Tina Johnson, age 8, of St. Peters, Mo., for her question:
WHERE DID THE PIG ORGINATE?
Farmers in almost every country in the world raise hogs. In the United States, about a quarter of all meat eaten comes from hogs. Pork chops, ham, sausage and bacon are some of the products we enjoy. And the hog also provides fat, hair, skin and bones which are used to make lard, leather, soap, fertilizer, brushes, glue, medicines and many other products.
About 680 million hogs are found on the world's farms today. A third of them live in China, with Brazil, Russia and the United States claiming about 10 percent each. If the animal is less than 10 weeks old, it is often called a pig. Hog, however, is the correct name for the noble beast.
Wild hogs roamed across Europe as long as 6 million years ago. About 8,000 years ago, scientists figure, man started taming hogs. This was during the Stone Age.
When explorers and colonists moved from Spain, England and France to settle in various parts of the New World, they took hogs with them.
Weighing about two and a half pounds at birth, a fully grown boar the correct name for an adult hog is more than 500 pounds. Sows the correct name for the mature female hog can weigh more than 450 pounds. Most hogs, however, are sent off to market when they are between 5 1/2 and 7 months old. At this time the average boar's weight is around 350 pounds, while the sow weighs about 300 pounds.
Spare ribs, loin roasts, chops, sausage, bacon and ham are some of the favorite cuts of meat we receive from the hog. And there are other popular parts, too: pig's feet and knuckles which are pickled, and liver and kidneys which are cooked in a number of ways. Also edible are the ears, brain, skin, snout, jowls, lips, tongue and throat. In some locations fried hog intestines, called chitterlings, are enjoyed and served often.
Hogs can be mated when they are about 8 months old. A sow will carry her young for 114 days before she gives birth to between eight and 12 pigs. Sometimes as many as 27 babies can be born at one time. Record birth was a litter of 34 born in Denmark in 1961.
Here's another record: In 1939 on a farm in Black Mountain, N.C., "Big Boy,'' a hog, weighed in at 1,904 pounds.
Great central hog markets in the United States are located in East St. Louis, Ill., Omaha, Neb., South St. Paul, Minn., Kansas City and St. Louis, Mo., Sioux City, Iowa, and Indianapolis, Ind. Farmers in many parts of the country ship their hogs to these markets by truck and train.