PIG-BREEDING TESTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3995, 7 October 1930, Page 17

PIG-BREEDING TESTS.

GRANT FROM MEAT PRODUCERS’ BOARD. WELLINGTON, October 5. As the result of inquiries which the Meat Producers’ Board has been making into pig-recording work it has decided to make a grant amounting to £2OO to this important work. The objects of pig-recording work are, briefly, to show that marked differences pccur in litters produced by various sows and boars, and that economy of production depends upon the selection of desirable and the rejection of undesirable Strains and breeds, and, secondly, to show that different results are procured from different feeding practices, and that feeding records are valuable as an indication of the wide range of practices which can be tested out more fully by trials at the agricultural. colleges. The feeding records also give information regarding the economical use of available foodstuffs. Although originally started to .record pow and boar efficiency, the result of this work has been mainly a stressing of the importance of different aspects of management and the value of certain concentrates as supplementary food of skimmed milk. The movement is much the same as herd-testing in the dairy industry in its early days, and the value of this pig-recording work cannot be overestimated.