THE PIG POSITION IN NEW ZEALAND.

Matamata Record, Volume II, Issue 106, 14 November 1918, Page 2

THE PIG POSITION IN NEW ZEALAND.

(From the Journal of Agriculture) Under good management the pig is one of the most profitable of farm animals, and viewed in this light the latest statistics regarding the number of pigs in New Zealand give food for thought. At 31st January, 1917, our pigs numbered 283,770, while for the same date in 1918 the number is given as* 258,269, a reduction of 25,501. This is probably to be accounted for by dairy-farmers, as a result of the good values of steer calves, have utilized their skimmilk and whey for feeding more calves and fewer pigs, and also owing to the high cost of other food material suitable for pigfeeding. A further deterrent to extensive pig-breeding lies in the fact that the volume of dairy-fac-tory by-products available for providing pig-food has been' largely reduced in quantity and quality as a result of the manufacture of dried milk, casein, and milksugar, the last two being wholly manufactured from the byproducts. The result of all this is now apparent in a distinct shortage of pigs in the Dominion ; and seeing that the pig is such a profitable animal to the farmer, it is a matter for very great regret that this shortage should exist. It is only quite recently that the foodshortage in Great Britain was greatly alleviated by the purchase by the Imperial Government of immense quantities of bacon from the United States. This affords a valuable objectlesson to the New Zealand farmer, seeing that his fellowfarmers in the States, under present conditions, have probably to pay for concentrated pig-foods prices averaging as high as those ruling here. Many of them, probably the majority, have not dairy-factory by-products available as their principal source of food material. No doubt, as the result of circumstances, the Imperial Government paid a good price for the bacon, but notwithstanding this the plain object-lesson remains. A small area of land cultivated for the special purpose of providing food for pigs can be made to pay handsomely at the cost of comparatively little labor and small additional expense. Some preliminary experiments were recently carried out at the Central Development Farm, Weraroa, on the lines of showing the value of the practice of growing cheap pig-feed for breedingsows and growing store pigs on small areas. It is not suggested that the" principle of rearing more dairy-farm-bred steer calves of suitable type at the expense of feeding fewer pigs is a wrong one, but the point for consideration is whether with improved methods a proper supply of pigs cannot be maintained without reducing the number of calves reared for beefproduction purposes. It is capable of being done, and though involving more labdr it would result in increased profit. It could well be argued that the case of the bacon-supply to the United Kingdom, as referred to, is not applicable to New Zealand, seeing that shipping-space for any surplus might not be obtainable for us in the near future. But the position here at the present time is that we are hardly able to meet our own internal requirements, a state of affairs which should not exist in so productive a country as this, so long as the necessary labor is obtainable.