Demand For Meat Meal Grows: Shortage Of Other Pig Foods

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 31, 10 December 1948, Page 6

Demand For Meat Meal Grows: Shortage Of Other Pig Foods

According to information received from the Department of Agriculture and “Aid for Britain” National Council by the Bay of Plenty Province, Federated Farmers, the shortage of meat meal is due to a greatly increased demand, which in turn has resulted from .smaller supplies of other types of pig feed being available. No imports of pollard and bran for pig-feeding are permitted and, as the extraction rate of New Zealand flour has been materially increased, the proportion of pollard and bran from domestic sources has dropped gonsiderably. This has meant that the demand for other types of pig-feed has been accentuated while, as quantities of meat meal are reserved for incorporation in the standard poultry mash, supplies of this product for use as a pig food are less than was previously the case. The Aid for Britain National Council has for some time been concerned with the position, and certain measures have ' been taken to ease it. Wheat growers have been apealed to in the course of a tour of the growing areas by the chairman and other members of the National Council and farmers’ representatives have predicted that as a result the area planted in wheat will increase from 122,000 acres last year to 200,000 acres this year. This will mean a useful increase in the amount of wheat offals available to the poultry industry from local production and a lessening demand upon <our meat meal supplies. In addition appeals to maize growers last year led to a considerable increase in production, offset to some extent by the Gisbortfe floods. It is hoped that this year the supplies of all types of pig and poultry foods will be greater than last year, so that the calls on meat meal should be less.