FORGET SHOW FADS

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 41, 12 November 1936, Page 17

FORGET SHOW FADS

More Breeders Are Aiming at Utility Type

CHANGE OF TREND EVIDENT

(Bt

CULTIVATOR.)

Show fads are at last dying in this country in favour of general utility type in our stock. The trend in this direction has become more noticeable in recent years. To anyone who visited the Manawatu and West Coast Agricultural and Pastoral Association’s spring show at Palmerston North last week, this must have been a point that impiessed. In comparison with other years, there was a marked improvement in the type of animal brought forward, and it was apparent that more breeders are forgetting the old show standards in favour of animals better suited for commercial purposes. Judges at the shows can do a great deal toward furthering this desirable trend. If judges were to make their awards purely on commercial type as required by the export or the local market, whichever the case may be, then shows would be of much greater value. As the position has rested for years, a breeder exhibiting has had little incentive to aim at suitable commercial animals because of the show fads of many judges. Fortunately, there is a new era approaching.

At the Manawatu fixture last week this trend was apparent in the sections for fat sheep and lambs, for beef breeds and for pigs. From the entries it could awakening to the need for meeting the reable overseas markets. And it was pleascommercial type. Improvement in Pig Types. While the changing attitude was quite apparent in the sheep and beef sections, it was' perhaps more noticeable in the pig pens than anywhere else. Not only was the improvement in quality a feature, but numerically the entries were also indicative of the greater importance attached to the production of pig-meat as a subsidiary to the dairy industry. There can be no gainsaying that the greater the improvement effected in the quality of our porker and baconer carcases the stronger will be the demand.

Some splendid commercial porkers came forward, and as for the baconers, it is doubtful if a better lot from the standpoint of quality has ever been seen at Palmerston North. Even so, there was room for improvement. In some animals a tendency to coarseness was evident, but this is a point that could be readily eliminated by the application of scientific pig-husbandry to still better purpose. The strength of the bacon classes could reasonably be taken as an indication that breeders are alive to the requirements of the overseas trade, and are paying more attention to them in aiming .toward the ideal type in demand for the local and the export trade. A demonstration that they are breeding something nearer the right type to produce progeny which will fall fully into line with the requirements of the trade, was given in the purebred bacon classes at the Manawatu fixture. Generally speaking, the pigs were of greater length, had finer shoulders, and possessed improved general quality. Still Room For Improvement. There is no other avenue iu farming iu this country to-day through which better returns are received for tile labour than through the production of pig-meat. Plenty of room remains, however, for the further exploitation of the demand for the right type of animal. To-day it is the baconer that provides the most important section of the country’s export pig business. Let us, therefore, aim toward better management so as to cany more of our pigs on to baconer weights to meet the demand.

Type is, of course, tantamount to success. There is little to be gained in raising baconers if this factor is overlooked. Results of a carcase and bacon competition conducted in Bngland by the St. Edmundsbury Co-operative Bacon Factory recently give an interesting line on the sort of pig at which breeders in this Dominion should aim. Points were awarded for the structure of the pigs, the shrinkage from carcase to “green” bacon weight, and from “green” to smoked bacon weight, for firmness of fat and for the general appearance of the bacon when smoked.

One of the most outstanding points in the disposal of the bacon, wrote one observer, is the thickness of back fat; the thickness of the streak and flank is also of great importance, but whereas the back fat must not be too thick, the streak and flank should be thick and well streaked with lean meat. The size and leanness of the shoulder is also of importance. This part of the pig being always low in price, it is evident that a lean and small shoulder in proportion to the rest of the side is required. The ham, as a rule, makes a good price, and should be full and lean. Small, Fine Shoulders. Large White animals took the first prize, the occupants of the pen being very uniform, with firm, white fat. The hams were excellent, and the shoulders small and fine. The shrinkage from carcase to bacon weight was below the average. After curing and smoking they presented eight sides of high-class bacon. An indication that the British farmers themselves are looking more to their focal market aud are striving toward improving the quality of their stock is given by a comparison of the average number of points obtained by the various classes in this year’s competition, with the average for the past 12 years. The figures recorded are:—-

While this is evidence of the greater competition we will no doubt have to face on the British market shortly, there is all the more reason why our breeders should look more and more to quality to help them through.

Class. 1936. Average 12yrs. Large White .... SI .16 78.33 Large Black 68.50 66.80 Essex 71.10 Any pure breed 70.99 Fi rst cross 77.00 75.67 Second cross .... 80.30 76.72