THE FARMER.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLVII, Issue 2981, 16 November 1923, Page 9

THE FARMER.

The "Gazette" notifies that from November 18, 1923, a levy of a penny per carcase will be' made on all veal and pork exported, in accordance with the provisions of section 13 of the Meat Export Contral Act. The final " washup " of the Westmere Dairy Co-op. affairs for lasUsoason pans-out another 13d. per lb. butterfat, making a total pay-out of 1/1 li for the season. This will be one of the best pay-outs' in the Dominion for a factory consigning the whole of its output, and the shareholders are to be congratulated on the season's working. The entry of wool for the first wool sale of the season to be held at Wanganui on November 28, promises to be much larger than was at first anticipated. Bales are arriving daily by train, motor lorry, waggon, and upriver steameV, and the wool stores are filling up rapidly. The stored are working under high pressure in reclassing the various clips, and farmers seem also to have paid greater attention to this most important matter. LAND SUBSIDY. GRANTED IN GREAT BRITAIN. (Received Thursday, 7 p.m.) LONDON, Nov. 14. The Government has approved of a subsidy of £t an aero for arable land where a minimum of 30/ is paid labourers. WOOL QUOTES. The New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency, Company, Limited, Palmerston North, has received the following cablegram from their London house, under date November 14: Wool sale closed firmly to-day. Compared last sales closing rates. Coarse greasy crossbred higher about ten per cent.; medium greasy crossbred higher about ten to fifteen per cent. THE PROFITABLE PIG. IMPORTANCE TO FARMERS. 1 SOME ESSENTIAL PRINCIPLES. By J.8.H., in the "Auckland Herald." In these days of high living costs, inflated land values, and increased competition in the world's markets, the farmer is at times hard put to it to showj anything like the profits of bvirone days. .But in many instances he is content to bewail his fate, and plod on in the old haphazard way, while if he looked the facts squarely in the face he would see that increased living costs must mean increased prices for some farm produce, but not necessarily that which he is producing.

The secret of success Is business, and farming is a business, is to give to tho world what the world wants, and at the time when the world wants it. Now, if rents, rates, taxes, living, etc., etc., are higher than before, the position must he met by an increase in productivity of the land, at least as far as the farming community is concerned; more crops must be grown and more grass area ploughed under to give room for this. More stock must be carried and winter feeding on a larger scale adopted to carry this increase through the months of little growth. Sheep must increase, and where the dairyis the prime factor, more and better cows must be maintained. And in addition we must look farther ahead and in some measure other product than mutton, milk and beef must be raised to try to meet the enhanced cost of production, and this is where the pig comes in. THE PLACE OF THE PIG. New Zealand is an ideal country for pig rearing, and the wonder is that, in a. land where dairying is so extensively carried on, pigs have such a minor place in the farming economy. What becomes of the dairy by-pro-ducts, skim milk and whey? Are they utilised as they should be to meet the onward upward march of the increased cost of living? Until the farmer realises that he is as much to blame as the "Government," or other such outsider, for his diminishing bank account, he can deserve, and will get, little sympathy or consideration from the student of farm economics. Pigs have been proved to be the most economical of meaf producers. For the fattening steer 1 21b of food will produce three-fifths of a pound of beef, while with the pig the same amount of food is responsible for two pounds increase of pork or bacon. Pigs reach marketable age quickly, and reproduction is very prolific. Taking the average reproduction where animals are well selected, fed, and cared for, the returns are as follows. —Sheep 150 per cent increase perannum; cows 90 per cent Increase per annum; horses 50 per cent increase per annum; pigs 1400 per cent increase per annum. Two litters per year can bo, and should be obtained I from a good breeding sow, and the above average is on a basis of seven per litter raised—suroly a moderate estimate for a good, well-kept, grade sow, where 14 to 16 young per litter are not uncommon, MAINTENANCE OV PIGS. Before the new generation of pigs are able to give any return to the breeder they must be maintained, and |thi9 must b taken into consideration in reckoning up the costs of production. The longer an animal must be kr-pl and fed till it is ready to show any return, so much more must the profit be to make up for these maintenance charges. The following is a liberal average estimate of this maintaining period:—Sheep, one year; cow, two to three years; horse, two to three years; pig, four to five months. And in the case of the pig this is spread over the whole litter, giving an average maintenance charge of very much less than that of any other farm animal.

Thus pigs are kept intensively and are profitable, .but it is as well to remember that there is a limit to the

amount of farm and dairy by-pro-ducts that they can consume economically. For best- results they must have a quantity of special rations in addition, to give that quick and profitable return that makes all tho difference between succss and failure. Again th capital outlay on pig farming is comparatively high, and haphazard methods of housing, feeding, etc., will not do to compensate for this.

Furthermore, over-production tends to glut the market, but this can be overcome by opening up other markets, and by competing with our competitors with a better class of pork and bacon. Disease also is a factor to be considered, but no more so here, in fact less, on account of our climate, than in other countries where the various swine diseases have been established for generations, and are successfully combated.

CONDITIONS OF REAPING PIGS.

Taking all into consideration then, to the thinking farmer, on a farm where cows are milked, and roots can be grown, the pig must be reckoned to have a place, ever increasing, in the farm economy. Now a word on the conditions under which pigs may be successfully and extensively reared. To the uninitiated the pig has always had the name of an unclean feeder and a beast to bo kept in the background when our town visitors came to view our rural surroundings, but is this lair, or is it true? The cleanest of feeders, not excluding some of the higher animals of our planet, would bcome unclean and filthy if confined in such houses and under such conditions as the average man gives to his pigs. Dirl and pigs do not satisfactorily go together, though it is true that the pig will put up with more unsavoury and unhealthy surroundings than perhaps any other animal, but that is not to say that he likes them. In pig rearing the farmer has his choice of one or other of two methods: —1. Close housing. 2. Free ranging. The adoption of either of these types of rearing, or of a combination of both must depend on many considerations, and it would bo unwise to lay down for everyone any "best" method. It has to be considered for what purpose the pig is being kept, whether for bacon, pork, or lard production—tho capital at the rearer's disposal, the particular breed of pig that can be best kept in conjunction with market requirements, local conditions, and the area of land that can be given over to the fodder or to the pig range. But more important is, that the farmer who is thinking of going in extensively for his branch of profit making, shall go thoroughly into all aspects before finally deciding on any particular lin. of action, and the object of this and succeeding articles is, and will be, to put the salient facts and considerations before the breeder, and leave him to decide which will best suit him and his market.