THE PIG INDUSTRY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 24 June 1937, Page 9

THE PIG INDUSTRY

ORGANISING THE FEED SUPPLY THE BASIS OF PROFIT (Notes by M. J. Scott, 8.A., IS.Sc.) Among those who enquire about the feeding of pigs, the man wlio is short oi feed, either vecause it is not to be had, or because it is too dear to buy, is met most frequently. The man who has abun. dance of feed, whatever its kind, is seldom enquiring. The man who lias plenty ot .teed may have it by chance, but more • usually his plenty is the result of lus own planting. Organisation or planning 13 not a very pleasant pastime, but t is far more necessary with the feed supply of pigs than it is with that of cattle and sheep, and for this reason pigs are not popular qs a live-stock project. Organisations with pigs is important because at least 80 per cent, of the value of a pig is the feed it has eaten; be- * cause pigs get very little of their feed fsom the paddocks—they are mostly handfed; because they are fed on relatively concentrated and therefore valuable iooilstuffs • and because they have two peak production periods each year, and s o do not . fit into the single yearly peak V or natural growth in the way that cows, sheep and other animals do. The questions of cost and distribution of the food supply require special consideration.

SKIM-MILK NOT AVAILABLE ALL THE YEAR

Where skim-milk is the chief summer feed, the question of value or cost is not important, but the one ol distribution is very much so. Some source of winter feed supply’is essential if value is to be obtained from a costless milk supply. It is easy to feed pigs on skimmilk for someone else’s profit, whenever too much feed is bought, or if insufficient attention is given to a cheap winter feed supply. Where grain is/ the chief source of feed supply the question of distribution does not arise, since grain can be stored until it is wanted, but the question of cost is“ all important and cheap supplementary feeds are reouiied. Both milk and grain are high quality feed supplies, each will bear dilution with cheap, low-quality feed, and in both cases profits are determined solely by the amounts of cheap feeds that are used.

Organisation and planning of a feed sup ply is therefore of considerable impor Lance.

CHEAT FEED THE BASIS OF PROFIT

The necessity of cheap feed is not peeuliai- to New Zealand, hot if is,th» very essence of profit here, because of the relatively low prices of pig-meats. .Many fanners get returns as high as 60s per cu>v for pigs. Some attribute their success to the fact that they produce wean, ers, others that they produce bacouers, others to a thrifty strain of pigs, others to the care they exercise in looking after their pigs, and others to the skilful use of small quantities of grain. A consideration of their circumstances leads one to the conclusion that none of these tilings is the prime cause of success. They are merely incidentals and the common factor of all successful pig-feeders is that they have used, along with their milk and grain, cheap home grown feed, viz., roots or pastures in such a quantity that about half the total feed used is grain and milk. FEED QUANTITIES REQUIRED To feed a sow for a year and produce two litters (14 pigs) to the weaner stage, feed equivalent to about 3,000 gallons of skiin-iiiiik or lg tons of grain is required. To feed the sow and litters to the pork stage (901 b. carcase), 4 tons of grain or its equivalent are required, and to feed the sow and litters to the bacon stage jidOlb. carcase), 6 tons of grain are required. When weauers are 14s per head and pork and bacon 5d per lb., the gross returns for feed used (milk alone, grain alone or milk and grain) are about £6 12: ; per short ton of grain, and about §d per gallon of milk (011 the basis of 500 gallons, 31s per cow). This is a gross theoretical maximum, that may be achieved with grain, since grain can be stored until it is required, but is certainly not attainable with milk because of its poor distribution throughout the pigfeeding year. If now, half the feed units are replaced by pasture or roots, the costs and returns are somewhat as follows : Using the ease of porker production as an example, 4,000 gallons of milk (or 2 tons grainl plus 20 tons of roofs give a gross return of 14 pigs x 601 b. x 5d per lb., £26 15s. Roots cost say 5s per ton, total £5, and so the 4,000 gallons of nnlk (2 tons grain) show a gross return of £2l 15s, i.e. £lO 17s 6d pel- ton for grain, or 1.30 d per ballon for skim-milk. Some may consider it unprofitable to produce roots at 5s per toil. Nevertheless the whole success of pig production depends on roots at this cheap rate, and it is certain that if the root crop at 5s per ton is itself unprofitable because of low yield or high growing costs, then roots cannot be used to enhance the profits. Others may object that roots are a dangerous or unsuit, able pig feed, and the answer to that objection is that many use them with success and satisfaction.