Hogs

views updated

HOGS

HOGS are not indigenous to the Western Hemisphere. In 1493 Christopher Columbus first introduced them to the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. Some forty-six years later, they arrived in what is now the continental United States with Hernando de Soto's expedition. It is likely that de Soto's expedition left behind some of the hogs, either deliberately or accidentally.

The first important importation of hogs into the thirteen original colonies accompanied the establishment of Jamestown in 1607. Their introduction in the Massachusetts Bay area by the English and in the Delaware River region of Pennsylvania and New Jersey by the English, Germans, and Swedes soon followed. Thus, by the end of the seventeenth century, hogs were well established in the Middle Atlantic and New England colonies.

American breeds of hogs emerged from these early sources, but more significant development of breeds took place after the extensive importations from western Europe during the first half of the nineteenth century. The eight leading breeds are the Chester White, Duroc, Hampshire, Poland China, Spotted, Berkshire, Yorkshire, and American Landrace. Purebred hogs, while relatively small in number compared to the total commercial production in the United States, serve as an important seed-stock source for commercial nonpurebred herds.

Marked changes in the type and conformation of hogs raised in the United States have occurred since the 1930s as a result of changes in consumer preference and a decline in the use of lard. Breeders have developed a meat-type hog: a lean, meaty animal providing an increased yield of preferred lean cuts and a reduced yield of fat. Improved breeding and selection programs have been applied to all breeds of hogs with advances in nutritional knowledge that permit the maximum expression of the animal's potential for lean tissue development.

Marketing patterns continue to change. During the early 1800s, herds were driven to cities on the eastern seaboard. Later, with population shifts and the development of transportation systems, packing centers arose in Cincinnati and Chicago. The latter eventually became the center of the industry. After World War II, as other stockyards located throughout the Midwest became increasingly important, that of Chicago declined; hogs were no longer marketed in Chicago after 1970.

The production of hogs continues as one of the major U.S. agricultural enterprises. Iowa, which was home to fifteen million hogs in 2001, easily leads the nation in pork production. North Carolina is in second place with 9.5 million hogs. Especially in North Carolina, however, an increasing number of American hogs are raised not on family farms but rather on large-scale factory operations. Promoters of the practice claim that it improves efficiency and brings jobs to economically depressed areas. Critics, by contrast, dispute that factory hog farms are more efficient and also worry about the environmental, economic, and health implications of this style of production. Most frequently, they argue that factory farms have yet to discover a suitable way to deal with hog waste, which can pollute groundwater and smell unbearably strong.