THE PIG INDUSTRY.

Franklin Times, Volume 9, Issue 639, 7 June 1921, Page 7

THE PIG INDUSTRY.

AM INTERESTING ADDRESS. DOES TIG RAISING PAY ? A GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL SAYS IT DOES. On Friday evening Mr W. K. Gorringe, instructor in swine husbandry for the Department of Agriculture, gave an interesting and instructive address in the A. and P. Society’s office cr. pig raising. Owing to the inclement weather and counter attractions there was an attendance of only seven. Mr H. Dell was voted to the chair and explained the objects of the meeting briefly. He was sorry the attendance was not larger and that farmers- generally had not taken a greater interest in the subject, because a man who knew something about the breed was present to enlighten them on numerous matters pertaining to the welfare of the fig industry.

Mr Gorringe .said he had had vast experience in pig raising and it was on account of such that he had been appointed by the Agricultural Department to assist the farmer in breeding pigs to the best advantage. Ho felt that in a large number of cases they were working entirely at a disadvantage. It was his endeavour to place the pig industry on a similar footing to the dairy industry.

An Acute Shortage. The speaker said there was an acute shortage of pigs in the Dominion at the present time as compared \vith the number in 1911, when there -were £43,754 swine in this land. In 1939 there were 235,347, while in 1520 the number had increased to 2GG,829. In view of the acute posit:on the department thought the time epporti: tie to make a stir, and induce farmers to breed pigs. He was satisfied that half of the population was not eating bacon, simply because they could nof get it. and because the price was high. It was indeed a luxury nowadays. There were three factors which were the cause of the decrease: Cheesemaking, dried milk and the opinion that pigs could not be reared without the assistance of the dairy. Every farmer should keep bis own brood sow. They did not know v : at they were getting when they purchased a sow bred by another man. There may be some kind of defect that would run through the offspring—the defect that the owner could r i get the pigs fat. He was trying 1 show farmers how profitable it .vs to rear their own breed- ) log stuff. The. high purchase cost was a r-c-wre handicap. It cost about - - week to rear a weaner pig. The h -v.Dst feeding, the maintenance c: the sow during the season, the fa:;:: wing and the supply of feed for ti e youngsters and wean them

at 10 weeks, should not cost more than INHe had seen 10 weeks old pigs side at £4. In the far north he had seen pigs feed: £3 2s 6d. There was r handicap through purchasing anothe man’s pig. They could be reared v.ith very little ailments and the least cost. Ail they wanted was a good £:«mer’s utility sow. Prolificr.e&s va? hereditary and ran through a sow from time to time, and if it was fc-xtid that prolificness was in that r : v ho advised farmers to select from b m. Mr G- 'Gage gave instances of his own c- ::.:-'.-r;once gained at his own piggery.' He .mentioned that he had a sow that had litters from 8 up to 17 rigs fa each. She farrowed 94 pigs ;..M. ’-eared S 4 and this was a good record considering the magnitude c-\ some of the litters. He sold of the pigs arid kept 10 and received £317 for small porkers and renal baconers, besides gaining £6 in prize money at shows. To realise £32? and have 10 nigs in hand was a rccr- o to be proud of. It worked out at a- :at £9O a year for a sow. He had l.—cwn men in the Waikato to raak • £l5O a year from a sow.

p.;O RAISING AN INDUSTRY. NOT AN ADJUNCT. Pig tailing, continued the lecturer, was ur. industry in itself and not an adjunct to the dairy. The industry could be carried or. without the dairy. ;ff they had milk all the better. It should be a separate industry and if figures were kept it would be found that the pig was the most profitable animal on the farm, if it was looked after with a certain amount of intelligence. A Comparison. Me Gorringe. said that comparing h cow and a pig on one acre of land the f ig would come out on top, no platter the price of land. For cornpar Don. purposes, he took the average value of land in tne Dominion at (. 3f> per acre. He based his calculations on IPi acres. Ibc acre ant a half at £s*s amounted to £52 10. t :. The acre and a half would maintain three brood sorts and progeny for twelve months. He allowed eight pigs per litter twice a year, and for these £1 a piece should be got, possiidy more, when they were .stores. The sum total of the two Jitters each from three sows per

