ON THE LAND

Taranaki Daily News, 19 January 1935, Page 20 (Supplement)

ON THE LAND

DENMARK’S PIGS ONLY ONE TYPE OE CROSS. EXTENT OF CO-OPERATION. The pig enterprise in Denmark developed concurrently with the dairy industry. After the change-over in the farming system began, and increasing supplies of skim milk, butter milk and whey became available, the industry began to attain importance. In the early days of the industry there was considerable uncertainty as to the type of pig to produce, says a writer in the Farmers’ Weekly, London. The German market demanded a fat and very heavy pig, the English market required a long, lean pig of much less weight. In 1895, however, Germany closed her frontier to imports from Denmark of both fresh pig meat and live pigs, and since that date the primary aim in the Danish pit, industry has been to cater for the British bacon market. The two outstanding points of interest in the to-day are (1) the pig breeding, and (2) the extent of cooperation in the industry. There is virtually only one type or pig in Denmark—the first cross between the English Yorkshire and the native Landrace. Breeding from the cross does not yield baconers so good as the first cross itself, and the two breeds are, therefore, maintained in the. pure state at officially recognised breeding centres. At present there are 195 centres for the Landrace breed and 31 for the Yorkshire. These receive a small State subsidy. ELIGIBLE STOCKS. Stocks are eligible for recognition as suitable for breeding if free from tuberculosis, if their pedigrees are satisfactory, and if they successfully pass a 12months’ probationary period ■ during which, as subsequently, they are kept under supervision by the Association of Danish Co-operative Bacon Factories. Official recognition as a breeding centre must be renewed annually. Annual reports on fertility must be submitted and every year two from each sow in the centre must be sent to one of the five litter-testing stations. There they are fed under identical conditions and note is taken of the food consumption, live weight increase, rate of increase, etc. At bacon weight they are slaughtered, the loss in weight noted, and the carcases graded according to type, length and depth of side, thickness of back and belly fat, For breeding purposes the Landrace centres sell their sow weaners, and the Yorkshire their boars, at premiums varying according to the results published by the litter-testing station. The first cross is the ordinary Danish baconer. Some farmers prefer the pure Landrace and a few the pure Yorkshire, but the majority favour the cross. CO-OPERATIVE MOVEMENT. Nowhere has' the co-operative movement in bacon production met with such success as in Denmark. No less than 62 of her 85 bacon factories are co-operative concerns owned and operated by the pig producers themselves and these produce about 80 per cent, of the total bacon output. Delivery contracts are for five, seven or ten years, and under them the members are pledged to deliver to their factory all the pigs they produce except those required for home butchering and those sold under three months old. Payment‘is according to grade and carcase weight, the latter being the weight of the pig with internal parts removed, but. with head and feet attacked. The standard carcase weight is 1321 b to 1651 b, but top quotation is paid only for pigs of 1381 b to 1491 b carcase weight.

FIVE FACTORS FOR UNIFORMITY.

There are three quality grades for which quotations are fixed weekly. Actual bacon prices in the British market together with a knowledge of market conditions and “feeling the market” serve as the basis in fixing the quotations. The pig producer receives a conservative payment on delivery and the balance at the end of the fiscal year in the form of a Share of the surplus from the year’s operations proportionate to the number of pigs delivered. The outstanding point about Danish bacon is its consistent quality, and the consistency is perhaps more remarkable than the quality itself. There are several factors which contribute to this uniformity of the final product:— (1) There is virtually only one type of pig in the country, (2) A liberal supply of separated milk is the universal basis of the feeding rations which are otherwise very similar, (3) The system of payment for the pigs at the factory is inducive to their being all delivered within the prescribed weight limits. (4) The treatment of the carcases and the curing in the factories are standardised, and (5) The fact that the majority of the factories are co-operative concerns. CLEANLINESS AND HEALTH. The Ministry of Agriculture, in collaboration with the factories, has prescribed regulations govemirj cleanliness and disease and the whole process of curing and packing for export. In every factory there must be at least one veterinary surgeon, whose duty it is to examine all carcases. The famous Lur brand mark can only be put on pigs which can be guaranteed free from disease, and only the Lur article can be exported. There is no storing of bacon in the Danish factories. As soon as the curing process is complete it is stacked and baled for export, the bulk going to Britain in the form of mild cure Wilt-shire-cut sides. No middlemen in Denmark are Involved in the export. The factories either act independently and sell their output through agents in Britain, or else co-operatively and sell through the Danish Co-operative Bacon Trading Company in London. Denmark is no longer permitted to send as fiiuch 'bacon as she likes to England.

The production of pigs has had to be controlled and curtailed, each farmer being allocated a certain number of “Pig Cards” one for each pig he is permitted to sell for bacon production at realisation value. Cards not required by any farmer can be sold to another pig producer. Their commercial value is about 20s to 30s each. Denmark is unable to develop new markets for her bacon output, and she has no prospects of doing so. She fears that as Britain’s new policy develops she will have further to restrict her productions.

