THE PIG

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 120, 16 November 1929, Page 11

THE PIG

VALUE OF RESEARCH

"The possibilities for the development of the pig industry in New Zealand are su/jh as to warrant full use of whatever assistance scientific guidance can render at the present time in order that the Dominion's reputation for quality in its meat products maj be. maintained and enhanced," says Mr. G. Shirtcliffe, chairman of tho Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, in his quarterly report to the Minister, the Hon. H. Atmore. Tho final report of the pig-recording investigations made ' during the past season, he states, has now been compiled and considered^ by the special committee set up to deal with this matter. This report clearly brings out the great possibility sof improvements in this industry, and indicates that, provided better systems'of management, feeding, and breeding are adopted, the pig can be utilised to considerably increase the returns accruing to dairy farmers. As. was the case jwith herdtesting of dairy .- cows, pig-recording has revealed Temarkable losses through unsatisfactory management of pigs. The remarkably largo percentage' of littera aggregating less -than 3001b at eight weeks of age gives some1 indication of the extent of this loss to the industry as a whole. '"'.'" / The complaints that have been recently- expressed regarding the occurrence of undesirable: taints in New Zealand porfc and bacon shipped to overseas markets are now being investigated in a number of feeding trials in the Waikato' district, and at Lincoln and Massey Agricultural Colleges. Separate lines of comparable pigs are being fed on milk diets in which meat, fish, and grain meals, whale oil and fisL oil, are included. ■ It is proposed to slaughter the trial animals (in all, some 260 are on-trial) and cure and store portions, of the carcasses, and at every stage to watch all the developments for taint and other defects. Chemical and other tests will be made of the fat and lean, so as to fully ascertain the nat-ire of defects that nay appear. Other tests are under way regarding the reaction pf pork and' bacon to temperatures fluctuations in storage and' to; the "'possibilities of export of. bacon frozen to,,much lower temperature than is used for other meat products; - y- V■. '