Exercise for Hams

Back in the years when most Americans were manual workers, they needed lots of fat for muscle fuel. So farmers encouraged their hogs to get as obese as circus fat ladies. But times have changed. Most modern Americans make little muscular effort, and hog fat is high on the list of dietary enemies. Farmers feed their hogs carefully to keep them from producing too much lard, fat back and sowbelly.

The ideal figure for modern hogs features large meaty hams. To produce these delicacies, says Dr. Hubert Heitman Jr., professor of animal husbandry at the University of California at Davis, hogs should get ham-building exercise. He tested his theory by building a stand-up feeding trough with a cleated shelf in front on which the hogs could rest their feet. "It's sort of like a person eating off a mantel," he explains.

At first the hogs were outraged. They could eat standing up for only a minute before their ham muscles weakened and let them down. It took several weeks be fore they were used to the new feeding system and their ham muscles were strong enough to support them. Professor Heitman watched their hungry struggles fondly, noting how their rear ends wiggled as they reached for their food. "I felt," he says, "that I was looking at very much heavier hams."

Tests on butchered stand-up hogs proved the professor right. The amount of ham as a percentage of the carcass increased by 5.6%. More experience will be needed before stand-up feeding can be generally recommended, but Heitman is hopeful. "A 5% betterment in hams," he says, "would be terrific for the industry."

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