PIG RECORDING.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 257, 30 October 1929, Page 27

PIG RECORDING.

SCIENCE HELPS THE FARMER,

PROFITABLE RESEARCH WORK. Although herd testing has shown remarkable growth .in New Zealand during the last six years, we are apt to laugh when anyone suggests that it would be profitable to test our pigs, but actually this work is now being carried out at a number of different centres in both islands. Pig testing is, of course, much more complicated than herd testing, where simple tests and quantities have to be dealt with. The factors involved in pig breeding are many and varied, ranging from the suitability of various foods "to the prolificacy of the sow. For years many farmers have maintained that there is nothing in keeping pigs, owing to the low prices periodically received. On the other hand, it is a known fact that some farmers add very considerably to their income, up to as ranch a,s £0 per cow being netted from pigs. The economic survey showed what great differences there were between farms in the same district, but it did not show what particular factors were involved, there being 110 data secured on this point. Actually we are no further behind in this respect than England, for, although her competitors have for vears tested their pigs and developed the most profitable strains, English farmers have been content to go along on the old and less profitable lines. Feeding Important. Work in Sweden and Denmark, the countries where testing has been carried out to the greatest extent, has shown definitely that the relationship between food and profits is very fixed. Good feeding can make or mar the profits in pig-keeping, and it must be admitted that in this respect we are backward in the Dominion. There are still a great many farmers who do not believe that it pays to top off their pigs with grain, merely because prices may be low. They forget that to raise pigs economically, they must feed and bring them to maturity in the shortest possible time. That, has been proved the secret of successful pig farming—especially when combined with large litters. Feeding a diet of skim milk without supplements of any sort is wasteful, for better use can be made of this excellent food if supplements are given. The position is worse with regard to whey, because this food is highly acid, and when large quantities are fed, pigs cannot be expected to make economical gains. In England the farmer's problems are rather different from ours here for there the whele milk market absorbs _ the greater part of the output, leaving little or no skim milk for pig-feeding. This means that pigs must be fed grain mixtures and green food exclusively, and as grain mixtures vary greatly in their feeding value and in their cost it is essential for the farmer to have some knowledge of the content of different grains from the viewpoint of carbohj 7 - drates and proteins. Here, with our skim milk and our open air system of feeding, we liave comparati\ely few worries of this nature.

Breeding Important,

The greatest profits are made when heavy litters are rapidly brought to maturity. Pig recording has shown that big litters successfully reared pay better, even if feeding is not so good, than small litters, well fed. Strangely enough, few farmers have ever kept records of the prolificacy of their sows, and there isn't one farmer in a dozen who can point out one particular sow as being the one which has given the greatest litter brought to maturity. Records show that some sows produce weak offspring and that, although they may have eight or nine pigs, only three or "four of "these may be to maturity, the rest dying from various causes. This is 'where pig recording is invaluable. It takes the uncertainty out of the business, just as herd testing takes it out of the dairy cow business. There is an immense amount of work to be done in New Zealand before our position with regard to pigs can be called satisfactory, and the evidence can be accumulated only over a period of vears. The testing work is in capable 'hands, and only practical farmers of long experience are being called upon to co-operate. Slowly but surely data as to the cheapest and most satisfactory foods available to us will be made available, and in addition a tvpe of sow will be evolved which will give much better results than our present average. Testing will prove its value, but must be given time to do so.