POINTS OF VIEW

Waipa Post, Volume 48, Issue 3472, 29 May 1934, Page 5

POINTS OF VIEW

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. IMPROVED PORK PRODUCTS. Sir, —As an indication of the apathy of the farming community in recent years, there appears to be a shortage of Cape or feed-barley. A few days ago a retired farmer required a small quantity to sow for green feed and made inquiries at several grain and seed merchants in Wel.ingtcn; he was unsuccessful in his quest and had to make other arrangements. What is wrong? Is there no call'for this useful cereal nowadays? What' about the pig industry ? This grain is the easiest grown and one of the best finishes for a bacon-pig, or at least it was thought so 20 years ago. The position as regards our pork and butter exports is analagous, despite all the practical advice and hints from overseas we are slacking. We have got out of the way of helping ourselves and very clear.y demonstrate the proofs of the contention raised by Mr Howard in his very apt and clever contribution. Does the producer here in this country think that the overseas consumer has any more liking for a poor sample of pork and bacon than he has for second grade butter? In proof that they are connoisseurs, £11,000,000 worth of pork products was imported into Great Britain last year. About went to our progressive opponents, the Danes. The U.S.A. absorbed somewhere in the vicinity of £1,000,000 and the Dominion of New Zealand participated in the meagre contribution of £350,000. Surely with this country’s natural advantages we could have done better. We certainly have the same hurdle to negotiate as with our butter, viz., the long distance from the Home markets and the freezing and de-frcsting, but if the fundamental basis of good pork and good butter is not in evidence before going into co d storage it will certainly not develop during the voyage. The very pressing necesesity of grading all pork on the hooks at slaughtering time should effectually raise thestandard of such, then the very small percentage of growers who do feed grain would reap the benefit. The majority of our dairy-farmers have suitable land and possess the necessary implements and motor power for cropping, but they neglect to grow and make use of Cape or feed-bar.ey, which is a heavy cropping and important cereal. In a good many districts power-threshing facilities are available, so what is wrong in emulating our grandfathers and making use of the flail or “ Irish combine ” quite effective for small holdings. Cape barley steeped in cold water in wooden tubs overnight and fed the next day to the pigs would very soon demonstrate its efficiency; the process of steeping admits of better mastication and consequently greater benefit. A large area of the Dominion is devoted to the manufacture of cheese, the resultanthy-product being almost invariably used’ as one of the principal pig-foods. When one realises that during the process of cheesemaking all casein is eliminated and the residue being put through the separator whereby all the fat is extracted, the only nutrient matter remaining is a little sugar of milk. It requires no great flight of the imagination to understand what immense, quantities of this vile and evil-smell-ing compound are required to build up the system and fatten a pig. When one sees a farmer ladling - out this stuff in kerosene tins from metal receptacles which are never scrubbed from one season to another, one’s mind revolts at the thought of partaking of the resultant bacon. -It is therefore small wonder' that the overseas consumer rejects it, to say nothing cf the insult to the “ epicurean ” taste of poor piggy. When we are told that it takes about six months of this unpalatable feeding to produce a payab'e preposition in the shape of an aspirant to bacon fame, you will think that this monotonous form cf feeding would pall on the faimer (to say nothing of’ the pig). On the other hand, he will tell you that it is cheap feeding and he had no trouble in disposing of his pigs and get the same price as his neighbour, whose pigs were finished off on hardfeed, so why worry? But now comes the denouement, and the farmer is not so much to blame. Easy methods; and good times were productive of good results, but he will now have to put on his thinking-cap and mend his ways. In other words he will have to study the science of political economy a little more and educate himself to the position of catering to the tastes of those markets who accept his products.—l am, etc., ANTI-WHEY.