PIG INDUSTRY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 July 1939, Page 3

PIG INDUSTRY

▼ , COUNCIL’S ANNUAL MEETING. PROGRESS DURING THE YEAR. Delegates from each of the nine district councils and representatives of every phase of the pig industry were present at the annual meeting in Wellington of the National Pig Industry Council, which has been set up to administer the funds from the 2d per pig levy. In his annual report the chairman, Mr A. H. Cockayne, who is also Di-rector-General of Agriculture, said that progress had been made during the year with the following questions: —The provision of an adequate supply of grain for pig feed; the establishment of a carcase quality scheme for commercial baconers; of a pedigree performance (carcase evaluation) scheme for purebred pigs; the preparation of a booklet of plans of houses and layouts; the establishment of a new district council in Gisborne, with corresponding adjustments in the boundaries of other district coun'cils; the publication and distribution of Bulletin No. 167, “Modern Methods of Pig Production”; arrangements for the interchange of club stock; the question of show standards; the appointment of an official paper; the circulation of reports from colleges and research stations. “The number of items that have received attention represent an achievement with which this council may well be satisfied,” said Mr Cockayne. “In the main, other items which have not been finalised present some peculiar difficulty, and are still being enquired into.” NATIONAL INSTRUCTIONAL SCHEME. Dealing with the national instructional scheme, Mr Cockayne said that each' of the nine district councils had given particular attention to some' feature of the industry, and without exception their annual reports indicated a maintained interest and enthusiasm. Reports from departmental officers of improvements that had been made in pig-keeping conditions lent support to that viewpoint. To date there were 240 pig clubs in existence, with a membership of approximately 3,000. The number of breeding stock distributed was approximately 1,600, and in at least two of the districts appropriate measures had been taken to follow up the quality of the progeny of these distributed sows.

Il was of the utmost importance that the quality of those pigs be ascertained, for without information on that point it might easily happen that the types of pig distributed were of no better quality than the present grade pigs. Such a contingency would render the present organisation futile.