Bio-Lancaster Farming,
Brandon and Janlne Show Champion Pigs
HARRISBURG (Dauphin Co.)
Brandon and Janine Winebark
raise pigs. Not just any pigs but
champion ones.
Brandon, who is only 6-years
old, and his sister, who is nine
years old, exhibited their pigs at
the Keystone International Lives
tock Exposition held in Harrisburg
recently.
Brandon showed the grand
champion Berkshire barrow in the
open show. The pig named Toopy
is six months old and weighs 230
pounds. Brandon also exhibited
the reserve champion Hampshire
boar.
Incredible Pig
EARLY HISTORY
• The history of pork produc
tion speaks to the unique adapta
bility and amazing utility of that
extraordinary animal, the pig.
• The pig was among the first
animals to be domesticated, prob
ably as early as 7000 B.C.
• Pork was widely consumed
throughout the ancient world and
the Roman Empire.
• Pigs were first introduced to
North America in 1539 when Her
nando de Soto brought them to the
Florida mainland.
COLONIAL DAYS
• Early colonists brought pigs
to the new settlements on the
Atlantic seaboard in the late
1500’s.
• The practice of finishing hogs
on Indian com (maize) was first
adopted as a common practice in
Pennsylvania in the late 1600’s.
• Introduction of the Old
World’s pig to the New World’s
com laid the foundation for the
modem U.S. pork industry.
• In the colonies, hogs were
taken to market in large droves
and over trails that later became
the routes of the major railroads.
THE NATION EXPANDS
WESTWARD
• The Louisiana Purchase in
1803 opened up a large area of the
country for agricultural develop
ment. Live hogs in considerable
number were shipped to New
Orleans via the Ohio and Missis
sippi rivers.
• The opening of the Erie Canal
in 1825 provided the first all
water connection from the Great
Lakes to New York City. It per
mitted hogs and salted or smoked
pork products to be shipped (in
barrels) east by water transport.
• In 1827, the Erie Canal sys
tem was connected to Cincinnati
and,- via the Ohio River, to the
Mississippi. Trade in hogs and
pork products flourished.
• As the nation expanded, far
mers relied on their hogs not only
to provide sustenance for their
families, but also to help them pay
for their new homesteads. That
unique profit quality earned the
hog the title “Mortgage Lifter.”
• By 1863, Cincinnati, Ohio
was such a major pork processing
center that it was widely known as
“PorkopoliS.” By 1865, the Civil
War had greatly interfered with
access to that city. *
• The turmoil following the
Civil War, combined with deve-
I, Saturday, October 23, 1993 ?
Janinc exhibited the reserve
champion Hampshire gilt in the
open breeding show. This gilt was
the supreme champion at the
Maryland State Fair recently.
Brandon is in First grade at
Myerstown Elementary School.
Janine is a fourth grader at the
same school and a member of the
Lebanon County 4-H Livestock
Club.
Brandon and Janine are the
children of Janet and Ken Wine
bark, well known swine breeders
from Lebanon County. Ken is also
a Lebanon County Extension
agent.
lopment of the great American
railroads, shifted the center of hog
production further west and soon
Chicago was the world’s largest
pork packing center. It became
known as “Hog Butcher to the
World.”
RAILROADS AND WAR
YEARS BRING CHANGES
• Invention of the refrigerated
rail car in 1870 enabled fresh pork
to be shipped over long distances
without spoilage. Until then pork
had to be salted or smoked before
shipment.
• Development of a national
railroad system, coupled with
invention'of the refrigerated rail
car, brought about centralization
of pork processing for much of the
nation by the 1880’s at big pack
ing plants located at major rail
road centers such as Chicago and
Omaha.
• From the late 1880’s through
the late 1940’5, consumer demand
for lard, primarily for cooking
purposes, was so considerable that
pork producers obliged consumers
by raising relatively fat hogs that
would meet these demands.
• During World Wars I and II
pork went to war, providing the
basis for “C” and “K” rations for
soldiers in the field The fat
derived from the incredible pig
also went into the making of nitro
glycerine for use in explosives to
help win the war.,
• The end of World War II
brought great changes. The mark
et for lard and other by-products
of fat from hogs started to decline
and consumers began thinking
more about health and diet and the
desire for leaner meat products.
THE DEVELOPMENT
OF A LEANER PIG
• U.S. pork producers, in the
early 1950’5, concentrated their
efforts on developing a leaner type
hog that would meet increasing
consumer demands for leaner
meat products, relatively low in
cholesterol and fat.
• Today, a combination of fac
tors, including improved genetics,
better feeding practices and the
foresight and detremination of
America’s pork producers, has
resulted in a market hog 50% lean
er than it was in the late 1960’5.
