PIG PRODUCTION

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23944, 11 May 1943, Page 7

PIG PRODUCTION

NO INCREASE TO MEET, DEMAND “I find the farmer very patriotic, but his ability to raise pigs is governed by the compensation received for the cost of production, to enable him to meet his normal financial commitments.” said the Canterbury District Pig Council’s supervisor (Mr H. W. Mclntosh) in presenting his report to the annual meeting of the council last evening. Though there was now an assured market for pig meat, and the pig industry played an important part in the war effort, an increase in production did not appear likely, he said. The pig industry was one of the first sections of farm production to suffer from the drafting of younger men into military service, said Mr Mclntosh; Another reason for the failure of production to increase, was the retarding atmosphere of suspicion in the South Island, that the price of pig meat might be stabilised at an uneconomical level for other than dairy farmers, or producers with a cheap food supply, he added. The cost of root crop production, and of grain for pig food, was high, said Mr Mclntosh. The pig producer without milk, and the dairy farmer, consequently had a higher charge to meet to carry pigs through the winter, or to supplement the milk supply for pigs with grain in summer.