FOR THE BENEFIT OF PIG RAISERS.

Motueka Star, Volume II, Issue 61, 14 March 1902, Page 4

FOR THE BENEFIT OF PIG RAISERS.

The secret of making money by pigs is not to rush into them or out of them. Never keep too many ; never keep too few. The fault at the present; time Avjth feeders is that they run in to buy when pigs are dear, and sWy at home when they are cheap. Try the reverse, and the result will surprise you. You Avill never'get'well'shaped pigs from a badly shaped boar; neither will you get thrifty pigs from an unthrifty sow. If you do not keep your pigs clean and dry they will not pay you. A pig, any more tnan a human being, will not thrive on a damp, foul bed. A longlegged ungainly boar will get a leggy, ■'flat ribbed, cat-hammed, herring-gutt-ed, miserable class olpigs, which Avill pay nobody and deceive nobody as to , their quality, except perhaps, the man who feeds them. The tall, leggy pig, used ignbrantly to be thought to deceive the buyer who purchased by "guess," but it Avill not deceive the factory scales. No matter hoAv low prices may be, if it does not pay to feed pigs it certainly does not pay to starve them. The way to have cheap stores is to breed them yourself. A good soav is easily fed, and is the best;' savings bank you could have. The day you buy is the day you sell. If you pay too much for the store you want (but Avill not get) too much for the bacon pig. One great secret of : pig raising is—when pigs are high in price, don't lose your head and throw your money away ; when pigs are low don't lose your head and throw your pigs away. A good bacon pig of from 1301 b to 1401 b should be produced in from six to seven months from its birth. It should not be crammed, neither should it be half starved, but fed steadily and regularly. Pigs fed steadily and regularly Avill give the most satisfactory results to the feeder| when Aveighed in the factories. A pig which has been half starved at any period of its life, eA-en though Avell fed afterwards, will not do so.

! There are two all-important matters connected with the bacon' trade Avhich are entirely in the hands of the far** mers, and A-bich ought to receive every attention, viz : the feeding and the breeding of the pigs. Different breeds suit different districts, arid Avhile impressing onTarmers the necessity of fresh blood and careful attention to breeding, it may be well to warn them against attem'pting to introduce'a new breed of pigs into a district. It is much the safer Avay to aim at the imof pigs which have long been bred in a district than to attempt to introduce new breeds. While this is so, care ought to be taken in the selection and intoduction from other districts ot high-class male animals to develop the points essential in good pigs. Speaking generally, short, dumpy boars ana sows ought to be avoided-ras-it will be found that extra length of body not only adds much to the weight of the carcase, but ensures a larger proportion of lean meat to the gross weight. Every care ought to be taken to prevent con-sanguinity or close breeding. The evil effect of close breeding shows itself sooner in the case of pigs than in any other of our domestic animals, and therefore fresh blood is most essential.

With reference to feeding pigs for bacon, the following foods are the most suitable : Barley meal, potatoes (cooked), milk, pollard, wheat (ground), ryemeal, Indian corn (used sparingly), ground and cooked.