PIG INDUSTRY

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 79, Issue 7077, 6 July 1949, Page 7

PIG INDUSTRY

TWO INTERESTING LECTURES

FEATURES AT TOMOANA COMPETITION

Two interesting and instructive lectures were given at the Tomoana Porker and Baconer Competition held at the Westfield Freezing Works on Monday. Faulty Nutrition and Pig Wastage The first was given by Mr A. A. Leslie, F.R.C.V.S., chief executive officer of the New Zealand Veterinary Services Council, who took as his subject “Wastage in the Pig Industry due to Faulty Nutrition.” Mr Leslie said:— My talk deals with the all important subject of faulty nutrition as a cause of pig wastage in New Zealand. By faulty nutrition I mean bad feeding in some form or other. It may be under-feeding, over-feeding, unbalanced feeding, specific mineral or vitamin deficiencies or the presence in the diet of harmful substances. Few pigs in New Zealand are fed to capacity at all times because generous feeding is not always the most profitable from the cash point of view. However* all pigs need a certain amount of the various food ingredients for growth, production, fattening and for the maintenance of resistance against disease. From first hand knowledge of feeding practices in New Zealand I have concluded that more pigs are underfed than over-fed and more receive unbalanced rations than rations deficient in a single food ingredient. Many diets, too, are over bulky and lack quality and variety. But what is the- total pig wastage in New Zealand due to faulty nutrition?

This can be measured and guessed at in four main ways. The wastage may arise from:— (1) Retarded growth and poor weight gains, (2) unthriftiness due to ill health, (3) condemnation of diseased carcases, and (4) mortalities. All know that slow growth and poor weight gains follow any system of feeding which introduces inadequacies, deficiencies and unsuitable combinations of ingredients. A shortage of protein is one of the commonest, if not the commonest, causes of pigs failing to grow well, especially in winter. How generous pigs are fed depends largely upon economic factors. While it may pay to feed pigs generously at all times, many farmers find a less liberal system of feeding more profitable. This is an important aspect of pig husbandly because, after all, the cost of food is the main item of expenditure in the production of pig meat (pork or bacon). Poor nutrition favours the onset of disease—and the pig with nutritional ailments is no exception. It does so in many ways. Susceptibility to germs and the like may be increased, e.g., pneumonia and pleurisy; germs may acquire greater virulence, e.g., enteric diseases; and specific nutritional diseases, e.g., rickets, vitamin A paralysis, etc.; may develop. Some idea of the effects of faulty nutrition and improper management and housing in creating disease in pigs comes from an analysis I made, recently of the relative importance of the various influences responsible for the principal ailments of pigs in New Zealand.

Of the 60 principal diseases, disorders, and disabilities which affect pigs in tlis country: 10 are associated with poor management and housing; 25 are associated with faulty nutrition; and 25 are caused by germs and worm parasites. Put it another way—at least 60 per cent, of pig troubles are due to faulty feeding, bad housing, and poor management. The solution to these troubles is therefore largely the concern of the pig farmer himself and revolves round better feeding, better management and better housing facilities. In other words, the provision of a less hirmful farm environment for pigs wil' lessen substantially the present waftage from deaths and disease. Wastage of pig meat on the farm due to leaths is considerably greater than the loss of meat condemned in works Air disease, bruising, disfigurement <T other causes responsible for meat king unsuitable for human consumpton. In other words, dead pigs on th* farm cost the industry more thai Works’ condemnations. The greatest death rate—2o to 30 pe' cent.—occurs from birth to weanin;, followed by weaner mortalities. Mich can be done by the. farmer himslf, to correct this loss because the rajority of it is of farming origin, letter feeding of in-pig sows is part f the remedy; early crop feeding of he litter is another; and judicious diets for weaners a third. It is pleasing to note from Depart-

mental statistics that deaths due to pneumonia and pleurisy are decreasing considerably as a result of better housing and better feeding, thanks to pig councils, veterinarians, etc. Fifteen years ago 55 out of every 1000 carcases used to show some evidence of pleurisy. To-day this figure has been reduced to less than half; and, should decrease further as a result of the timely use and efficacy of the sulpha drugs and penicillin in treatment. So much so for the multiple internal insults to which pigs are

exposed. There is still room for improvement in reducing wastage due to faulty castration (3 to 4 in 1000 carcases), wounds and bruises (7 in 1000), skin ailments (2 in 1000), peritonitis (5 in 1000), and arthritis (5 in 1000). Tuberculosis in pig carcases is still the commonest single specific cause of condemnations in works—average 16 per cent.—and the indications are that this will continue until a programme of tuberculosis control and eradication is brought into being for our dairy herds and poultry flocks. From what I have already said in this brief talk it will be evident to ail that the pig farmer himself can do much to bring about, by better farm- > ing, a substantial reduction in pig wastage. Further research can also play a part, but, the greatest good u ill follow the judicious application of that which is already known about successful pig keeping. Perhaps more can be achieved by making better and more efficient use cf our milk by-products. Savings made

in this connection can mean much to the industry and much in disease control because of the very high biological value, which milk products have in the production of high quality pig meats.

Mr C. H. M. Sorensen, chief lecturer in the Nutrition Advisory Service of W. and R. Fletcher, gave an informative address on the “Carcase Judging System,” and he dealt with the. manner in which the carcases were measured. Mr Sorensen had a team of carcases end several charts giving the score of points for a carcase weighing 1501 b. The lecturer said that the carcases were judged by different judges, who afterwards checked their points, thus assuring correct markings. As one listened to Mr Sorensen, one realised how far the. raising of pigs had gone from the somewhat rough and ready methods of bygone days to the highly scientific methods in operation to-day. Mr Sorensen had the use of two live pigs for demonstration purposes and here., too, Mr Sorensen’s summing up and appraisal of the fine and essential points of a pig were illuminating and instructive. A good deal of the lecture was not easily reportable by reason of the fact that the lecturer illustrated his points per medium of the carcases, charts and two live pigs, but those present could not but have benefited by the remarks of Mr Sorensen.