Hampshire Standard
Hampshire Standard of Excellence
CHARACTER AND BREED TYPE: A combination of the following definitions denoting type, breeding and masculinity in the case of boars and femininity in the case of sows and gilts. | |
HEAD: Fairly long, face slightly dished, snout moderately long, jowl light, medium width between the ears. Ears should be moderately large, thin and slightly inclined forward, and fringed with fine hair. Nose black and velvety in appearance. |
20 |
CHEST: Moderately wide between front legs with capacity derived from width and length rather than depth. |
5 |
SHOULDERS: Level, light in proportion to body, medium width, free from coarseness and blending with rest of body. Allowance should be made for shield of aged boars. |
10 |
BACK: Moderately long, arched and wide from neck to rump. |
25 |
RUMP: Long and wide. |
15 |
TEATS and TESTICLES: At least 12 evenly spaced teats set well forward with a minimum of 6 a side for each sex. It is desirable that boars have 3 pairs in front of the sheath. Testicles well developed and low set in the crutch. Dummy teats and inverted nipples to be considered a strong objection in both sexes. Any sow that has had one litter or more and still has inverted nipples to be disqualified in the Show ring. |
10 |
LEGS: Straight and well set, level with the outside of the body, with flat bone. Badly in-bent knees and crooked legs are strong objections. |
10 |
SKIN, COLOUR and COAT: Head and neck black, white over shoulders and forelegs. Continous belt of white hairs over forelegs and shoulder. Broken white line permissible but not desirable. Rose on back undesirable. |
5 |
DISQUALIFICATION: Less than 6 evenly spaced sound teats on either side. It is recommended to Judges that pigs with obvious deviations from the Standard of Excellence should not be awarded a first prize. |
|
TOTAL POINTS |
100 |
The Standard of Excellence shall be used in the light of known requirements of the bacon and pork trade. All efforts to appraise the relative merits of pigs shall be made against a background of the killing out value of the animal at the correct weight and age. The failure of an animal to reach the Standard of Excellence in some of the breed characteristics shall not outweigh its obvious value from a carcass point of view.