Market Swine Evaluation

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Market Swine Evaluation
From foukeffa.org Written by Corbee Wunderlich Ag
Student Texas AM
GA Ag Ed Curriculum Office To accompany the
Georgia Agriculture Education Curriculum Lesson
01432-4.2 July 2001
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Objectives

• You will be able to list the traits involved in
  evaluating market hogs.
• You will be able to identify the areas of
  importance in terms of muscle, and locate them on
  a hog.
• You will be able to determine finish on a hog,
  and indicate areas where finish may be observed.

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Objectives Continued

• You will be able to determine the importance of
  structural correctness, and be able to diagnose
  problems with structure
• You will be able to describe the importance of
  balance in swine evaluation.
• You will also develop a model depicting the ideal
  market hog.

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Swine Evaluation Traits

• Muscle
• Leanness
• Structural Correctness
• Balance
• Growth Potential
• Volume

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Muscle

• Loin
• Ham
• Ideally you want a groove down the top and a
  dimple before the tail head

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Leanness

• Over loin edge
• Jowl
• Observe shoulder blade movement when walking
• At the lower third of the ham

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Structural Correctness

• Length of body
• Levelness of top
• Substance of bone
• Soundness of feet and legs

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Balance

• Design
• Proportion
• Completeness
• Ex. Pietrians are a breed that are not extremely
  well balanced as they may be overly muscled.

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Summary

• We identified the traits that are important in
  market swine evaluation.
• We located areas on the market hog in which we
  could observe muscle.
• We identified areas where finish could be
  observed.
• We described the importance of balance.
• Finally, we built the ideal market hog.