• America’s pork producers
have set a goal of making pork the
meat of choice in the United States
in the 21st century. It has long
enjoyed that distinction in most
other parts of the world.
This Is a Hampshire Reserve champion boar that Brandon showed recently. Janine
holds the ribbon.
• How did “Uncle Sam" come to
represent the U.S. Government?
During the War of 1812, a New
York pork packer named Uncle
Sam Wilson shipped a boatload of
several hundred barrels of pork to
U.S. troops. Each barrel was
stamped “U.S.” On the docks, it
quickly became bantered about
that the “U.S.” stood for “Uncle
Sam”, whose large pork shipment
looked to be enough to feed the
entire army. Thus did “Uncle
Sam” come to represent the U.S.
Government itself.
• What U.S. city became known
as Porkopolis?
The open lands of the West
encouraged large-scale hog rais
ing operations which, in turn,
created a need for expanded com
mercial pork processing facilities.
Packing plants grew throughout
the Midwest, with centrally
located Cincinnati soon becoming
so strongly associated with pork
production that it became known,
informally at least, as
“Porkopolis.”
• How did Wall Street get its
name?
Free-roaming hogs were notori
ous for rampaging through the
precious grain Helds of colonial
New York City farmers. The Man
hattan Island residents chose to
limit the forays of these riotous
hogs by erecting a long, perma
nent wall on the northern edge of
what is now Lower Manhattan. A
street came to border this wall
aptly enough named, Wall Street.
• Where did the saying “living
high on the hog” come from?
It originated among, army
enlisted men who received shoul
der and leg cuts while officers
received the top loin cuts.
• Fact or Hogwash? When hot
dogs were first sold, street ven
dors called them “red hots”, and
they didn’t come on a bun.
Instead, a pair of white cotton
gloves came with each one to
keep fingers cool while eating.
Hog Trivia
Fact. It happened at the St.
Louis World’s Fair, where hot
dogs were first introduced to the
public' along with the ice cream
cone in 1904.
• Fact or Hogwash? The longest
single sausage was over a mile
long.
Fact A single sausage measur
ing 5,917 feet in length was
cooked in Barcelona, Spain on
September 22, 1986.
• What did President Harry
Truman have to say about hogs?
“No man should be allowed to
be President who docs not under
stand hogs.”
• What staple food was pro
vided to Washington’s troops at
Valley Forge?
Salt pork from New Jersey was
shipped behind British lines to
Valley Forge to feed the hungry.
Continental Army in the winter of
1776-77.
• What’s the origin of the word
“barbecue?”
It’s derived from French
speaking pirates, who called this
Caribbean pork feast “de barbe et
quene,” which translates “from
beard to tail”. In other words, the
pig roast reflected the fact that the
hog war an eminently versatile
animal that could be consumed
from head to toe.
• What’s the highest known
price ever paid for a hog?
$56,000 was paid for a cross
breed barrow named “Bud”, own
ed by Jeffrey Roemisch of Herm
leigh, Texas and bought by E.A.
“Bud” Olson and Phil Bonzio on
March 5, 1985.
• What’s the heaviest hog ever
recorded?
A Poland China hog named
“Big Bill” weighing 2,552 pounds
and measuring 9 feet long with a
belly that dragged the ground,
owned by Burford Butler of Jack
son, Tennessee in 1933.
• What’s the origin of the saying
“pork barrel politics?”
■ The phrase is derived from the
pre-Civil War practice of distri- J
bating salt pork to the slaves from *
huge barrels. By the 1870 s, con
gressmen were referring to regu- ?
larly dipping into the “pork bar
rel” to obtain funds for popular -
projects in their home districts.
• What’s the origin of the saying
to “go whole hog”?
The expression came from the
18th Century when the English
shilling was at one time called a
“hog”. Thus, a spendthrift, one
willing to spend an entire shilling
on the entertainment of a friend in
a pub, was willing to “go whole
hog”.
• What’s the origin of the saying
“a pig in a poke”?
The reference is to a common
trick of 17th Century England of
trying to palm off a cat on an
unsuspecting “greenhorn” for a
suckling-pig. When he opened the
poke (sack) he “let the cat out of
the bag”, and the trick was
disclosed.
• Did you know that...
As much beloved as fresh pork
is in America, it is not the United
States, but China, which is the
number one producer and con
sumer of fresh pork in the world.
• Did you know that...
The ancient Chinese were so
loath to be separated from fresh
pork that the departed were some
times accompanied to the grave
with their herd of hogs.
• Did you know that...
In ancient China fresh pork
enjoyed royal status. Around 4000
8.C., the Chinese people were
ordered to raise and breed hogs
by a royal decree from the Emper
or of China.
• Did you know that •»»
You can look it up; Pork is the
world’s most widely-eaten meat.