Captain Cook Introduced Pigs To New Zealand

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 65, 9 December 1938, Page 36 (Supplement)

Captain Cook Introduced Pigs To New Zealand

But Only To=day Are New Zealanders Becoming Pig=conscious

■I HUNDRED and seventy years ago, on one '/ \k N s historic visits to New Zealand, Captain Cook introduced to the cannibal Maoris an «“■ animal that they had never seen before —the (domestic pig. It was the sea-captain’s amiable tentipn to persuade them that pork and bacon id ham were better table viands than the :sh of men. If he did not succeed in s intention, he was at least, in a sense, e father of. the pig industry in New Zealand—an dustry which has sadly lagged behind the developent of other branches of farming. For, lest the impatient Maoris should kill them out of hand, without waiting to have them breed, he secretly turned loose into the forest a boar and a sow, in the hope that they would propagate their kind and people the dark bush, until then inhabited Only by the wild birds, with a pig population that would provide the Maori with meat. In this his hopes were Fulfilled; the wild pigs bred and flourished, and contributed greatly to the food resources of early New Zealand, and their offspring still range the remote .Valleys of many parts of the Dominion. j . In some districts the strain of the “Captain Cooker" ptill permeates the strain of the domestic swine herds. Even to-day, when pig problems are beginning to be iaken very seriously, and when pig clubs throughout the country are devoting close attention to improvement and purification of breeds, less than one-seventh bf the pig population are purebred. Pig Population

.' There are roughly 810,000 domesticated pigs in New Zealand. Of them, perhaps 80,000 are pure BerkShires, 10,000 Yorkshires, 17,000 Tamworth and other puie breeds, and the rest, the great majority, crossbred. There is still a large, a much too large, proportion of mongrel pigs. . . Pig-conscious as was Captain Cook, New Zealand's pioneeis were lamentably blind to the possibilities of mis tinaesthetic but utilitarian animal. Oniv in the last

five years has the farmer begun to acquire pigmindedness. Pig census statistics record an increase of more than 70 per cent, in those five years. From this can be obtained some inkling of the newly-awakened interest in pigs among the dairy-farming population. Until recently the economic value of the pig in dairying was almost wholly unappreciated. Now at last the’ pig is coming into its own.

Dairy-farming, increasingly important branch of New Zealand primary production, cannot reach full efficiency without pig-farming as an auxiliary. Until recently farmers did not regard pigs so much as an essential aspect of dairying as an often profitable sideline. Recently science has taught them better. Pigs subsist on waste products, buttermilk and cheese whey, which would otherwise be thrown out as unsaleable. Yet such by-products have high food value. In conjunction with cereals and other solids calculated to counteract excess of protein, thev are ideal for fattening pigs. Moreover, a herd of’pigs, judiciously managed, has a most beneficial effect upon dairy pasturage, and serves well in raising the carrying capacity of grassland without any particular expenditure upon it. Two Pigs Per Cow

Every dairy-farm should support two pigs for every cow, and should produce 361 b. of pig flesh per 1001 b. of butterfat production. As the value of fat pigs is high, and their products sell on a different market to butter and cheese, cream and milk, they are a precious sheet-anchor to the dairyman against the tides and fluctuations of daily produce prices. . The overseas market for pig products is far from being fully exploited. 'Hie United Kingdom annually imports vast quantities of pork, ham, and bacon, mostly from Denmark, America, the Argentine, Canada, and Holland. New Zealand stands low on the list of Britain s customers. She sends home practically no bacon ■ some few baconcrs are sent Home chilled for curing m England, but that is all. Danish bacon has still the preference on the English market. Of British frozen and chilled pork exports, however, New Zealand actually contributes more than one-half, and it is worthy of note that her trade in this field has quadrupled in’ the past five years. However, of the pork imports of the United Kim>-

dom, bacon comprises about 80 per cent., and 55 per cent, of the bacon imports is supplied by Denmark. At present there is little room for doubt, that although her baconer pigs are no whit inferior, Dominion ham and bacon are of inferior quality and flavour to those of Denmark. Here is scope for great development of New Zealand pig-product exports, which could be stimulated by careful research in bacon-curing and ham-smoking, processes which, it appears, are taken too lightly in this country at present. Flow far New Zealand lags behind the other dairying countries of the world is easily. seen ! by comparing pigcensuses relative to dairy cattle populations. Only one country stands lower than New Zealand, and that is Australia. To every 100 dairy cattle. Germany has 230 pigs, Denmark 178. United States 166. Yugoslavia 151. England 145, Italy 139, Czech oslovakia 121. Netherlands 114, Estonia 112, Argentina 101, Canada 100, Russia 89, France 81, Sweden 75 — and New Zealand 41, Australia 34. Scope for expansion ? There appears to be.

Scientists say that 200 to 100 is a reasonable proportion of pigs to dairy cattle, which means that New Zealand has just a quarter the number of pigs for which she has carrying capacity. Where she should have two pigs, she has only the 'butt end of a pig. Threequarters of the dairy-farmers of the country are still unaware of the. manner in which they should expand this side of their activities. The Bacon Market

It. is the bacon market overseas that offers the immediate scope for an increase in production. So far, farmers have, been reluctant to fatten baconers. There is difficulty, in shipping home mildly-cured bacon, in prime condition. There is greater competition on the Home market, than in the pork line in which New Zealand has preference. The porker, fattened only to 100 lb., instead of to 1501 b., is a cheaper and easier beast to raise., and returns a bigger dividend on the cost of his upbringing. He takes only 16 weeks to attain market weight, and requires less intensive culture. Skim-milk is better suited to provide nutriment for young stock than for a mature baconer, which requires its diet implementing with expensive meal. The porker’s fattening, too, fits in more easily with the seasonal fluctuations of milk supply. These are problems that must be faced and overcome. .1 here is no doubt that if New Zealand is to attain full pastoral productive efficiency, such as her prosperity demands, to maintain her national income proportionate with her national expenditure, she mustraise hei pig population to something more closely approximating to the scientists’ ideals. That she will do so cannot be doubted. These five years have been reassuring. Perhaps in five more years the terms Aoteaioa pork and laranaki ham and Manawatu bacon will lurve assumed in Britain something’ of the same import as Canterbury lamb, as household words synonymous with qualitv.