'll more than likely step on many toes. I get very upset with many posts concerning meat quality. Most are very subjective in nature validated by little accepted research. Those of us that have successfully survived in the breeding business had to continually be able to hold our produce to common industry accepted standards whether we always liked it or not. Customers expected us to be able to provide information in regards to how our pigs compared to other herds such as ADG or days to 240, BF, LEA, FE, SPI, stress status, Napole status, etc. We have a tremendous amount of proven meat quailty research going back to the early 60's. We know marbling is important, but is definitely more than just the propensity to accumulate fat. Only so much exterior fat is necessary - - maybe 3/4's of an inch. Any more is just a waste to be trimmed off, and takes 2 to 2 more feed and energy to produce than a pound of lean meat. If you and your customers like the taste a fat, buy a pound of lard. I think of seeing the Mangalitza in Hungary with fat so thick that mice had burrowed into it and living there without the pig even noticing. To many there is no single definition of high quality meat being a widely differing combination of subjective and objective measurements. Yet, the National Pork Board, some breed associations, and colleges have agreed on some common measurements and defined the desired target for some backed by a lot of tests and research. I seriouisly believe that our many individual niche producers need to critically consider adoption of them within their herds so their product can be objectively compared to that of others. The most important and practical factors determining pork quality in the US are color and pH which are used to determine the four broad categories of pork quality. The categories are red, firm and non- exudative (RFN); dark, firm and dry (DFD); red, soft and exudative (RSE); and pale, soft and exudative (PSE). Such tests include: The Pork Board has defined the target for ultimate pH to be 5.6 to 5.9. pH measured 48 hours postmortem. Higher pH is associated with less drip loss and darker color. If initial pH is below 5.8, the pork may be PSE because pH dropped both too low and too quickly. This meat will typically have an ultimate pH below 5.5. On the other hand, meat with an ultimate pH above 6.1 may be classified as DFD, because pH did not drop to normal levels. Color is important. Fresh pork must be visually appealing to the consumer, and meat color makes the first impression. Color may be scored objectively with a Minolta or other device. The NPB developed color scores ranging from 1 to 6, with 1 being the lightest. The Minolta lightness (L*) score is produced by measuring light reflection from the surface of meat. Minolta L* scores of 42 to 46 are preferred. In order to qualify for export to Japan, a loin should have a Minolta L* score of 50 or less (depending on the machine used), or a color score of 3, 4, or 5 (reddish/pinkish color). One of the traits that pH affects is water holding capacity. Water holding capacity determines both drip loss from raw pork, and cooking loss during preparation. Pork which does not hold water is undesirable for further processing and fresh consumption. Drip loss above 5% and cooking loss above 25% indicate a pork quality problem. Whole loin package purge should not exceed 3%. Firmness and marbling are additional scores developed by the NPB to measure meat quality. Firmness is measured on a scale from 1 (very soft) to 5 (very firm). Marbling is measured on a similar scale of 1 (practically no marbling) to 10 (abundant marbling). Pork for the US fresh market should have an NPB firmness score of 3 and a marbling score of 2-3. Some export markets require a higher marbling score. The National Pork Board target for intramuscular fat (IMF) is 2 to 4% fat content of the loin. Tenderness is measured as shear force as the amount of pressure in kilograms required by a Star probe to puncture and compress cooked loin chops to 20% of their original height. Lower pressure indicates more tenderness. The National Pork Board target for mechanical tenderness translates to instron values 4.5 k. Trained subjective sensory test panels may also be used. Sensory panels score cooked loin tenderness on a scale of 1 to 10. Higher scores are more tender. Sensory panels score cooked loin juiciness on a scale of 1 to 10. Higher scores are more juicy. Whether you choose to use such tests are your decision, but I have use them, plus DNA test analysis for some time and feel it has enabled me know just where my pigs stand. If I buy boars from other breeders, I like to know the test results of their sires. Visual inspection is not sufficient, and my niche producer customer want to know too. I've rambled long enough, but I consider underlines a part of soundness. As such I want sharp underlines with at least 3 and preferably 4 teats ahead of the sheath on boars, 8 on a side on gilts and sows. We demand evenly spaced teats shoved as far forward as possible with the two rows close together so all the pigs can easily nurse when the sow lays down. Otherwise the sow lays on the bottom row while the top row's pointing toward the moon, and the pigs are fighting for a teat, squealing and upsetting the sow, scarring each other's faces up, and some of the last pigs farrowed as well as any weaker ones never get to suck (and starve to death). One gets big uniform litters at weaning when all pigs have an equal and ample opportunity to nurse with sufficient amounts of milk to grow similarly. The udder needs to be soft and pliable like a good milk cow - - no fat or coarse tissue, etc. Such udders are made to milk as long as needed and gives the sow longevity in your program. One cannot sell more pigs than what he weans and raises. The structure described will stay sound for a very long productive life. It is what my Dad visualized when he said that regardless of species, if one had a sound, structurally correct skeleton, one could hang any kind of muscle on it and have a functional, productive animal. When my Dad's dad came back from a trip home to Denmark just after WWI, he had noticed how the European breeds had gone to longer, leveler topped pigs. His mother's two brothers were influential developers of the Landrace. If you look at pictures of the European breeds from the early 1900's on - - Large Whites, Landrace, Large Black, Wessex Saddlebacks, Tamworth, etc. - - they were all fairly level topped. They were way ahead of us and it was what enabled their sows to be so much more productive by saving, raising, and weaning so many more pigs. And our family quickly started switching type. Dad always thought that move with intense selection was the key to our early long-term success. The people that abandoned the high arched pigs in the 60's and 70's are the ones that survived and prospered whether they were commercial producers or seedstock breeders. It was that movement, and realization that the imported Large White blood in a crossbreeding system could really hasten change in a commercial herd, that finally resulted in widespread acceptance of Yorkshires and the demise, and nearly extinction, of many breeder herds with the higher arched type. Think of your swine breeding efforts as a puzzle. The pigs you already have (your sowherd) are like an unfinished puzzle laying on the table in front of you. It's what you've already put together. Now you've got to find pieces (boars which will be stronger in areas where your herd needs the most improvement) with which to complimentary finish it. It's definitely a long term (life-time) endeavor. Franklin D. Albertsen 1/3/21

Chris and I would like to wish all our customers and friends a very Merry Christmas! May your day be filled with love, joy, and laughter.

Grab the full recipe here: https://www.eatingbirdfood.com/one-pan-zaatar-chicken-bake/ Move over boring baked chicken! This one pan za’atar chicken bake with butternut is one of my fav creations yet! And it’s #glutenfree #paleo and #whole30 approved.

Hey Camdenton peeps....check out the new coffee shop in town.