BACON INDUSTRY.

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 40, 24 July 1939, Page 7

BACON INDUSTRY.

SOME INTERESTING FIGURES In presenting this report on the National Bacon Championship 1939 the Northland Pig Council wish to place on rccord their Appreciation of the help givon by the Whangarei A. and P. Society. This Society is not primarily concerned with the statistical end of the competition. In common with all A. and P. Societies, their wish is to put up an exhibition which is of benefit to the farmer, if possible without loss to the society. The Whangarvi A. and P. Society have given every possible help tc the Northland Pig even to their own financial detriment. It is felt that if next years Bacon Cham pionship is to be utilised again for .statistical purposes, the A. and P. Society should be reimbursed for any extra expenses incurred. This point is stressed, bemause in collecting information, the N.P.C. may ask for further 1 ! information in future shows. Accurate figures fc«* date of birth, breed or cross ? live weight at 8 weeks, and at killing should be included, but to get these and other facts may entail extra time and expense, which the A. and P. Society would not perhaps be justified in : spending for a show point of view. This year the age and dead weight gain per day is only procurable in reference to a few pigs, and varies for .51 to .92. In view of the value of early maturity, and that some strains are hard to feed over 1 1301bs dead weight, without becoming too fat, arid that ail strains can too easily be fed to over fat ( all information that will help to alter this year's average of 58.93 of possible points for fat, will be to the good.

Unfortunately too, this year only part of the entry returned Government grading back and loin fat measurements. It is obvious that the larger" the number of pigs we can measure the mo'o useful the information procured will he. This year the provincial entries are of special interest, ? nd to some extent show peculiarities of various districts . In live to dead weight -l~ss, a point of Interest to all farmers the variations arc: — Northland 22.72 to 33.62 South Island 21:. 4*2 to 43.05 Manawatu 20..'5S to 27.41 Sout.li Auckland 24.73 to 35.14 Taranaki 22.01 to 28.12 iSay 22.22 to 29.00 South Island is probably an, error the next highest is 35.61. It would perhaps help if iu i x!: year the pigs were weighed :it works prior to killing. Some variation must lie through error, and the time factor between the last meal and killing. It must be remembered that with In-.- number of hereditary and other factors in.'kicnc'ng each individual pig, no system can, be 100 per cent, perfect. Of many systems t i:d out, the Smithfield svstom gave the highest percentage of accuracy, some SO per cent approximately. Every one •>vho has followed bacon judging that just as a pedigree cow may be hard to fault in detail and yet fails as a whole, so a g od average pointing pig may fail in svmetr.v Since symnietr-y is very important it may be worth consideration whether an extra 15 points for this may rot help the judges in final placings. The following figures speak for themselves. Length again is only half the possible. Eye of meat is very low, the highest scoring pigs in eye seem to have the lowest length points and it will be noticed that 28 to 14 points for eve average 9.7 points for lengthy while o to nil points for eye average 10.3 points for lengthy which In sonic measure confirm this. However the numbers are so small to base a theory on, that next year's figures may upset this argument. Range of points used has been noted, and suggests that either fclie range, say 1 to 8 for hams is *• oo wide or that the judges do not make enough of the range given. In eye 28 to nil, and fat 20' to nil are used by measurement it would appear to follow that 3 to nil in hams should also be used. It should be remembered that these competitions are not primarily instituted to enable the winning pigs to reimburse their owners, bill for the general collection of information and advancement of quality in the industry. and that unless that information is accurate, much of the effort is waste of time. May we appeal to all who help us with these shows to assist us and others interested in getting accurate date of birth and so on if at all possible. BREEDS: Large White 40; Large White Cross 9: Tamworth 24; Berk-

shire 1.4; Tamworth.Berkshire cros> -,J: Large Black 4: Large Black Cross 10: Duroc Jersey 1; no details ;■>, total 104. HAMS: Fortv p"gs scored full points For hams Large White 11; Large White Cross 2; Berkshire 6; Tainworth S; Tamworth-Berkshire Cross 11; no details 2. Note points lan.gcd for 8 to 3 min. Shoulders. One pig only scoi'ed full points a Large White. Note points ranged from 7 to 3 min. LEXGTII: Two Large Whites; I Tamworth-Bcrkshire full points 20; two Large Whites 19; one Large Wh'te, one Tr.mworth 18: two Larg 1 Whites one Tamworth-Bcrkshire 17; nine pigs scored 10 per cent or less or points. Total percentage of possible is only 50.03 on an average of 113.3 carcase weight. EYE: Large White one with full details 28; Tamworth-Bcrkshire one 27; Large White Middle White 20; Large W r hite Large Black one 24; Tamworth one 24. TAKEN TN RELATION TO LENGTH: Sixteen pigs 28 to 20 points for length 7.1: 56 pigs 19 to 14 10.4; 72 pigs 28 to 14 9.7; 18 pigs 5 points 10'.4; 9 pigs 3 points 8.6; Cpigs 1 point 10.0; 16 pigs nil 11.3: 49 pigs 5 to nil 10.3. Total percentage of possible points 39.78. Fat: Once more a very large pcr*centage of pigs were over fat, 34 pigsscored two points or under out of 20. Practically all pigs lost for over rathf cr than wider fat. Streak generally was poor. No plga scored 12 the maximum or 11 one Berkshire, one Tamworth, one Tam\vorth_Berkshirc Cross scored ten points.