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2-1923 Early History of Poland Chine, Duroc-Jersey, Chester White and Hampshire Breeds of Hogs Paul P. Banker

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Recommended Citation Banker, Paul P., "Early History of Poland Chine, Duroc-Jersey, Chester White and Hampshire Breeds of Hogs" (1923). Extension Circulars. Paper 103. http://openprairie.sdstate.edu/extension_circ/103

This Circular is brought to you for free and open access by the SDSU Extension at Open PRAIRIE: Open Public Research Access Institutional Repository and Information Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Extension Circulars by an authorized administrator of Open PRAIRIE: Open Public Research Access Institutional Repository and Information Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. �xtension Circular No. 103 February, 1923

R.lu"1LY HISTORY

POLAND CEDTA, DUROC-SERSEY, CHESTER

\WHTE, AfTD HMf2SHIRE BREEDS o:i;, HOG·G.

by

Paul P. Banker, Li·veet ock Specialist.

EXTEl\TBION S?JRVICE South Dakota 3·cate College Vl. F. r::umlie1,Direct or Brookings, s. Dak_

Cooperative Eztcm8: on \Vork in .Agri­ cu1ture and Home 1konom.:.cs, South Dakota State College and United Sta,tes Department of Agriculture Cooperating.

Distributed in furtherance of Acts of Congress of May 8 and June 30. 1914. �A."t{LY POLAND CHINA HISTORY

The Poland China is an A.11erican breed of hogs v1h:_ch \NcJ.,s dc-veloped largely in southwestern , ·in Butler 'and Warren Cou.J1ties. This rolling. cou..11try, with its fine fields of corn a:nd grass, and its good climate, is unexce lled by any other part ·of the United States in swine ::_)reduction. This region was also �olessed by having. Cincinnati as the greatest hog market of the time close at hand; and it was to this market that these early hogs ·were drivm over-land in great nlliubers. These early Ohio settlers developed the Foland China from the Russian Byfield, Big China, Berkshire, and the Irish Grazier blood. The Russian hog had great length and height with large but fine bone and quiet disposition. Its hair was long and coarse while the color was whtte. The Byfield hog was of two· types. One was quite large vlfith long,niliat sides and lopyed ears; 1vhile the other was more refined witc ears pointing forward. Both were white in color. The Big China hog ,JI/as brought into Butler County in 1816 by John Wallace, an officer of the Shakers' Society. This re­ ligious society, at the present tj.me, d.oes not exist. The Shaker Society people lived toge ther in colonies, and practically all that they owned was owned together instead of having the system of private /ownership. They were very con scient io1..1s and thorough in all that they did; and to them is attributed the honor of doing much of the early improvement of Poland China hogs. The }3ig China hog was crossed on the differe�t types of hogs already men­ tion ed. It was responsible for much of the early maturity and good breeding qualities of the present lard breeds of hogs. The Berkshire was also introduced into Poland China breed­ and it was from this breed that the Poland China derives the ing 1 . black color and some of its good qualities.

Another hog which was >esponsible for good qu�lity in Po­ land China hogs was the Irish Grazier. IIhis hog, having be en brought into Warren County by William Neff, was a hog of large size, long body, a good back, and fine quality of hams. Its color was white.

The first Po lands were quite large in size and were spotted in color� As time went on, heavy corn feeding and selection for early maturity and solid colors, resulted in producing a hog whicl'· v1as e�rly maturing, short, fat, and squatty with black color and white points, (white points included face, feet, and tip of taisix 1).

I In recent times the fat, squatty, hog has lost its ::_)opular .. ity, due to the fact that these animals had diff1culty in raising large, vigorous litters of pigs, and that excessively fat 1:1eat is discriminated against by the consumer, and also there is not a good market for surplus lard. The breeders' of Poland Chinas havf; , therefore, char ged their type of hogs to the stretchier an d more rangier build. This new t.yi:-)e of ho-gs is :pr o duc ing nw re sat isfa c tory lit ters, better :meat, an d a quax1ti ty of l�:c d v/ Jich has · less tendency to be in exoeea Qf market req_uir er.ents.

I n A11�IN G THE !_3REED The early Polan d Chin a hogs went by various names, such as Polands, Eig Chin a, 1.Varren County, an d lVIagie. Mr . :8 .. Ivi . Ma.gi e, an improver of this hog, wanted the cr edit for o riginat-ing the Po.land Chin a hreed, and was desir ious of h2sin g it nc11-n ed Magie in honorof himself . Mr. Magie did have splen did hogs for the time, -an d he was a good advertiser an d sale sman ; but he was not the origin at or of ?e lan d C:t.in a hogs , by an y means. In 18? 2 a Nat ional Swine Breeders' Convention vm s held j_n Indianapolis, In dian a, and in view of the cor1 fusion of name s which existed , they had. a. comril i ttee appoint ed to in vest igat e an d sele ct a };roper .name for the breed. At th is part icular time there ·were ;-J. nUinb e:r of go od hog men breeding this type of hogs wl'1 0 c la.ined that they had what was knovvn as the i-oland breed, an d that their good 1: n·eed­ ing an iinals wer e br0ug}1t from :Poland. T]:':.e investigat in g com- mi ttee , however, found �1. 0 clue to this tyye of an im als havin g been im 1Jor'ted from Pol.an rI . The on ly W])T oach to having an authen- tic claim for the word ; 1 ::?olan cP attached · to the bre ed na.ne , ·was the fact that Asher, a Polan der by birth , was breeding what was kno,�m as Polan d ho gs. The de1;1an d, however, for retaining the name of "l)o land:, an par t of the breed nane was quite in s istent , an d c"onsequen tly the c01:rrnittee thought it wi se to call the breed uPolan d- Chin a. n At first they }.)laced a hy1)hen between the word Polan d an d China, but lat er they omi tted the hyphen s.o the pr ese:;1 t correct spell in g is 1'Polan d Chine,. r,

