MODERN PIG-KEEPING

Waikato Times, Volume 117, Issue 19515, 2 March 1935, Page 23 (Supplement)

MODERN PIG-KEEPING

Farm Produced Food. Certainly the men who are making most money from pigs are those who are producing winter food on the farm, in the shape of barely, maize O’’ peas. Crops of these are being grown in Hie Ilauraki Plains and Whakatano districts on quite a good scale, and high yields are being obtained iii the former district even this year. Eighty bushels of maize and sixty bushels of peas arc quilc common. Barley, which is the best of all grains for pigs,, is being grown in the Morrinsville district, witii yields of up to forty bushels lo Ihc acre, and this solely for pig feeding. The men who are growing these crops are quite confident there is good money in pig keeping if the grain for them is produced on the farm. One man who is growing se\’en acres gf maize and getting a yield of seventy bushels to the aero says the cost of producing and harvesting the crop works out at Is 5d a bushel, this Including the cost of oewt. of manure to the acre, seed at 8s a bushel and all the cost of labour in preparing the seed bed, sowing the seed, harvesting and sheltering.

Feeding Barley. ’ Where whole barley is fed it -would be an advantage to scold it. Then it need not be left In the water so long. Whore there is no other food for the baconers but grain and meat meal, no milk or grass or roots, it is necessary to give about 51b of barley a day and ill) of meat meal or meat and bone meal, a rather expensive diet, especially if it is to be continued for any time. This is for pigs weighing about 150 lbs livo weighl. For pigs of a lesser weight less food would ho required while for heavier pigs more food would he necessary. * * * a Lucerne IVleal. There arc undoubted possibilities in lucerne meal. Enquiries have been made in Ihc South Island, but it has been found that the price asked for the lucerne by Marlborough growers was 100 much lo make its introduction 10 the North Island feasible, especially as freight charges and the cost of grinding would have to be added. There are localities in the North Island where lucerne flourishes and in Hi esc places Iho growing of lucerne to he made into meal offers excellent prospeels. Such a dislriel is Kali Kali, where liie soil is light am! very open. Kuecnio flourishes in Ihc disiriel. Producing big crops of highquality hay il is grazed every year from dune to October. Even where pigs are grazed on lucerne in Hie winter henelil. rallier Ilian harm is dime ,| a the stand. At Kali Kali the lucerne fields are never harrowed or eullivaled in any way. but are annually dressed willi lime ami phosphale. The crushing of lucerne into meal is now a big business in England, the meal being used principally for poultry. Tim machine for grinding costs ahoul Jdso. 11 is said that a .New Zealand pm producer lias ordered a machine-

Carrots and IVleat lYleal. It has been proved, but certainly by only one test, that carrots and meat and bone meal will alone give very satisfactory weight increase in the winter months. In the test in question the pigs received the carrots ad lib. and lib of meat and bone meal a day, the latter being mixed with molasses water, a cupful to four gallons of water. The pigs had the run. of grass, and though it is was .Tune Ihe grass on the completely fertilised fields was very fair. In TO days flic pigs put on 50 lb of live weight.

A Good Cross. A Iluawai Bottler. Alt’ Amlmry, is very satisfied wilh a cross lie uses--that of a large While boar on Tar.i-worlh-Bcrkshire sows. He sent twenty-six pigs of this cross to the Pig Alarkel.ing Association litis season and every one was graded “finest selected." And only 23 per rent, of tho pigs received by the Association reach Hits grade. « * * * English Large Whites. *r 'Air A. E. Biclcell, the well-known breeder says that when in England he had an opportunity of seeing many of the Large White herds and from what he saw he was convinced that if New Zealand had the Large Whites they have in England It would have pigs to be proud of. An English Large White, he says, is entirely different from the type of Large White we have in New Zealand. Air. Biclcell contends that the -fine boned pig gets coarse in New Zealand, the climate of which is not so rigorous as is that of England. The pigs in this country therefore get coarse both in bone and in body.

Cod Liver Oil. A reader asks if whale oil is a good tiling lo give pigs suffering from pleurisy. In the first place care should he taken lo see that there are no draughts in the sleeping 'quarters and lhat the floor is absolutely'airtight. A slatted floor deliberately invites pleurIsy. A clean warm bed is also necessary. Whale oil is not [o be compared wilh 'Cod Liver oil. X A much higher vitamin content (especially of vitamin A) of good brands of cod liver oil makes it many time more valuable than whale oil, and the risk of whale oil tainting the carcase is very great. In one instance a reader of these columns fed whale oil to a pig intended lo be killed for home use. The whale oil was not used during the last five weeks. When it came to coolc the meal the odour was so strong lhat any thought of eating it was out of the question, and the whole of the carcase was buried.

The value of good cod liver oil cannot be over-estimated. It is the richest of all foods in vitamin A. Not only is thero failure of the young organism to grow when the supply of this vitamin is restricted, but both young and-old show a decline in health which may end fatally. The resistant powers of the body to disease infection is undermined. It has been called jby one authority as the anti-infective [vitamin. Vitamin A is stored in the j liver of the cod, and In much lesser degree in the livers of other animals. An interesting fact about the potency ot livers (because of [heir vitamin conlent) is lhat “night blindness,” generally associated wilh vitamin A deficiency, was a common trouble apparently among the ancient Egyptians, as in an Egyptian papyrus of about of about J DOO B.G. a reference L contained io tho use of liver preparations as a cure for this trouble. Another important vitamin in cod liver oil is vitamin D. The disorder of bone growth, known as rickets, can be prevented and even cured by this vitamin. A number of animal foods prevent rickets, but—says one authority—as a class the fish liver oils are by comparison with other foodstuffs so potent In this respect as to stand by themselves. The Danes use cod liver oil for all their pigs up till near the finishing stage.

