USE OF CROSSBRED SOWS

Southland Times, Issue 23634, 8 October 1938, Page 19

USE OF CROSSBRED SOWS

MERITS OF LARGE WHITE PIGS The general opinion among pig rearers is that an attempt will be made in New Zealand to standardize the Tamworth-Berkshire halfbred sow as the mother for both pork and bacon production. The wisdom of this is questioned by some authorities, who assert that, taking into consideration the probability that farmers will not adhere closely to the first-cross only, but will be likely to accept any sow with even a strain of these two breeds as a “near-enough halfbred,” our product will soon lose uniformity of type, even if this can ever be secured by this 'method of breeding, states a writer in The New Zealand Herald. The necessity for using a crossbred B 0W _except to secure the extra vigour of first-cross animals —is also not admitted by many authorities, who claim that the best strains of Large White pigs have all the qualifications necessary for bacon pig production, while the Large White Berkshire-cross is ideal for porkers. J Large Whites have been kept as a pure breed for upward of 50 years in Great Britain. Today there are more being bred than ever before in all parts of Great Britain and Ireland. The preference for the Large Whites, so general in countries where bacon production is of economic importance, is probably based on experience and has not just happened. Carcass and bacon competitions at Smithfield, Birmingham and elsewhere prove that the Large White is almost unbeatable for bacon production. This was also recently the position at the bacon championships held at Whangarei. From England also have recently come the final results of the St. Edmundsbury bacon factory’s bacon pig competition. These show that the first four prizes were won by pure Large Whites. The average narks for the past 14 years also show the breed at the top, over all others. Tn view of these facts, one wonders why crossbred sows, with all their disadvantages, are to he favoured in establishing an industry likely to be of the greatest economic importance to the Dominion. s