THE PIG INDUSTRY

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 3287, 5 March 1926, Page 4

THE PIG INDUSTRY

ROTARY CLUB ADDRESS. The pig industry of the Dominion ■ was the subject of an address by | notarial! F. B. Chin, manager of the Kiwi Bacon Factory,- at the weekly luncheon of the Rotary Club yesterday, Rotarian N. H. Alackio presided. i Pigs, said Air Chin, wore first initroducod info New Zealand by (tap-1 tain Cook and numbers of the do'scondnnts of these wore sli 1 ] to bo ■found living in Iheir wild state. Oc- j [easionally one found its way to the j butcher’s counter or to Ihc bacon j [factory. Unless caught young, how-j over, wild pigs wore not much good , for commercial purposes. When white people began to settle In the country they brought other varieties, the most important of these being the Berkshire, which, it would be fairly safe to say, to-day com- ; pr'sed 90 per cent, of the Dominion’s total. Other well-known varieties wore the Yorkshire and the Tam worth.

The ideal pig from the point of view of the curcr had a minimum of head and shoulders and a maximum of middle and hams. Carers wanted a pig from which they could get ; the most cuts and that was whore I the Berkshire failed. The profit was in the meat, not in the hone Pigs Improved by cross-breeding usually reverted to their original shape. The

’deal cross was to mate a sow produced by a Tamworth and a Berkshire with a Berkshire boar. Years ago the speaker had put through a number of tests for Hie Meat Board and the unanimous decision had been in favour of the cross he had just mentioned. Subsequent experiments had never produced a better one.

i Practically speaking, pigs could be divided into two classes—porkers and baconers. The porker was the smaller of the two and was most in demand when it weighed between (10 and 1001 b. The popular Weight for baconers was between 100 and 1401 b., those much over that weight being good only for "choppers,” which usually found their way to the sausage machine and which did not realise so high a price proportionately as thp smaller animals. At one time pigs with plenty of fat were in demand, but the tendency of the present generation had been to demand those with as little fat as possible. “The trouble is,” continued Alr.C.hin, “we have to take what the farmers give us, and they don’t care what sort of animal it is so long ns it grows.” (Laughter.) Pigs were raised to some . extent all over the Dominion, but it seemed that the industry was a dying one in the South Island. The best district for pigs was the Waikato, for where the best, cows were there the best pigs grew. The Manawatu was also a good pig producing district. Pigs offered by farmers were weighed when alive, the buyers having a schedule card which estimated for them th e approximate weight of the animal when dead. Payment Was then made accordingly. From that time the farmer’s liability ceased and the companies had to take the risk of losing th e animals in transit, through disease,- or because they failed to pass the Government inspector. It was surprising, too, how pigs disappeared from railway trucks, particularly at Christmas time.

He was convinced the public could eat without compunction any pork or bacon which they purchased, for he knew of no carcase which had reached the market without having first been inspected. Mr Chin, who concluded his address with a description of the many processes through which the carcases passed at the factories, was accorded a hearty vote of thanks for what was, in the chairman’s own terms, “a most interesting and instructive address.”