The Wanganui Chronicle. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1947. PIG PRODUCTION IN NEW ZEALAND.

Wanganui Chronicle, 25 February 1947, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1947. PIG PRODUCTION IN NEW ZEALAND.

■piE dairying industry regards the production of butter and cheese as its primary objective: it cannot afford as a perman ent policy to ignore the production of pigmeat. The policy of the industry must not be related to to-day, but to the future. In the face of falling production of pigmeat it is desirable to enquire to what extent a new attitude is required by the industry and every dairy farmer in it. 502,000 pigs were slaughtered for human consumption in the year 1931-32; there was a steady increase to the year 1935-36 when they totalled 1,039,000, the peak being reached in 1937-38 with a total of 1,128,000 eareases There was a slight decline in the following year’s production, with a marked decline in 1939-40 to 827,000 carcases. In the year 1944-45 it had fallen as low as 682,000 careases.

What is the cause of this decline? It is claimed that the dairj farmer is not receiving a full reward for his butter-fat, but it is claimed it does not appear that he has been dissatisfied with the price paid for pigmeat. Why, then, has it declined? One Ministei of the Crown suggested on one occasion that the farmer is making such a good income that he is not troubling to produce pigmeat The farmers’ point-of-view is that to raise pigs requires labour but that such labour is not available to him at a profitable rate. The secondary industries are able to pay more than the dairy farmer who would be prepared to raise pigs for export. Which of these two views is correct? Possibly there is a measure of truth in each oi them and their combined influence has resulted in a decline in the production of pigmeat. For the year ended March 31 last the pigs slaughtered rose 1o 740,000 but this recovery does not amount to a satisfactory effort. It may be due to the efforts of the re tuned servicemen who have taken up farming since they returned from the war.

Mr. L.L. Marsden, supervisor to the Wellington District Pig Council, believes that the rise in prices from 6|d. to an all-the year-around price of 84d for both porker and bacon pigs and the i's per acre crop subsidy makes the price quite attractive. He de elates that on commercial pig farms there has been no diminution of pig production but that the decline has occurred on the farms that are principally not pig producers but butterfat producers Assuming this to be so, then enquiry should be directed to how the pigfeed subsidy operates, whether the lack of request for it has arisen out of any cause that is removeable. The human factor must always be takqn into account and it is probable that the time taken and the details relating to the securing of the subsidy for pigfood operates as a barrier to farmers asking for it. Farmers are not accountants and they arc now required to make so many returns and keep such a wealth of detailed records that they have an averin,creasra S ! hei S record kee P>ng and their correspondence, feed s?tn a d t’ SUbSI u y ’ as . fa ' led t 0 attract “PPiieants, then the whole eed situation should be reviewed. Cheap pigfeed for the dairy imHhis B^" 18 t 0 - be / a ! led for if P’S Production is to be expanded due ’ v', P, u lnl,Sl be P urchase hble rather than self pro to cron nrJmf 1 f a | ly fa ™ ers arc 111 a Position to devote time of r ids °“ e baV ° ” Ot suffic ient land which permits of their setting aside a portion for cropping purposes. Despite the difficulties which confront the dairyfarmer when he contemplates producing pigmeat, it is nevertheless in his interest to expand production. According to Alex Longwill, Assistant .Superintendent of the Pig Industry, a £100,000,000 market for pigmeat is open. In an interesting article in the N.Z. Dairy Ex k’ndmht. £ SS . < ; rf S: . “While the difficulty in securing concentrates dnee rn mn t ICl ' e < 1S n ° rCaSOn wby we should not I,e ab,e 10 P™the f ° Ur dah ’ y with Olllv to car V n ro„M s * me “ ta ry feeding during the winter months y t lough the sows and litters to provide the pig’s necessary 1 *" tons ot export meat, increasing the value ?i s i IXr.°r 1 X r.° r S ir 7 £1 ’WOO to £2,750,000 at presenf value bu it is still tar from being the limit of our production.”

One ground on which this increase in production is urged upon the tanners is that in a few years’ time there will be competitron tor the world’s market and that New Zealand’s future dm-in "il be d ® peudent U P°“ thc quantity and quality supplied dining the next few years. This is an important consideration to turn a blind eye to which would be folly. This consideration also applies to other meats that now are exported. It is of interest to notice that in the latest White Paper issued by the British Government there is re commended a transference of emphasis from growing crops for immediate human consumption to growing crops fqr animal fodders. Such a proposal means an increase in the home-grown production of meat of all kinds. This increased British production is to be given the home market and it will be protected as to price and quantity. Control of imports is inherent in England's imme diate iu ure food policy. The fixing of quotas is, therefore, inevitable and it is reasonable to assume that these quotas will be fixed iiore on the basis of quantity rather than on price although the send t ?tl “it 1 ! >C iv- ° l \ t ° f aecoullt - 1f >» desirable, therefore, to - e id to the United kingdom the maximum of pigmeat of which the da '?’"u luduatr y’s l,ow capable or face the consequences in a few . eais time when the position may prove to be irretrievable.