Pig Clubs’ Section

Northern Advocate, 22 April 1939, Page 5 (Supplement)

Pig Clubs’ Section

Specially written by W. A. BEATTIE

The present dry weather is having a disastrous effect on farm production generally. The guaranteed price for dairy produce was calculated to enable a farmer to budget ■♦in advance. How impossible it is for any farmer to budget accurately is well illustrated by the present season. A bad spring, drying south westerly winds, and now lack of rain are all included in the hazards which prevent the farmer from knowing in advance what he is likely to earn, even supposing he knows what he is likely to get for each unit of produce. Increases v in awards, in railway freights and in costs generally, all coming after the fixing of the guaranteed price, make his position even more difficult. The position of the farmier is thus an unenviable one, and if production and consequently the country’s income falls with any degree of rapidity, all sections of the community must sooner or later feel the repercussions. Some Compensations There will be some compensations later for this long dry spell. For about four years we have had abnormally wet seasons. Much of the flat land has been so thoroughly saturated that it has become soured and waterlogged, a breeding ground for the undesirable weeds, and also probably for germs of all sorts. Nothing but a drought of some proportions could rectify this. There must therefore be considerable benefit later for such pasture lands. The cracks which are appearing are letting the air down

The Drought

into the soil, are assisting drainage, and are of general benefit. There are several months of difficulty ahead for most dairy farmers. There are/very few farmers \|no are not dependent on their monthly cream cheques for the means to pay their living expenses. Most farmers live a more or less hand to mouth existence, with less chance to save than ever. These farmers are going to have a very hard lime in the months to come. Cows will not be coming in on most farms until August, at least four months without income. With no autumn growth to assist in the wintering of the stock, further problems arise, and there is much to worry farmers.

Fortunate Farmers

There are men here and there who are not greatly distressed by the continued dry weather. There are several reasons for this. It is noticeable that on one or two farms here and there where the farms have not been heavily stocked, the grass has not gone out so quickly. It is a recognised fact that where grass is allowed to have a fair amount of leaf, and is not grazed too short at any stage, it is much more drought resistant. It is probably fair to say that most farms in the North are overstocked. In such event, drought hits the farmer much more severely than otherwise.

Where a reserve of ensilage has been built up in good seasons, as is the case on a few farms, the drought has not had a great effect. On some farms,

also, although not many, crops are available to help over the difficulty.

j Pigs have suffered greatly owing to the lack of milk, and pigs of only 201 b dead weight are being killed at the , works. There is not a great deal of profit in these after insurance and j cartage are deducted, but it is better j to dispose of the pigs in this way and ■make a few shillings than to lose them : all. A few farmers have crops of maize j and pumpkins or kumi kumis and on {these farms good results are being ob- ■ tained despite the season. On Mr Jordan's farm at Okaihau, there are some very excellent kumi kumis, and the pigs on this farm ai-e all in great 1 order. I I Lessons of the Drought

There is much to be learnt from a drought. Where it is possible to put .by supplies of ensilage in good sea- ! sons, this should be done rather than just making enough for immediate requirements. Ensilage will keep' quite satisfactorily for several seasons in the stack, and it is as well therefore to ! make as much as possible. For the | pigs it is a very good plan indeed to put down a small area of crop, to tide over an event such as this one. There are several suitable crops. Artichokes are very good if fed with a little meat meal, and will flourish almost anywhere. Carrots are good growers on many classes of soil, and every farm can grow cattle marrows and pumpkins in small quantities. Maize will also grow on a variety of soils. It is wise to make some provision in this way for a bad season. Crops of this nature are never wasted, and they are an insurance against the bad seasons with all the worry and loss that they occasion.

There is nothing more distressing to the true farmer than to see starving stock, and to be unable to do anything about it. One must sympathise with them, for many of them were somewhat disheartened by years of depression, many of them are really only on a wage, and while it is easy to say now what might have been done to avoid I the consequences of a drought, one realises at the same time how very much most farmers have to do, and how the tendency to provide for the one season only is in many cases almost inevitable. The average New Zealand farmer has to do, on his own, or with perhaps the aid of a boy, the work that in any other country would be done by at least four or five men. Under such circumstances it is all very well to say what farmers should do, but quite another to do it in actual practice. % The only way of alleviation for the farmer is to put in all devices which may save him time and work. Here again ho is up against the two diffi-

culties. namely capital, and then the fact that many devices are put on the market that do not turn out trumps. In the matter of pig keeping, however, there are tried ways of making the work simple. First of all is the installation of a skim milk pump with pipes to the piggery. The nexi question is the matter of the piggery itself. The Best Piggery As a result of observations extending over some long period, it seems to me that the best unit for pigs is a good sty with dunging passages to each compartment, as is illustrated very well by the unit on the farm of Mr D. Marra, of Awakino Point, Dargaville, situated at the junction of a couple of cow paddocks. The pigs can be handled and fed with no inconvenience, can be housed in bad weather if need be, and can be let out to graze on the paddocks at will. By having access to two or three cow paddocks, the danger, and it is a very real one. of stale ground, is eliminated or at least reduced to the barest minimum. Moreover the tramping and manuring by the pigs will soon make such paddocks amongst the best on the farm, and eminently suited for haying. Where finances permit, it is a very good idea to put in one or two little tightly netted farrowing paddocks, to be used for sows and litters only, and closed up as soon as they vocate it just after weaning. Messrs Robinson Bros., at Ruawai have this system, and it would pay any farmer who happened to be down that way to go and see the system. A combination of the systems employed by Messrs Marra and Robinson Bros, seems to me to be ideal for the conditions met with on most farms in the North.

Feeding and handing are, under their conditions, the simplest of jobs, and very little time is taken up with the pigs. They more or less look after themselves. It is a fact, also, that animals should as far as possible be left to themselves. All the chasing and so on that takes place on most farms under the conditions existing is bad for pig and farmer. A pig in a constant state of nervous tension cannot grow as it should, and a farmer in the same state cannot retain any enthusiasm for long.

Contentment If the pigs are fed, and well fed, and left between feeds to their own devices. to graze or sleep or do what they feel like doing—except getting out of course—they will be contented, and instead of using their food in nervous energy will put in all into growth. That is the ideal to be aimed at, and it cannot be successfully attained unless some system of pig keeping is evolved suitable to the farm and the pocket of the farmer.