AN UNDEVELOPED INDUSTRY

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXII, Issue 250, 5 October 1932, Page 11

AN UNDEVELOPED INDUSTRY

MORE ATTENTION TO PIGS NEEDED.

With the partial results of the Ottawa Conference having been made known ou the meat question, the time is opportune for New Zealand farmers to turn more seriously toward the neglected pig industry as an adjunct to dairying. The attention that was paid to bacon clearly indicated that the delegates treated this product in no light manner. The enormous amount of bacon, U,137,800cwt., imported into Great Britain last year represented an increase of 30 per cent, over the previous year’s figures. When it is considered that the supply came practically entirely from Denmark, Poland and other Continental countries, it shows the serious competitor it is to ou: lamb, etc. The question of control of this supply, whether by quota or duty, or both, is a matter under serious con sideration by the British Government The future development of New Zealand pork and bacon hinges on this decision. It must not, however, be the pig-keeping of the past, but a newer and more scientific system. The first essential is to breed the type foi present-day requirements. 'When compared with the Danes and Poles, in this connection, New Zealand fails dismally. Grading and standardisation must come. The nest step is an assurance by tne pedigree breeder that only pigs of the right strain and type will be supplied to the farmers. Recording is to pig breeding what herd testing is to dairying What is wanted is something more than a paper table of ancestryone of performances as well. Ifast, but not least, is that of housing and management. Not until the pig is treated with more respect will a farmer’s return be greater. The absurd small litter average of New Zealand sows is largely due to poor housing. No other country, Denmark included, is more richly endowed for pig-raising than New Zealand. The supply of skim-milk, butter-milk and whey is in excess of others. Pollard as a grain food can now be used as a payable proposition. Meat-meal, a protein food supplement, is cheaper here than in any other country. The absurdity of our low pig meat production as compared with Denmark can be gauged from the following table :—

N.Z. Denmark. Meat per sow ... 8001bs. 16001bs. Meat per cow ... 401bs. aOOlbs. The* Danish farmer keeps four pigs for every cow, while the New Zealand farnjer rears one pig for every three cows.