year was 48 pigs. These at £1 per

head realised £4B. Deduct 10s per pig for feed, and it did not cost the New Zealand’ farmer more than 5s or 7s 6d. This amounted to £24 and as this was half of £4B, a clear profit of £24 was made, on ID acres of land. They could not keep a cow on ID acres of land. Taking a radius of 5 miles from Pukekohe, a cow could not be kept on less than acres. For calculation purposes he reduced this to 2 acres and valued the land at £35 per acre, which was about an average for New Zealand farms. This amounted to £7O. The average farmer in New Zealand averaged £2O per cow per season, and this was a good price. What does it cost to maintain a cow? It had been worked out by the officers of ‘.the Dairy Division about 12 years ago that it cost from £7 to £7 10 a cow. It would probably cost twice that much now', owing to the price of manures, labour and other things. Deduct £7 from £2O, w’hich leaves £l3 profit for two acres, as against £24, the profit from pigs from l’o acres. The pig was the most profitable animal on the farm, but he was placed last on the list. The cow first, then horses and so on. Other countries had a heavy winter, which meant extra feeding, but in New Zealand they had a lovely climate and were not using it. The world required a lot of bacon annually. In 1916, £45,000,000 worth of bacon went into England, but not a penny of this went from New Zealand. Farmers here were working all they knew how with the cow’s. The pig ’produced more per acre. There was less work, and even more pleasing, interesting, and highly profitable than cows. They had a nice occupation of ploughing the ground and cropping it,, while the pigs did the remainder. Farmers were not tied down as much in pigbreeding as they were in the dairying industry. He had made numerous mistakes, and it -was through his errors that he gained his experience. He w r as out to assist the farmer, and especially the returned soldier farmer, to breed pigs to betteradvantage. They should concentrate all efforts to make the thing a payable proposition. The Pig Plot. Farmers did not attach sufficient importance to the selection of a pig plor. Any old place would do. The plot would be penned off and a shelter erected in some corner. These were seldom, if ever, cleaned out, and eventually became veritable breeding grounds for parasites and germs, and from the very day the little pig w’as born he had to fight for his very life against these. They had to paddle about in slush to get to the trough, while the sty was enveloped in darkness. This was just the very breeding ground for these parasites. These germs got into the little pig from the teats, by snuffing them up the nose, and in through wounds. The little fellow was attacked on all sides, and the result was that his system was upset. Fanners generally, neglected the pig. They are in the habit of giving it as much as it can eat—an entirely erroneous idea. A pig’s feed should be limited. A s<:wv should not want food for 24 hours after farrowing. Some farmers gave them a big feed shortly afterwards. Water, with a little milk or meal, so that the system could be flushed out. A sow is sick after farrowing. If the sow is given a huge feed, the little pig sucks away and fills his little kite. He gets blown out, and. then diarrhoea sets in. The system gets upset and the parasites get to work. Eighty-two thousand pigs are lost to the country in every year, which could not be accounted for. Where have they gone ? They never lived through neglect. It was common for a farmer to rear six pigs from a litter of 12, and two from a litter of 8. If these pigs were saved the loss would be made up, and they would soon be in a position to commence an export trade. There was a world shortage, and tip to the present New Zealand had contributed nothing towards the world’s markets. If they got going on .a proper footing they would soon have a good export trade.

Present Prices. Referring to the present prices for bacon, Mr Gorringe said the farmer never should have received lid or Is for bacon. Some say they wanted all they could get. That may be alright, but through high prices they were educating the people of New Zealand to leave bacon entirely alone. The big price was a false one ; it was too high, with the result that prices come down with a bump. This was clue to the methods of the Trust. He trusted none of the private firms. They were out to exp’oit every time. The pig industry should bo put on a stable position . Every year the farmer should know' exactly what price he was going to get for bis pigs, just the same as the dairy xairjier knew what he is going to get foi his butter-fat. This was comi»’P, pud ve’ y shortly indeed. ihe N.Z. Pocking Company could have paid 7!4d p»r lb had they been capitalised . They were also going to

have a grading system, so that bacon could be graded, and the man with bad bacon would not get the same as a man who looked after his pigs and produced good bacon. The Pigge.ry, Mr Gorringe dealt at length with the kind of piggery essential. The site, shelter, fencing and yards. Housing, individual movable houses, and cleaning and disen fecting, were all discussed, on similar lines to the aiticle appearing in our issue of 3rd June, written by the speaker Suitable Strains. “The types of pigs are changing,’ said Mr Gorringe, “ and so is the public taste.” They had to meet the requirements; In the pork and bacon business there were twenty-seven different breeds of pigs—only six were pure-breds. the others were manufactured. There was the Berkshire, Yorkshire (large, medium, email), Tamworth and Devon. The Berkshire and the Yorkshire were most suitable for pork. As far as bacon was concerned, oivy one and a half inches of fat was to be allowed for baconers in the future. The Tamworth, crossed with Berkshire and Yorkshire, produced the ideal baconer. With a purebred Berkshire sow and a Tamworth boar take the sows from the litter and cross them with a Berkshire boar. Nothing would equal the result. They would be ready six weeks earlier than any other breed and a real good article. He advocated them as the pig to give the best results. He advocated the grading of pigs, just the same as cream. He urged them to breed to better advantage, and he, as instructor, would do his best to pie* pare the markets Tor them. It was left in his hands. The pig business was the most unstable in the Live Stock Department. Pig Clubs were being formed throughout New Zealand, and all farmers to be members thereof. Instructors would be sent round to assist them. Blood stock would be very high in the future. A Pig Club could buy a good boar, and each farmer could bring his sows in to a centre. One boar would serve all sows in Pukekohe. One service was enough. Through these clubs the authorities could ascertain liow many pigs would be received from each district per year. The markets could be found before the pigs were ready. He advocated co-operation, and by this they could do the same with the Government as it was handling the butter question. In a few years they hoped to export £10,000,000 worth of pork and bacon. There was a world shortage. In conclusion, Mr Gorringe appealed to his hearers to adopt the principles of co-operation.

Mr Gorringe was accorded a hearty vote of thanks for his interesting and instructive lecture. A vote of thanks to the chair terminated the meeting.