Pork and Carcasses Quality in Swine Exploited in Family Farms

Abstract

Maximum values of dry matter and fat (% of the carcass weight) is achieved in swine exploited on small private family farms at 137 kg of dry matter and 115 kg of protein. Slaughtering swine at higher weight results in an increase of the dry matter and of the caloric value because of the increase of the amount of fat in the muscular fibber; thus, pork is of low quality because of the massive accumulation fat substance and the economic efficiency of producing pork is improper, with supplementary expenses on feed. Fattening swine on small family exploitations up to over 11 kg results in changes of the meat /fat ratio, detrimental to pork meat because of both thickening of lard on the animals' back and of fat depositions in the muscular fibber; though this improves pork quality, it is done with high expenses of energy, resulting in inefficient exploitation on private family farms that in most cases only supply for their families and rarely sell extra production.