R. W. Pomeroy

Infertility and neonatal mortality in the sow. IV. Further observations and conclusions

During the course of the main investigation the following observations were made on some other aspects of reproduction in the sow. An examination of the reproductive tract of sows killed at slaughterhouses in East Anglia showed a high percentage of cystic abnormalities in the ovaries (Perry & Pomeroy, 1956). However, the sample of sows necessarily excluded any gilts, so an examination has been made of the incidence of ovarian abnormalities in post-pubertal gilts at two bacon factories. The ovaries of 273 gilts were examined and divided into ( a ) ovaries containing corpora lutea, ( b ) ovaries not containing corpora lutea. These were then further classified as normal or abnormal. The chief criteria of abnormality were the presence of cystic follicles, i.e. of greater than ovulatory size (10 mm. in diameter) or cystic corpora lutea, i.e. large flabby corpora lutea with hollow centres. Gilts with numerous haemorrhagic follicles in the ovaries were also classified as abnormal, but it is quite possible that this condition is a common occurrence in gilts just before puberty. However, rather than underestimate the incidence of abnormalities these ovaries were classified as abnormal.

Visual judgements of quality in meat III. Assessments of bacon qualities by naïve and experienced judges using photographic reference standards

1. Two panels of eight students, with no previous experience in scoring bacon sides for eye-muscle qualities or for fatness, co-operated in an experiment involving thirty-five photographs of back rashers of bacon presented to them in batches of twenty at a time. The members of the first panel made their assessments without any guide, whereas those of the second were provided with sets of photographic reference standards showing a graded sequence of rashers scoring from 0 to 10 for each of the two characteristics involved. 2. Those provided with the reference standards spread out their scores over the available range more than those who judged without them. 3. Judging discrimination between markedly different groups of rashers was improved when the reference standards were available. This was not true of discrimination between similar rashers since repeatability of scoring was to some extent decreased when the standards were used. 4. When the reference standards were not available, these inexperienced judges tended to adjust their level of scoring according to the quality of the batch of rashers being assessed. This adaptive effect was eliminated when reference standards were available although apparently random fluctuations of level of scoring from batch to batch still occurred. 5. Differences between judges due to their different uses of the available range of scores were less marked, although not entirely eliminated, when reference standards were used by the naive judges. Systematic differences between the scores awarded by various judges remained, as did a few differences of opinion on the relative quality of certain examples.