THE LEAN PIG.

Putaruru Press, Volume VI, Issue 231, 5 April 1928, Page 6

THE LEAN PIG.

A UNIVERSAL DEMAND. Extensive Breeding of Baconers Apropos of the strictures passed on our pork and bacon by visitors from abroad, and the reduced prices overweight pigs are making in our markets, the trend of opinion elsewhere is worth observing. An expert writer in a Canadian paper makes instructive comemnts on the “ lean ” pig as well as on other aspects of the fat pig trade. The article shows how far we have to go in New Zealand to equal the standard of pig husbandry attained in America. It is this standard, no doubt, that is the cause of more than 50 per cent of fresh meat consumed in America being pig products. Public demand for lean meats as contrasted with the old type of animal loaded with fat is making itself felt in swine-raising circles in the United States, as it has elsewhere, in spite of the long popularity of the lard hog in that country. Canada’s move toward the English market was made at the right moment. There are plenty of indications that all markets are rapidly coming to a point where a premium will be placed on this type.

In a recent letter to the Weekly Star, Mr F. B. Hansen, formerly employed by the Dominion Live Stock Branch as swine promoter in Alberta, and for the past two or three years engaged by a leading packing company in Wisconsin to sponsor a movement for their British trade, writes: “ Lately all the other packers in the State have joined this work, with the result that quite a number of Yorkshires are now being raised in certain sections, where dairy by-products are available. We have run up against some prejudice, but are successfully overcoming objections through the medium of carcase competition which has lately culminated in a market pig class held at the University of Wisconsin.”