E.ARLY �T ORY OF THE D-µR. OC- JERSEY In regard to the first importation of the red hogs . little is known . Red an d sandy hogs existed in this country for many year s. It is stated that the slav e traders -b rougr1t in :red �n egs from Eastern Africa in the early day s. "Dv e11 the old 3e:i.:-k shire, brought from En gland, had individuals with red colo:r which, with the Tamowrth , was used to cross on the red Africa:n st ock .

There were.two types of ear ly red swine. In , the red hogs wer e massive an d coarse . They had large l•J:p- ea::s, with rather long, deep bodies, coar se bone, and bri st ly hair. Some of the barrows of this strain of early :)urocs reached a weight over 1000 poun ds. O:r1 e case on record is of 30 head of barrows, 22 months old, which had an av erage dress i��g we ight of 685 poun ds . These ..ho gs were known as Je:csey Reds. A.Yl other stra, L of the early Duroc- Jersey was foun d in . Th:.e nc.r:1e given to this gr oup was •1 Dur?C . r: This name , however , has no spec ial significance. It was given them by Isa2.c Frink who nar£1 ecl the hof;:- after his famous stalli on �amed 11Duroc . H This Duroc an imal ha.d

finer hair 1 more quality an d finish, a�1 d le ss size than the Je:" E "' - Reds.

Two·· · gyeat American State smen v,e1�e also �J ror.1in ent in the early deve lopment of the Dur oc-J ersey hog. In 183'? , Henry ClaJ imported red hogs fror:1 Spain kno'\.m as the Span ish Red Hog. # 3

In 1852 , Daniel Web ster in troduced red hogs from 1?ortugal . Thts importation of red hogs was o f the medium ty.i.)e an d they tended 1 to add quality to the Few York an d New Jersey c:cosses. 7he )..ni cY1 of the b�ood of the var ious types of red hogs is credi ted to Colonel F. D. Curtis, Sarat oga County, New York. This man was th.::; ; foremost breeder of his time .

The f�rst great sho 0nnen an d type- setters of the breed appear ed soon after 1890, TlL n9,me s of these breeders were

Morton an d Ira Jackson . They c. 9·rn�LC1ped. +he great Orion family ! the greatest in dividual of wh j_ ch �'Ja.a Or ion Cherry Kin g 1 Morton is no lon ger in the Dur oc bus iness as a great exhibj_tor , but Ira Jackson is still a great breeder , showman , an d judge .

As with the Poland China, the Dur oc Jerseyj was the result of a mixture of blood of the type of hogs of that part icu- · lar time . The early hogs varied somewhat in type , conformat ion, size , and color . As time went on , however , heavy corn feeding an d selection for ear ly matur ity an d medium color , a hog was de ­ veloped wh ich was short , fat , squatty, an d had early matur ing qualit ies an d more of a uniform color .

. In recent times the sh ort , fat , squat ty hog has lost its popular ity, due to the fact that ·these an imals had · diff i culty in raising large , vigor ous lit ters , and to the fact that excessively fat meat is discriminat ed against by the con sumer , an d also that there is not a good market . for sur plus lard. The breeders of Duroc-Jerseys have chan ged their type to the str etch­ I ) ier an d more rangier bui ld. This new type is 9r oducing mor e sat isfactory litters, better meat , an d a quantity of lard wh ich has less ten den cy to be in excess of market requir ement s.

