PROFIT IN PIGS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 252, 21 September 1933, Page 6

PROFIT IN PIGS.

Fob. several years there has been developing in the Dominion enthusiasm for pig- raising - and, with a realisation that this department of primary production can be brought to an encouraging economic level when conducted in conjunction with dairy farming, interest in the export trade in bacon and pork has quickened considerably, two of the principal districts concerned being the Manawatu and the Waikato. The Meat Producers’ Board, as pointed out in its last annual report, sees room for great development in the pig industry, stating that New Zealand, by the economic use of the by-products of dairying, possesses possibilities greater than those of any other country, because this Dominion is the largest exporter of dairy produce in the world. The advice of those who have interested themselves in this subject has not been wasted, and in several districts there is proceeding a scheme for careful raising of animals so that the exact requirements of the British pork and bacon trade will be met. But much more remains to be done, and when dairy farmers generally take to heart the possibilities offering this country should materially benefit. Firsthand information as to marketing conditions was given farmers in the Palmerston North district, this week, by Mr Eliot Davis, of Auckland, who recently returned after spending two years observing- the state of the pork and bacon trade in Britain and on the Continent. What Mr Davis says amply bears out the advice already given farmers on other occasions. Britain last year imported no less than £30,000,000 worth of bacon weighing 570,000 tons. Of that amount Denmark had easily the greatest share, contributing no less than 67.4 per cent., while New Zealand sent only 6552 tons. The total of Britain’s pig products in that year was over £40,000,000, of which New Zealand contributed only .7 per cent., whereas this Dominion sent 37 per cent, of the Mother Country’s butter imports and 60 per cent, of her cheese. We have the authority of Mr Davis that New Zealand’s best pig carcases are equal to any from Denmark; and it is of special interest when he says that if New Zealand sent overseas a pig anywhere near the Danish in quality Britain would gladly take it in preference. Such information deserves special attention, and the moral for the pig export trade from this country, therefore, appears to be to send the best all the time and the best only. The schemes under way should facilitate this, but the opportunity should be seized as speedily as possible. Encouragement is given those fostering the trade by the figures showing the London Central Markets’ official meat supplies for the seven months ended July, 1933, with comparisons for the corresponding period last year (published in the “Standard”’ a few days ago). These reveal that supplies of pork and bacon from New _ Zealand made the remarkable rise from 919 tons to 2044 tons, or more than 100 per cent., while those from England and Wales, Ireland, Argentina and Denmark show decreases.