BREEDING OF PIGS FOR BACON

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 48, 12 March 1937, Page 12

BREEDING OF PIGS FOR BACON

N.Z. Types Not Long Enough IMPROVEMENT NEEDED The fact that th® type of baconer p;.gi bwng exported from New Zealand to! the United Kingdom was at present not measuring up to the requirements of the retail trade was emphasised by Profes®or W. Eiddet, direetor of the Dairy Rasearch Institute, when relating some of hi» oversea observatioas to the Manawatu-Oroua Pig Recording Club last night. Professor Riddet declared that theie vvas urgent need for breeding a better length type of bacon pig for the expyrt market and for institutlng a scbeme of national grading before the bacou oi pigs leave New Zealand. Provided New Zealand could produce the oorreet length bacon 'pig, instead of a carsasei short and dumpy as at present, there wasi no reason why the Dominion bacon ahould not become superior to the product of competing countries, deeiared Professor Riddet, as the carcases e,arried the required amount of meat. Clearly, the policy of allowing the pig [to eat as much as it wished in the last two months led to a fall in grading. English coxnmentators - had expressed surprise at the litter and weaning weights obtained in New Zealand, and this was largely due to the greatex use of skim milk in this country. The quality of New Zealand poiki was greatly admired by those connectedj with the trade in Britain, said Profes-| sor Riddet, and New Zealand pork| fully held its own in the competitivej market. Although the New Zealand^ porker arrived in frozen CQ.ndition, itj was xegarded as being in some respectg1 superior to the Englisjb. pro duct. "But of the New Zealand baconer a different story has to be told,,; said Professor Riddet. "We are the only conntry in the world exporting large quantities of pigs to be eventually defrosted for bacon. "There need, hdwever, be no disadvantage in that. Dealers welcome the frozen prgduet because it suits them. They are able to take from it a class of bacon suited to' the loeal requirements of their district, provided the type is right. But it is irregularity of type that is a major fault in our New Zealand baconers." The outstanding weakness was lack of length, and this was clearly seen if New Zealand baconers were placed side by side with English or Continental baconers. They tended to a preponderance of weight in the forequarters, and to over-fattiness. The effect was that the earcase yielded tbo much cheap# meat. A New Zealand side q±" bacgn of the 56-601b. class was two and a half or even four inches shorter than the comparative Danish product. It was important that breeding in New Zealand should be directed to the end of inereasing the length of the loin, where the lean meat was chiefly found. "National Grading Needed." 'Tt seems to me that a national system of grading at this end is what we need. Overseas mer chants object to having to buy mixed lots in order to get sufficient carcases of the i?e$t grade, and this could be remedied by intelligent grading here in New Zealand. That would also help the New .Zealand producers in raising the type required, ' ' said Professor Riddet. There was an important question as to 'whether a type can be sucoessfuliy (raised which is equally suitable at porkier and baconer weights. The preponderant opinion overseas was that this could not be doae; the pig which was ideal at the porker weight was exces sively fatted at bacon weights. Professor Riddet said be was in London last Ju)y when the shipment of experimental pigs from New Zealand arrived. The men who devoted their care to the carcases took their measurements with the utmost precision, and were doing a fine work for the New Zealand pro. ducer. The type of pigs had to be improved asVjmekiy as possible, and this could best be furthered by the C.O.P. seheme. iMost with whom this scheme was dis■cussed concurred as to its value, but considered that mere than twp pf a Htfer shpuld be slaughtered. At Cambridge, mentioned Professor Riddet, interesting studies were being made as to the genetics of length in pigs. It had to be discovered, through sygtematic breeding experimente, whether ihe sow or the boar was most induential in im.' proving length. Brofessor Riddet despribed the farjeaching improvements in the organisation of the Dutch pig industry. Since 1932, by selecting a better graded pig, they had largely overhauled the Danish ■price margin. Whereas in 1932 the Eanish product enjoyed a premium of 'as much as 9s 6d over the Dutch, that margin was redueed to 2s in 1.935. In that same time the length standard was increased. Five testing statioms were now established, but eventually all the tested pigs were sent to on.6 centre and were examined by an ofieer, Deseribing visits to slaughter worfcs in the United States, Professor Riddet said the chief interest for a New Zear lander lay in the methods of slaughter, the seale of operations being very big. The types used were interesting; they appeared too heavy and too fat for our requirements, but the eaus6 for this was apparent when the animals were eut up. The killing was most efficient, one of the Chicago works was handling 600 pigs an hour. Veterinary supervision was strict; any distased portions were cut out. The fat, when it came to packing time, was cut ofL: the back of ihe carcase and later sold as salt pork. T'ho rest of the carcase was made into sale cuts, loins were exported to Britain as fresh pork. The pigs killed were oa the average a great deal heavier than in Npw Zealand. The pig■was. sold in eveiything from potted

pork to. dressed ham. American saiesmanship was equal to every occasionj when pigs were found to have peanut taint owing to the way they were feci in the south, a publie demand was ereated for "peanut ham," and instead of being a drng on the market the flavoured meat sold at an enhanced price. It had to be remembered that pigs jin New Zealand w.ere produced for a difEerent market than that followed in ;U.S.A., and methods of pig husbandry ifollowed there should accordingly be laccepted with reserve. There was no irecording club in the United States ■similar to the Manawatu recording club; most of the work was done by the colleges and research stations. The Types were somewhat different. Pig farming in Canada, which was ■more similar to the New Zealand type |of farming, had progressed greatly in irecent years. Canada had made good , qse of her pig quota at Ottawa, and was concentratipg pn the bacon market. Epr some years they had kad a Q.O.P. scheme, and were now inereasing the number of testing stations. There was great interest in the work of the New Zealand recording clubs, and sev.eral requests were made for information. Attention to Manawatu. "The work you are doing here is attracting a great deal of attention overseas; probably it gets as much attention overseas as in the Dominion," declared Professor Riddet. It was surprising that in the Uniteck Kingdom there was no club operating in exaetly the same way as the Manawatu recording elub. Pig husbandry- in Great Britain differed from New Zealand praetice in that much less use was made of pasture.