EA.---�LY HISTORY -OF ____CHEST� _.._R --\WI ITE·- SWINE Most authorit ies re00gni�e these three strain s ·of Chester Vv'h ite hogs , the ori gin of 1:vh ich is b:'iefly as follows : 1. The or i gin a]_ C !1 8 st er Wh it e was f o un de d in Che $ t er C o un t y , Pennsylvania, from which Coun ty it derives its name . It ap:f)ears t.rj.at the earliest settlGrs � su::h aB \V ilL.am Penn an d the Quakers of that County, bTo ught wh ite hogs with them . Somewhere near 1818 there is a record of C:1pt ain James Jeffries im1Jorting a pa ir of ·white pigs wh ich were spoRen of as both Befif ordshire an d.Cu m­ ber lan d breeds. The Boar of this impor tation was espe� ially of go od type havin g been a pr ize winner in En gland. Mr . Jeffri�s . used this good boar on nat ive wh ite pigs of the disttict with good results. Lat er it is stat ed that Chinese hogs were als o im­ ported to Chester C ol).n ty. These pigs , although having a tenden ­ cy to be low in the back, with short leg§� were ear ly mat ur ing an imals. The crossing of th is type of ear ly matur ing hog on th e coar se swin e of the time had qu ite a refining in f luen ce on the breed. The general mixin g of all of these blood l�nes resulted in pr oducing the early Chester W.h i te breed . . # 4 2. Todd' s Improved Chester YVhite is a more cor:.1pl ic2:,t e�i strain in its development . Somet ime near the year 1827 there was an i:mport atinn of Thin Rinds into Conn ecti cut . These hogs Vl�re blac� dotted with wh i te or wh ite belted wi th black ._ They wer e likewi se shor t legged an d blockey in ty:pe , but nevell"Jtheless they wer e vigorous in dividuals. T-,_vo brothers,. named Todd, -b ought a boar of that importat ion an d a whi te nat ive sow kn o�n to be of the Grass bree d (no doubt a:n Irish Graz ier ) and took them to Ohio wher e thes e animals were bred together with much success. To this comb ination the Byfield, Norman dy , Grass , an d other crosses were added to impr ove th e breed . The Todd family an d descen dents did much in bu ilding Ui,) the Chester Vvhite breed, and th eir st rain of whit e hogs was lm ovm as "Todd' s Improved Chester Whi te. "

3. The third strain of Chester White is kn own as the Ohio Impr oved Chester Whites. The foun din g of this strain is due large­ ly to the eff ort s of L. B .. Silver , a per son who lived at Salem , Ohi o. In 1865 he made a trip thr ough the Eastern f) tates to study the pure breeds of swine. The Chester Wh ite breed appealed to him . most , so he purchased breeding st ock , lar ge ly of Todd' s breed­ in g. an d set about to establish a uniform type of hogs of large size an d good quali ty. From ·his successful breedin g, the Ohio Improved Chester White strain has. its origin . They are s:ometimes refer red to as HO. I. C. u hogs.

All of the three bloodlines erefamilies given re­ I " ' present th e same breed; and they differ on ly in min or details. A BR IEF/ HIST ORY OF THE HAMPSH IRE HOG

:Belted hogs have been described by Pr ofessor David Lowe as ea,r ly as 1842 when he was at the head of the ..A..n :i.mal 1-I us ­ bandry De partment of Edinburgh Agr icultural Coll ege, Scot land. He refer s to them first as being promin ent in Scot lan d ap d later as be·in g pr ominent in the pnrk produc ing regions in England. The name "Hampshire II for the Amer ica.i11 breed of hogs does not come from Hampshire, En gland, be cause the En glish already had a black hog by that name. The pre sent En glish hog which correspon ds to the American Hampshire , is the We s sex Saddle .rlack . It is the belieff of E. C. Stone, Secretary of the American Hampshire Record Assoc iation , that the American Hampshire and We ssex Saddle .Back hogs came from the stock which Profes sor ·Lowe, the livest ock historian , refers to as the old "English Breed ." Be that as it may, it would appear that the Amer ican Hampshire came from s ome belted breed importe d from En gland. Ac cordin g to Har per , the .Amer ican history of this breed traces back through Canada an d Massachusetts to Hampshire an d Essex, En glan d. About 1820 to 1825 , MacKay imported Thin Rinds from Hampshire , En glan d to Boston , Massachuset ts. Lat er these hogs foun d their way to "and.�thus started the American history of the breed. "

These hogs referred to as Thin �inds were the early Hampshire breed. At first the Thin RindE , or the American Eamp­ shires, were bred in a limited way in Kentucky , Southern ) and Southern In diana. They were th en considered a bacon type of hog. • 1

Later they were taken into the corn belt secti�n ; an d, due to greater corn rations , they grew wider backs an d develo}_)ed more into a lar d type to the ext ent at least that they are now classi-­ fied as a lard breed of hogs . In 1893, the enth�iasts of this breed of hogs met at Erlanger, Kentucky, in order to organize a record as sociation for the breed. This associat ion was named the 11 A.nerican Thin Rind Record Assoc iation." It was agreed that no hog should be eligible to record lIDless known to be from pure blood 1�hin Rinds, that had large ly been bred in Boon e County, Ken tucky from the time they were imported from En glan d to the New En gland States, an d then into Kentucky by Maj or Joel Garnet . The name of this breed of hogs was changed to Hampsn ire by order of the American Thin Rin d Record Assoc iat ion in 1qo4. At about the sarne time new lif e was injected into the old Record Associat ion (which at the time was practically dead) by the election of E. C. Sten e as Secretaryp The meeting for his eledtion took place in Erlan ger , Kentucky, on April.20, 1903. Mr . Stone, with a lively b1..mch of assoc iates , has been a great on ly booster for the breed) an d we find not a trememduous spread of Hampshires, in the few years elapsing siuce then , but also a great improvement in the Hanpshi�e hog as well.

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