White Short-Eared Hogs

an early-maturing breed of meat and lard hogs. It was developed in Germany at the end of the 19th century, as a result of crossing domestic long-eared hogs with English Large White and Middle White hogs, and subsequent breeding of hybrids with careful selection and breeding of animals. The liveweight of adult sows is 200–250 kg; of boars, 250–300 kg. Sows give birth to nine or ten young per farrow; lactation is prolific. The pigs are quickly fattened, use succulent feed well, and yield pork of high quality. Young pigs fattened for meat attain a liveweight of 90 kg at the age of seven months. The white short-eared breed was imported to the USSR between 1927 and 1932, where it is used for improving domestic hogs and for commercial crossbreeding with other breeds. Purebred herds are raised in the RSFSR, Kazakhstan, and the Ukraine. There is great demand in the international market for white short-eared hogs raised in the German Democratic Republic and in the Federal Republic of Germany (German short-eared hogs); they yield high-quality meat and a thin layer of fatback (about 4 cm).