PIG IN CLOVER.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXXI, Issue 107, 11 May 1896, Page 4

PIG IN CLOVER.

«. Ihe pig, m England, m America, m Australia, everywhere, save m New Zealand, is properly regarded as one of the best friends a small farmer can have, and we are sm prised to notice how small and casual is the attention paid to pig breeding and baoon curing m this colony. In these days of hard times, when ihe email settlers have such a hard struggle to make both ends meet, we confess we cannot understand how it is that " the gmtleman that pays the rint," as the pig is affectionately called m Old Ireland, should be so much neglected as a source of revenue as he is. In a recent issue of the Australian, the well-known agricultural expert, who signs his articles " Thistledown," points out that the pig is undoubtedly the farmer's friend. It is, he says, the "more prolific and comes to maturity more quickly than any other kind of stock on the farm ; it consumes and makes valuable much which would otherwise be wasted ; and very little expensive food is required by it. One great mistake on many farms is that, as tie pig is a scavenger, and a few may be profitably kept on refuse, the number is limited to the quantity of offal which the farm supplies ; on the other hand, large numbers are kept almost entirely on expensive purchased foods. Few farmers attempt to farm for their pigs." "Thistledown is of opinion that the old saying " pigs m clover must have originated from the observation that pigs generally had a good time when it fell to their lot to get all the clover'- they required. It is a fact that they do thrive uncommonly well on clover, and although the cue • torn of feeding pigs on it prevails only to a limited extent m Australia, American pig-feeders are much more alive to the value of the practice. In that country clover is grown for the special use of the piga, and no other animal is allowed to pasture the ground either simultaneously with or m advance of them. As a rule the grazing system is adopted m America, but a number of farmers m the States makes a success of the 11 soiling" system, or m other words, feeding the pigs m yards on green fodder, which is caited m to them. If a succession of green crops is provided there is no such cheap way of making manure as by the summer feeding of pigs m the yards. Clover, or greon maize, or grass of any kind is greatly relished by them, and i there is no doubt that a much larger number can be fattened on a given area of crop when it is cut for them, instead of allowing them to graze. Of course, the question of expense has to be considered m adopting the soiling plan compared with the grazing system. The latter is sometimes impossible, but generally ib is to be preferred, The soiling system is, however, recommended m cases where pasturing the pigs is for some reason or another impossible. Farmers m this country keep far too few pigs, and pig pastures are much scarcer than they ought to be.