PROFIT AND PIGS

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIII, Issue 103, 12 April 1933, Page 13

PROFIT AND PIGS

ADVICE TO DAIRY FARMERS PROPER FEEDING AND MANAGEMENT. WHICH US THE BEST BREED! Feeding and management problems are dealt with very fully in the following article prepared by Mr. W. McKinnon, of Gisborne, which was issued to suppliers of the Ngatipourou Cooperative Dairy Company. “Farmers are continually complaining of the high cost of cartage charges that they have to pay on the cartage of their pigs, from their farms to the market, which in this district is the freezing works. To my mind the farmers have little hope of securing reduced cartage charges until they offer to the lorry owners proper facilities for the loading of pigs at their farms. “If every farmer would build a small holding pen by his boundary fence, on the main road, and have his pigs in this pen, ready for the lorry to pick up, there would then never be any need for the lorry to leave the road, and its loads would be completed in very short time. When the farmers carry out this practice, cheaper cartage rates will be obtained from the lorry owners, who to-day state that they cannot cart pigs more cheaply, as they waste so much time in loading the pigs at the farms. “All farmers deliver their cream cans to the main road, so that the. cream lorries can pick them up with as little delay as possible, and that is why their cream is carted to the factory at cheap rates, and if farmers would carry out the same method with their pigs, cheaper cartage rates would soon be obtained for their pigs. “Farmers tell me that they have no difficulty in finding men to manage their dairy herds, but that very few of these men make a success of pig raising. It is these farmers and their sharemilkers that I have in mind. “I maintain that the man who can make a success of dairy-farming in these days, combating its many diseases, should have no difficulty with pig raising. “During the last few months the farming press of the Dominion has treated its readers to an interesting discussion on the matter of breeds. It is called the ‘battle of the breeds.’ I am afraid that this battle is a neverending one. So long as we raise pigs, we will have our favourite breed. Pig raisers will never celebrate their ‘Armistice Day.’ “To me it seems unfortunate the matter of feeding has not entered these discussions. It has been left severely alone. We have been told what the Dane has done and is doing, and the popularity of this and the other breed in other countries, but we have not been told about the methods of feeding and the kind of food used in these countries. “We know that Denmark exports 50 times as much as New Zealand is doing, and that she is only the size of Taranaki. We have not been told, however, what Denmark spends annually on concentrates. It runs into millions. THE FEED FACTOR. “Now New Zealand is not Denmark. The breed of pig that thrives best there under ideal conditions may prove a problem to the New Zealand farmer with his crude methods. I am convinced that a lot that has been said in the interests of some of the breeds will have to be moderated or withdrawn when the matter of feeding is gone into. After all, the man with one or two breeds docs not know. He has no means of comparison. “Many farmers at present are considering breed only. The matter of feeding they have not considered, and unless this matter is kept in view, pigraising cannot be made a success in this country. Suitability of carcase is very important, but suitability of brood to our conditions as well as feeding capacity are of equal importance. No baconer should take more than seven months to reach bacon weight. Good feeders, however, will reach this goal in five to five and a-half months. “To-day I saw in an English journal the photograph of the two outstanding boars in Sweden. I am afraid that these pigs would fare badly at the hands of some of our New Zealand official pig judges, but pig recording lias discovered their worth as stud boars. The show ring docs not always work in harmony with profitable pig raising. After all, what is a pig for? Not to look at. “In speaking on the subject of feeding, I am aware that pigs are raised under a variety of conditions here. There ii ’he eity man with his small

piggery outside the. borough, depending upon the waste from the shops, restaurants and hotels. There are the Canterbury farmers with their cheaper grain. There are the 65,000 dairy farmers of the Dominion, whose staple food is whey and skim milk, and lastly, there are the buttermilk men. A breed of pig that will thrive under the city fare may prove a disaster on whey or skim milk. “1 believe that any breed of pig will make a satisfactory return on the city fare, but feed that same pig on whey and pasture, and the ledger, may balance wrong. Pig recording will get us nowhere unless every breeder gives the details of the food used and the method of feeding. “New Zealand requires for the development of this industry that breed or cross that will weather our outdoor conditions, utilise our main byproducts, supplemented with good pasture, and convert these foods into exportable pork and bacon in the quickest possible time “AH pigs are not equal feeders, as pig recording is discovering. One animal will reach maturity, a perfect exportable carcase, in six months, while another of the same breed and of equal quality will take nine months to top off. Which pig are we to go for? “These matters enter into the subject of feeding. There are feeders and feeders, and no food is too good for the fast-maturing varieties of exportable pigs. “We hesitate to recommend meal and mineral feeding to some farmers, knowing that their strain of pigs will make it a very uncertain investment. No amount of correct feeding will make a bad doer profitable. We shall presume then that our pigs are correct type and good feeders (we are not considering breeds or colours). OILS FOR YOUNG PIGS. “I would like first of all to answer a question that is being continually asked me. ‘Can pigs be profitably raised without the use of skim milk or whey?’ New milk is a complete food. Skim milk is minus the fat only, while whey is minus the fat solids as well as the solids-not-fat. Ohs as a supplement to whey and skim milk are coming into favour, young pigs especially responding to this addition to their liquid foods, in small quantities. It must not be used for finishing, however, as its use has already done much harm to the industry, an objectionable taint being clearly traced in the cured bacon. I have used it with pregnant sows, with very encouraging results, and am continuing its use, being a whey and buttermilk feeder. ‘‘While the pig will produce by far more edible flesh from a given amount of food than any other farm animal, it has not the capacity to deal with bulky foods in large quantities, like the bullock for instance. It has not the storage capacity. Its warehouse accommodation is limited. Its digestive system is more like that of the human beings than any other animal’s. For this reason, foods rich in proteins should be supplied rather than those deficient and bulky. “Attempts have been made to raise porkers on pasture and green Crops. It has resulted in the pigs becoming pot-bellied, and pot-bellied pigs are always stunted and therefore never pro. fitable. Keep these same pigs on good pasture and lucerne for preference, and give them access to a dry feeder supplied with cereal meals, and they will thrive and yield a good margin of profit. “I have sold in the markets fat porkers and baconers that have not tasted milk other than their mother’s. They were farrowed in January and were turned with their dam into a strong crop of artichokes through which maize was ripening. The young ones had access to a stack of peas and a plentiful supply of fresh water was supplied through a ball tap. These youngsters never lost their bloom and did better than others fed on whey with a little meal. In giving these instances. I am trying to answer the question of raising pork without milk. On pastures and green crops alone it cannot be done. “Large numbers of pigs that have not had milk are sold each week at the markets, These are fed from the waste collected from city hotels and restaurants. This food is the best that can be had for the purpose of pig raising. Being rich, the pig requires but a small quantity to satisfy him. A bucket of this food contains more feeding value than 20 gallons of whey. “It is gratifying to pig raisers to know of the returns being secured through the use of meat meals. I believe this food will stimulate the pig industry in districts where milk byproducts are not available. Reports of feeding trials at the Lincoln College Canterbury, all point to the value of this meal. “To summarise this point:—Providing weaners are not bought in the open market mut bred rightly, they can be brought to profitable porkers without the use of milk. Succulent crops and good pasture, preferably clover or lucerne' supplemented with meat meals (for preference) will leave a fair margin of profit. Care must be taken to raise only good feeders.”