Danish Pig Industry; A Success Story

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30028, 12 January 1963, Page 6

Danish Pig Industry; A Success Story

{From L. R. BLOXHAM, a Staff Reporter of 'The Pr***’’]

COPENHAGEN, Dec. 3. yyHETHER the cow or the pig is Denmark’s largest foreign-currency earner is a moot point The two are closely interlinked, with the dairy industry supplying a very significant part of the pigs’ basic food requirements such as skim milk, buttermik, and whey. Archaeologists know there were wild pigs in Denmark as far back as 7000 B.C. and pigs were kept for food from somewhere between 30008. C. and 1500 B.C. Until as recently as the 18th century, however, they were mainly herded, and grazed in the forests where they ate only what they could find for themselves. But as the forests diminished, pig-keeping in styes became customary and this led to an interest in breeding and feeding. The first breeding stock was imported from various places—Holstein, Germany, England, Spain, the West Indies, and China—little more than a century ago giving the now famous Danish Landrace a certain cosmopolitan background. The highly uniform type today, however, ia a fairly recent development doting from the latter half of the 19th century when a reorganised agriculture, with an expanding production of improved livestock products, began to export live pigs to Germany. Then, about 1885, the Germans substantially increased their import duties and from 1887 to 1890, and from 1895 to 1914, Germany had a confplete embargo on the import of live pigs.

British Market

Denmark then concentrated on the British market for bacon. At that time, Danish pigs were not good baconers, but by importing Large White Yorkshire boars from England, and crossing them with Danish Landrace sows a suitable first-cross bacon pig was produced.

It was, however, impossible to prevent the animals obtained through ibis cross from being utilised for further breeding and as a result, there was considerable

variation in the type and quality of the bacon. It thus became necessary to establish a pure-bred Danish Landrace and by much careful breeding and selection, the now famous “streamlined pig** was developed. Breed improvement continues today by co-operation between practical fanners, bacon factories, and research scientists. The excellent results achieved are largely because the great majority of breeding animals some from

government-approved pedigree breeding centres, some of which are more than 00 yeare did. Firet-ctaas breeding boars are bought from these centres by the bacon factories for the use of farmers in their respective supply areas. The approved breeding centres—there are 260 of them —have been established on

ordinary farms and are subject to frequent visits by advisers and government inspectors. Every year, a number of pigs are selected from these centres and sent to a progeny-testing station where they are fed under uniform and carefully controlled conditions until they reach slaughter weight These tests are concerned with both the ability to lay on flesh in response to the rations provided and with the quality of the resulting bacon. It is possible to establish hereditary characteristics in these respects, and the results achieved in producing the desired type of pig are quite outstanding. Back fat has been reduced, the belly is thicker, the hams are bigger, and the length of the pig increased. Pig breeding research in Denmark has, in fact, so classified and clarified the genetic possibilities of the Landrace that it has become possible to produce the type of pig required almost at will. The bacon pigs are slaughtered when they are six or seven months old at a liveweight of about 198 lb (about 145 lb dead-weight). They go to any one of the 16 commercial or 62 co-operative bacon factories—the latter handling some 90 per cent, of the total intake. The number of killings has varied greatly at different periods but during the last few years there has been a steady increase as the overall pig population has grown. In April, 1961, there were 7,095,000 pigs in Denmark—almost twice as many as there were in 1952—but the prewar record figures of eight and nine millions have not, so far, been again equalled. The lowest level of killings was during the German occupation in 1942 when only a few more than one million pigs were slaughtered. In keeping with selective breeding to obtain the right type of baconer, all the factories operate a comprehensive system of controls to ensure first-class quality in all export products. The bulk of the export trade is in bacon but there is also an extensive market for canned goods (hams, luncheon meats, sausages, etc.,) to places all over the world. Nothing usable is wasted when the pigs are killed. Heads, feet, livers, hearts and kidneys are either sold on the home market or exported. Blood albumen, blood meal and black puddings are produced from the blood; the bones are turned into bonemeal; intestines into sausage casings, and the bristles are used for various manufacturing purposes. Even certain glands are used; for drugs, such as insulin. Feeding practice on the farm has an important bearing on the quality of the final products. In terms of nutritional values, Danish pigs generally get about 18 per cent of their food in the form of milk and ' whey. Coarse fodder—silaged boiled potatoes, beets, etc.,—ac-

count! for 12 to IS per cent and the remainder is made up of grain and various supplementary proteins with the required minerals and vitamins.

As production economy and bacon quality are not eniy dependant upon hereditary factors, but also upon feeding, management and housing of the pigs, many experiments are carried out on these aspects. Six experimental stations have been established throughout the country where all the requirements of pregnant sows, milking sows, piglets and growing pigs are dealt with. During the last few years, extensive experiments have been carried out on meat colour, and on the size and shape of the “eye muscle.” Farmers are constantly being warned too, not to give their pigs food which may affect the flavour of bacon.

Carcase Grading To encourage the production of the highest' quality bacon, pigs are graded as first, second and third class. Maximum and minimum weights are fixed for the three grades and deductions from the grade price are made for under and over-weight carcases.

As with dairy farming in Denmark, the number of pigs any one farmer may own does not necessarily depend on the size of his farm but on the amount of shed space available. The farm I visited was one of the largest in the country and this produced an average of 2000 pigs for the bacon factories every year. The farmer always had 1000 pigs of various ages and he managed to successfully look after these, his dozen or so cows and 75 acres of land with the assistance of only two full-time farm labourers. This particular farmer does not breed his own pigs, but buys them when they are about eight weeks old. A good, first class baconer of about 140 lb dead-weight would fetch up to 245 Danish Kroners (£l2 ss), he said. “There is not much profit in pigs today though,” he quickly added through our interpreter as we walked around his large, tempera-ture-controlled pig bam. Food costs had risen, he said, and labour rates were now five times greater than they were 30 years ago. Nevertheless, the Danish pig industry is big business and this same farmer admitted that he was happier with his 1000 pigs than he would be with the same number of cows. And this is understandable considering the present critical condition of Denmark’s dairy industry. While British housewives may be buying less Danish butter, they are purchasing more of her bacon and its popularity is also growing in many other European countries as well So while this trend continues, the Danes can at least take cold comfort in the fact that they still have one strong export string left in their agricultural bow.