THE PIG INDUSTRY

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20761, 23 June 1937, Page 3

THE PIG INDUSTRY

FEEDING SOWS AND LITTERS HINTS TO FARMERS /By M. J. Scott, Department of Agriculture.) Among those who inquire about the feeding of pigs, the man who is short of feed, either because it is not to be had, or because it is too dear to buy, is met most frequently. The man who has abundance of feed, whatever its kind, is seldom inquiring. The man who has plenty of feed may have it by chance, but more usually his plenty is the result of his own planning. Organisation or planning is not a very pleasant pastime, but it is far more necessary with the feed supply of pigs than it is with that of cattle and sheep, and for this reason pigs are not popular as a live-stock project. Organisation with pigs is important because at least 80 per cent of the value of a pig is the feed it has eaten; because pigs get very little of their feed from the paddocks—-they are mostly hand-fed; because they are fed on relatively concentrated and, therefore, valuable foodstuffs; and because they have two peak-production periods each year, and so do not fit into the single yearly peak of natural growth in the way that cows, sheep, and other animals do. The questions of cost and distribution of the food supply require special consideration. Skim Milk. Where skim milk is the chief summer feed, the question of value or cost is not so important, but the one of distribution is very much so. Some source of winter feed supply is essential if value is to be obtained from a costless milk supply. It is easy to feed pigs on skim milk for someone else’s profit whenever too much feed is bought or if insufficient attention is given to a cheap winter feed supply. Where grain is the chief source of feed supply the question of distribution does not arise, since grain can be stored till it is wanted, but the question of cost is all-important, and cheap supplementary feeds are required. Both milk and grain and high quality feed supplies, each will bear dilution with

cheap, low-qualiy feed, and in both cases profits are determined solely by the amounts of cheap foods that are used. Organisation and planning of a feed supply is, therefore, of considerable Importance.

The Basis of Profit.

The necessity of cheap feed is not peculiar to New Zealand, but it is the very essence of profit here, because of the relatively low prices of pig meats. Many farmers get returns as high as 60/- per cow for pigs. Some attribute their success to the fact that they produce weaners, others that ’.hey produce baconers, others to a thrifty strain of pigs, others to the care they exercise in looking after their pigs, and others to the skilful use of small quantltes of grain. A consideration of their circumstances leads one to the conclusion that none of these things is the prime cause of success. They are merely incidentals, and the common factor of all successful pigfeeders Is that they have used, along with their milk and grain, cheap home-grown feed—viz., roots of pas-

tures in such a quantity that about half the total feed used is grain and milk. Feed Quantities Required. To feed a sow for a year and produce two litters (14 pigs to the weaner stag?, feed equivalent to about 3000 gallons of skim milk or 11 tons of grain is required. To feed the sow r.nd litters to the pork stage (901 b carcass) 4 tons of grain or its equivalent are required, and to feed the sow and litters to the bacon stage (1401 b carcass), 6 tons of grain are requir.d. V.nen weaners are 14/- per head and pork ano bacon 5d per lb, the gross returns for feed used (milk alone, grain alone, or milk and grain) are about £6/12/- per short ton of grain, and about Sd per gallon of milk (on the basis of 500 gallons, 31/- per cow). This is a gross theoretical maximum that may be achieved with grain, since gram can be stored until it is required, but is certainly not attainable with milk because of it poor distribution throughout the pig-feeding year. If, now, half the feed units are replaced by pasture or roots, the costs and returns are somewhat as follows: Using tne case of porker production as an example, 4000 gallons milk (or two tons gram) plus 20 tons of roots gives a gross return of 14 pigs x 901 b xsd per lb, equals £26/15/-. Roots cost, say, 5/- per ton, total £5, and so the 4000 gallons of milk (two tons grain) show a gross return of £2l/15/—i.e., £lO/17/6 per ton for grain or 1.30 d per gallon for skim milk. Some may consider it unprofitable to prodiwo roots at 5/- per ton. Nevertheless, the whole success of pig production depends on roots at this cheap rate, and it is certain that if the root crop at 5/- per ton is itself unprofitable because of low yield or high growl .. costs, then roots cannot be used to enhance the profits. Others may obiect that roots are a dangerous or unsuitable pig feed, and the answer to hat objection is that many use them with success, and satisfaction.