PREPARING PASTURES A MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR. DANGER OF LATE SOWING. Pastures, which are intended to have such a long life that they are termed “permanent,” are our most important crop, remarks Mr. R. P. Connell, of the Fields Division, Palmerston Neri', in the latest issue of the New Zealand Journal of Agriculture. Advances in our knowledge about pasture strains and about top-dressing enable a greater length of life to be more readily and certainly associated with continuous high production than was previously possible. Any initial weakness is likely to affect production detrimentally throughout the whole life of the pasture. Because of these three facts, the task of establishing permanent pastures is one of the most important in New Zealand farming, and one which warrants much greater attention than at times it receives.

Poor results in the establishment of permanent pastures are generally due to one or more of the following causes: (p sowing on poorly tilled land; (2) use of unsuitable seed; (3) sowing at an unsuitable time. In the case of pastures sown in the fall, sowing on poorly tilled land and sowing at an unsuitable time both usually may be traced to starting preparatory cultivation at too late a date. For full success the seed-bed for permanent pastures needs to be in a fine, mellow, and firm rather than in a loose lumpy condition. To secure the desirable condition, the cultivation of land to be sown in permanent pasture in the fall should now be kept in view. Hurried tillage eliminates the natural weathering of the soil, which has been shown by experience to be of much value in the economical production of a fine, firm seed-bed. The special need that exists for a fine, firm seed-bed arises partly from the really minute size of the vital parts of seeds of some of the more important pasture plants. There are about a quarter of a million ryegrass seeds and three-quarters of a million white clover seeds to the pound, and as a substantial portion of the pound is represented by seed-coats, it may be deduced that the vital parts in each seed are so minute that any process of covering them on uneven, lumpy ground must necessarily bury many of them so deeply that they are quite unable to send their shoots up into the light. The firmness of seed-bed that comes with fineness, apart from favouring even covering of the seeds, seems to beget vigorous root development. Even on the heavier soils that naturally consolidate relatively readily, failures whicth farmers at times are inclined to attribute to their being supplied with faulty seed are found, on inspection, to be due to a loose condition of the seed-bed—a good “strike” may be noted where there has been additional consolidation—e.g., in hoof-marks or in wheel-tracks or at headlands, while similar seed has failed on the major and looser portion of the field.

WEAKNESSES IN SEED MIXTURES.

If pasture is to follow an arable crop, it is often sound practice, provided the land is reasonably clean, to disk rather than to plough—the greater firmness of seed-bed given by the disking may be an advantage, and additional fertiliser, provided by the animal manure, is retained near the surface, where it most readily benefits the young pasture plants. ■■■ ,

As the seed used is of basic importance, ’it is unfortunate that three weaknesses in respect of seed mixtures are of colhmon occurrence. Firstly, at times, the amounts of different pasture plants included in the mixture are not in accord with those suggested as suitable by field experience; sometimes money is spent on seeds of plants which are not worthy of a place in a mixture; and sometimes seeds of plants which are of considerable value in specific circumstances are omitted in such circumstances. Secondly, suitable amounts and kinds dr species of seeds may be used, but strain differences within a species may be ignored, with consequent marked inferiority in the resultant pasture. The great benefit of employing a good strain of perennial rye-grass is now widely recognised, but it does not seem to be so widely understood that analogous benefit is to be secured from the use of superior strains of clover and of cocksfoot. The only sure way of exploiting recent advances in our knowledge relative to strain differences within pasture species is to use certified seed. Thirdly, the use of suitable species and strains of seeds in. appropriate amounts is not sufficient to ensure a satisfactory seed position unless care has been taken to obtain seed of good germination capacity, vitality, and purity. The report of the Seed Analyst provides interesting information about variations relative to germination and purity which were noted last year when there were no marked departures from the normal average position. The report contains abundant evidence that within the one district in the one season there were, as usual, substantial variations in germination capacity which indicates that price comparisons alone were very unperfect guides in the purchasing of seeds. The report also contains evidence that lack of caution in purchasing seeds would at times lead to the inclusion in the seed mixture of seeds of such plants as Californian thistle, ragwort and ox-eye daisy—e.g., a normal sowing of cocksfoot and dogstail in a mixture for an acre might have included 4,480 seeds of Californian thistle. Many of the faults commonly characterising pasture’ seed-mix-tures may be avoided by seeking advice from district officers of the Fields Division. As time may be required for proper attention to some of the matters calling for consideration, the purchasing of seed for permanent pastures should not be made in’ the hurried manner which is necessary when the selection of seeds is deferred until just before the seed is to be sown. Hasty purchase of seed is likely to be haphazard, and not based on as full a knowledge as is desirable in respect to such important matters as the strain and germination of the various lines of seed available. The date of sowing of pastures in the autumn fairly frequently is too late. In many parts an element of danger attaches to any sowings later than March —occasionally, of course, sowings which would be too late in the majority of a series of seasons are quite successful, and because of this such late sowings are carried out generally and the number of relatively poor results that necessarily ensue are attributed to anything but the real cause, 'hich is the bad management that is involved in risxing the dangers attaching to late sowings. It is widely known that clovers are likely to suffer in late sowings, but it seems not to be so generally known, although it has been well demonstrated, that the development of rye-grass and other plants in late sowings is at times subject to great checks from which it is doubtful whether the sowing ever fully recovers,