PIG-FARMING PROSPECTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18104, 31 May 1922, Page 12

PIG-FARMING PROSPECTS.

The production of lamb and mutton for the frozen meat trade in conjunction with the production of wool has made sheepfarming the most important branch of animal husbandry, after dairying-, in the Auckland district, but it must not be forgotten that Ihere is room for other branches of stock farming. Beef-raising is at present under a cloud owing to the competition of' other countries, and it is not likely that beef will over become a very important article in our overseas meat trade. But it should be pointed out that pig-farming, whether in conjunction with dairying or as a separate •industry, might becomo quite a profitable line for. the small farmer. No class of animal produces so much meat the food it receives as the pig, ana no other animal, not even excepting the (2aij;y cow, gives such largo monetary return per acre of land used. The pig multiplies rapidly, the rate of > increaso being tenfold, as against t'he cow i or the sheep, and it is capable cf thriving on a very wide variety of foods. The general idea is that a pig lives in a diri,/ sty and must bo fed on swill. As a matter of fact the pig can be trained to become a grazing animal, and to find nearly all its food in the field, providing food is grown. Grass, lucerne, clover can bn made the mainstay of the pig, and it can bo topped off" for bacon or pork on field peas, maize, earth nuts and a proportion of roots. There is a marked scarcity of pigs in New Zealand, and a growing demand for pork and bacon. Auckland is an exceptionally "*favo'--ed district for pig-farming, and at the present time it could offer profitable occupation for quite a largo number of people.