Pig improvement Research Supported by Producers’ Council

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 89, Issue 6, 15 December 1954, Page 580

Pig improvement Research Supported by Producers’ Council

Opening of New Piggery at Massey Agricultural College

AN important further step in the New Zealand Pig Council's practical support of research directed toward pig improvement was completed recently when the Research Piggery built at Massey Agricultural College with the aid of a grant from the Council was officially opened by the Minister of Education and the Minister in charge of Scientific and Industrial Research, Mr. R. M. Algie.

THE policy adopted some time ago by the Council accepted the principle that extension work in pig husbandry to be fully effective must be associated with pig improvement, so that as management standards improved there would be suitable stock with the productive efficiency necessary to exploit fully the advantages of better piggery conditions and management. The crossbred pigs being developed at the Department of Agriculture’s Ruakura Animal Research Station attracted the attention of pig industry leaders, and 2 years ago the Pig Producers Council contributed the capital cost of the extra farrowing and rearing facilities required at Ruakura to establish a pilot breeding plant to test further the value of the hybrid approach to pig improvement and. to multiply and distribute tested hybrid sows throughout the industry on a planned and controlled basis. Testing Centre for Hybrids The pig husbandry department of Massey College was included in . the programme and the similar facilities newly established there by .the Council and the College are to be used as a testing centre for the hybrids. At Ruakura the Berkshire-Large White hybrid sows have been mated to the Large White boar and it is intended to try mating them to the

Tamworth also. The resulting litters will be farrowed and reared at Massey under standard feeding conditions in an endeavour to assess the crossing ability of the Tamworth. The aims of the project to produce a national hybrid sow and the work at Ruakura to date are described in an article by D. M. Smith, Research Officer in charge of the project at Ruakura, elsewhere in this issue. The first batch of national hybrid sows was made available to Massey College and a few farmers this year, and some of the sows grunted an obbligato to officials’, speeches at the opening ceremony at the Research Piggery at Massey. As larger numbers of proven purebred stock become available at the Ruakura Breeding Centre the supply of sows will increase. The project is still in the experimental stage, the main task at Ruakura at present being to breed satisfactory purebreds and to test their crossing ability. The first lots of hybrid sows available must therefore be regarded as test lots and not the finished products. The further testing possible under the ideal research conditions provided at the new Research Piggery at Massey will no doubt help to speed the attainment of the goal of a national hybrid sow. An incidental, but not less important, result that is expected from the scheme is that the distribution of good

commercial stock will be an ideal method of introducing farmers to improved housing and management. The work at Ruakura and the facilities provided z there by the Pig Producers Council were of great interest to farmers at this year’s Ruakura Farmers’ Conference and a large crowd attended the opening, of the Research Piggery at Massey. In referring to the appointment of Mr. A. C. Dunkin of Wye College as lecturer in pig husbandry at Massey College, Mr. W. V. Dyer, chairman of the College Council, said that staff and facilities were now available to enable valuable contributions to be made to pig husbandry in New Zealand. He thanked Dr. C. P. McMeekan, Superintendent of the Ruakura Animal Research Station, and his pig husbandry staff, whose experience had been invaluable in the working out of the design of the new buildings at Massey. / - / Need for Producing Qualify Meat Mr. D. J. Carter, chairman of the Pig Producers Council, expressed : his pleasure at the co-operation of the Massey College Council in the national pig breeding scheme inaugurated by his council in conjunction with Ruakura. He stressed the necessity of sending to Britain only the very highest quality meat, particularly bacon. There would have to be strict attention to quality if success were to be attained in overseas marketing of pig meat. His council had been advocating for some time the production of pork. This did not mean neglect of bacon, for which there was a large and profitable market in New Zealand. Dr. J. F. Filmer, Director of the Animal Research Division of the Department of Agriculture, said that produce of the hybrid sows sponsored by the Pig Producers Council had scored well in open competition this year, particularly as porkers, and would meet a ready demand on the

British market. The Pig Council’s assistance at Ruakura and Massey and the co-operation of the two research institutions was an example of real co-ordination based on understanding, mutual confidence, and a willingness to work together. The Animal Research Division of the Department

would always be prepared to cooperate with both the other bodies to assist producers. . Professor W. Riddet, vice-principal of Massey College, said the new buildings had been erected particularly for investigative work but to principles that the farmer could adopt with great advantage. The pig had always been regarded as the poor partner of the dairy cow, but it was not improbable that competition from margarine would force the farmer to raise his returns from butter by using pigs, which reacted remarkably quickly to feeding and management. The national hybrid sows were being produced by crossing selected strains of purebreds, with the purpose of

producing fattening pigs, not for breeding. Forty hybrid sows would be tested each year in the new piggery, in which he hoped also that feeding experiments would be carried out with feeds available to the New Zealand farmer. He looked forward to providing a very valuable return on the industry’s investment. Mr. Algie referred to the addition to a great college of an educational facility of outstanding significance. From it would spring something that must have great repercussions throughout a great industry, and he thanked the Pig Producers Council for “a splendid gesture”.— Photographs below by Fraser Niederer.