THE FARM.

Colonist, Volume LVI, Issue 13592, 6 October 1914, Page 8

THE FARM.

PIG FARMING.

The humble pig came in for a warm word of praise at the Farmers' Union Conference. In his presidential address Mr. J. G. Wilson said that somehow pig farming was not loked upon with favour, but it very profitable. All pigs were by-products of the dairying industry. But as converters of grain into meat they were unequalled. "Take, for instance, the Opotild country," said Mr. Wilson. /'There they grow large quantities of maize which finds a market in Auckland. I believe if they converted the maize into meat on the farm it would pay much better. They do this with cattle in the United States, but here pork and bacon are selling so well that this form of consumption of cereals would probably pay much better than beef. There would be loss expense, for the cobs would not require, shelling. The pork could be sold as fresh meat or turned into bacon, which always sells well. A farmer in Victoria lately found his barley was discoloured and worth only Is 6d a bushel. He determined to convert it into moat. He bought pigs at an average* of about £2—fattened them on crushed barley, made a profit of £1 a head, after all expenses were paid; in other words he sold his barley at 3s 6d instead of 2s, which was the prevailing price, although he did not consider he could have got more than Is 6d for his. Such a result here, in our climate, could not be obtained without the expenditure of some capital in the .way of buildings, for the feeding of pigs in an enclosure of mud, as is too often seen oi'. dairy' farms, is not conducive to profit, but I am certain there is a large and profitable business in pig-farming if it were extended."