PIG GRADING

Manawatu Standard, Volume LI, Issue 169, 19 June 1931, Page 8

PIG GRADING

QUESTION OF TYPE. SUITABILITY FOR EXPORT. The debatable topic of pig grading, which is of particular interest to Alanawatu farmers at the present time, was enlarged upon by Air F. R.' B. Chin, in an address to farmers at the Show yesterday afternoon. Air Chin, who based his remarks on the display of baeoners exhibited by the Alanawatu-Oroua branch of the Pig Breeders’ Association, described the type required for the local and export trade.

'ibe onus of providing what the market demanded rested with the producer entirely, he said, and, if the greatest returns were to be secured, this matter must be taken up in earnest and every step followed to that end. This applied particularly to the pork and bacon industry. The curer was nob a manufacturer. He could only pass on to the consumer that which he received from the producer, and the faults in the pig could not be amended by the curer. The fat pig produced fat bacon and the heavy pig heavy bacon, while the pig with heavy shoulders and short * middles yielded bacon sides with the same faults. The retailer stated his demands to the curer, but the latter could only supply what lie received, and the demancl compelled him to take steps to proceure that article which was demanded from him. He had, therefore, been compelled to adopt a system of penalty and encouragement. The producer must be encouraged by financial returns to produce the article wanted, and penalised if he failed to do so. hence the introduction of the grading system. Considering the short period of its operation, the results had been more successful than had been anticipated. Results to-day showed that there was a much greater percentage of good type baeoners than was generally supposed, the speaker continued. Alany of the seconds had the requisite length and type, but were made seconds by faulty feeding methods. The Imperial Economic Commission stressed the point that, for the right type baconer, correct breeding and feeding were essential. The perennially filled trough was the greatest fault, and was often intensified by close confinement. Pigs should be fed regularly and given all they would clean up at a meal, but no more, and left to wander round the pasture between meals. The same rule should be followed in relation to pigs that was followed by sensible human beings. The feed best suited to produce growth without excess of fat consisted of milk and barley. This was largely used by the Danes, but of course the same results could be obtained by other feeds sensibly applied. Referring to grading, Mr Chin said that the points that affected decisions to date were mainly from pigs too short or toe fat. However, there were other faults that might cause seconds that came within the wide range of conformity to type, such as the unevenness of the fat on the back, lack of straightness in the underline and heaviness of bone, etc. The weight of bone was a very important economic factor not so obvious to the growers as to the curer and the retailer, for it was the percentage of edible pork that gave the financial returns. The greater this percentage was, the less loss there would be to the curer and retailer alike.

“In time, grading must become more rigid on the fine points to reach the standard of the exporting countries. Where the standard length from the bone to the first rib is 31 inches against our 28 inches, and the depth of the back fat is 1J inches on the 1601 b. pig against our 1| inches on the 1501 b. pig,” the speaker continued. “Our bacon pig ranges from 1201 b. to 1501 b., but to ease matters for the producer, curers agreed to enlarge the margin to include the 1151 b. pig. Anything lower should be paid for as a ‘second.’ The pig between 1001 b. and 1201 b. is the Cinderella of the pig trade. Buyers and farmers at times put forward some plea why second pigs should be paid for at first grade rates, but the following of such a proceeding is manifest on a moment’s reflection. If such are paid for as first grade, the encouragement to produce tne light article disappears, and, secondly, where a farmer 'sends in a second and is paid first, lie is being mislaid in his judgment and misguided into perpetuating his faults instead of rectifying them.” Continuing, Air Chin said that the breed of pig most advisable to use in obtaining both porkers and baeoners could not be confined to any one breed or any one cross, for no one breed possessed either all the virtues or all the faults. There were several breeds much suprior to any others, and these should be considered. Even then, not only would each country find what breed suited it best, but it would be found that in certain localities others than the general cross was more suitable, and the individual farmer would ascertain which.

Mr Chin said that the competition carried out by the Alanawatu-Oroua branch of the Pig Breeders’ Association was open to any farmer in the Dominion, and must therefore be acknowledged as the best possible test and the most practical, for exhibitors of all fancies had entered their choice and judging had been entrusted to practical men in both live and dead sections. The most successful had been proved to be the TamworthBerkshire cross.

At the conclusion of his address Air Chin was accorded a vote of thanks on tire motion of Air W. J. Croucher.