$ * $ $ Roots fop Pigs. Many pig keepers feed bolh swedes and mangels to their pigs of all ages, but in a good many cases these roots are fed indiscriminately, without any particular attention being paid to their food value and actual quantities which may be fed to advantage. Roughly speaking, some 8 to 10 lb. of swedes Or mangels Is equivalent to 1 lb. of barley meal, but swedes—except, perhaps, towards the end of winter when mangels become more valuable—are a slightly better food on analysis than mangels. It should be noted, however, that the latter vary to sotno extent according to variety. Thus, yellowfleshed, globe or tankard, and long red mangels are a little superior to the whitc-llcshed globe and intermediate varieties. Swedes arc about half the value of sugar beet, while turnips come quite at the bottom of the scale so far as roots are concerned. Apart, •however, from their nutritive value, all tlie.se roots have a medicinal effect on pigs, which renders them highly valuable when greenstuff is unobtainable and grass is watery and poor. But there is no advantage in overdoing any of lliesc foods, and 10 lb. per day of any of Ihom is probably ns much as even I lie larges) pig can assimilate lo advantage, * * * Paralysis of Hind Legs. This rallier common Iroiible with pigs, says a very keen breeder, is enlirely due lo eoiislipaliou. lo which pigs are very subject, lie says 1." has proved il. A 1 lirsl when lie saw the lirsl signs of stiffness he gave Mm pigs a good dole of linseed oil, following Ibis with diminishing doses for several days. Now he has qiiiie selHed Hie constipaliun trouble, lie consider*, by

j putting some linseed oil in the food once a week. lie docs not know whether it really pays but now his pigs never get constipation or paralysis of the hind legs. Certainly if constipation is not- cured as soon as possible it may lead to very i serious trouble. First, loss of appcj lite and evil effects of die retention of j impurities in the system and la.cc com- '■ plete paralysis of the hind-quarters, ' owing- to pressure of the overcharged , intestines on the spine.

❖ ip if Selection by Length. The 'Danes are not laying great emphasis on the selection of their pigs by lcnglh, especially as this character is not greatly iniiuenced by environment and nutrition, but is a tlxccl attribute and of great' economic value. Actually • the Danish workers (Jesperson and Madsen) found that the longer the pig, the less likelihood was there of the back fat being thick. 'But the degree of correlation is not very high. These results have been confirmed by a worker in 'Czechoslovakia (Rosycki)’. Working with the pigs at the StaryBrzesc 'Pig Testing Station, he came to the conclusion that body length is of the greatest importance in the selection of breeding pigs for the production of bacon for the British market. It should be remembered that length can be overdone. Again, that Jeisjjih is very deceptive when determined by the eye. A tall narrow pig general'.-' looks longer than a iovv-se; and wider pig, but when actually measured Lho low-set pig that appears to ho on the short side will often be fnirul just as long. Length must not bo obtained at the expense of constitution and desirable conformation.

* * * * Large White Typo. A correspondent wants lo know if j lho large rangy Lvpe is the most desirable Large While. Definitely it is not. The big type of Large White lost favour in England many years ago, though unfortunately there arc some strains of this type in New Zealand; and these are ihc strains lhat arc doing She breed harm. The type that has proved to he so valuable from a rommer-dal viewpoint is lower set, finer-boned, a wider pig. It has length, fine shoulders, a clean neck, a light jowl, and is free from waste, and has ability to lay on flesh and fat evenly. In getting a deeper, squarcr pig there is a danger j of getting a pig thick over the neck, and Ibis must he guarded against. The ! Swedes, by breeding according to performance, have developed an ideal commercial type of tlie breed, in which ! quality is combined with development in the most valuable part of the carcase, as well as rapid maturity. And the Swedish Large White is a low-set pig, not the tall rangy type that passes so often in this country for the best type of the breed. V V w « Pig Population of World, “ The International Year Book of Agricultural Statistics,” published at Dome by the International Institute of Agriculture, gives some interesting figures in connection with the pig industry. These show that there is a steady increase in a general way In pig breeding all over the,world. Naturally, the tables show decreases in different countries owing lo the restrictions imposed on the imports of bacon into 'Britain. On ihc oilier hand, (here would appear to be quite largo developments in oilier countries, and which would lead lo the conclusion that the pig population of iiic world

is around 300,000,000 head. Germany, which does not export, but which consumes enormous quantities of pig products lias steadily gone up from 1929, when tiie pig population was 10,943,974, to 23,890,397. Denmark has gone back considerably, as was to be expected, owing to tiie quota restrictions. The curious part of Ihc situation is’ that the wholesale price of Danish bacon has been forced from 71s Gd per cwt. in 1932 lo 103 s 9el per cwt. during J 934, and the result is that consumers have paid for 7,7-iO,OOO cwts. about the same amount of money as they paid for 11,391,000 cwts. in 1932. r l'lic net result is that Ihc retail price of bacon lias gone up considerably and the increase lo Ihc consumer has been any—tJ'ing from 40 lo 'SO per cent. The imports of bacon into tiie United Kingdom for the first .11 months'" of 1934 amounted to G,989,000 cwts., to a value of 27,080,480.

* K> ft l)> Tamworth Importation. There Is at present in quarantine a very valuable line of pedigree Taini worths imported through the Fanners’ Auctioneering Company by Mr A. T. Rogers, of Ngaruawahia. The line comprises an aged sow and four secondlitter sows all in pig. They were all show winners in Victoria, and were seen by Mr Rogers before he purchased. They were the best Tamwortlis Mr Rogers saw and lie secured them because they were quite unrelated to any Tamworth blood in New Zealand at the present time. Air Rogers is io be congratulated on introducing fresh blood as in-breeding in pigs rapidly brings in its train loss of prolificacy and Joss of constitution.