"Pigs Is Pigs"

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31195, 20 October 1966, Page 25

"Pigs Is Pigs"

“Pigs is pigs,” but to most of us pigs means that delicious rasher of bacon to accompany an egg or two, a deliciohs pork chop, or a tasty slice of ham. Probably the only other time we think of pigs is when we take the children to the show and get a lot of fun watching a large and hungry litter having its lunch.

As consumers of pig meat, however, visitors to the show, by inspecting the entries in their concrete pens, will see what the aristocracy of pigs really looks like in the living flesh before it ends up as that rasher on the breakfast plate. The consumer wants the best in bacon and pork as cheaply as he can get it. The producer wants to grow the best pigs at the cheapest cost for food and labour and the

entries at the show will give first-class evidence of the farmers’ good work to this end.

What does the consumer, and therefore the producer, requite in a pig ultimately destined to grace the table? Some of the points are: Plump meaty ham. Light shoulders—the least popular part of the carcase. Long middles to give more rashers.

Short legs. Plenty of meat in the loin cut, with not too much or too little fat.

I To get all these qualities in [ his pigs the breeder first selects his stock with some potentiality for breeding, then he feeds the sow and her young according to the text book. Pigs must be grown quickly from birth to about four months of age and they should be ready for marketing for bacon in about six months.