PRODUCING A BACON PIG

Shannon News, 4 February 1927, Page 1

PRODUCING A BACON PIG

WHAT THE CURER WANTS. TO COMPETE AGAINST THE DANES. That we ought to produce onesixth, or live hundred thousand, of our pigs thoroughly suitable for the manufacture of high-class bacon, is true, states Sanders Spencer in a letter to the “Live Stock Journal.’ Our bacon competitors, the Danes, are able to produce good baconers to the extent of five-sixths; surely we ought to be able to raise an equal proportion of bacon pigs, whereas one-sixth is nearer to our actual production. It may be worth whole making an attempt to discover the cause of our failure to provide the raw material necessary to keep our bacon factories at Work, especially as our foreign and successful competitors have been obliged to come to this country for breeding pigs in order to grade up their own native stock.

This would appear to prove that the want of suitable breeding stock is not the cause of our want of success and that this is due to our neglect in utilising generally the best pigs which we possess. Our curcrs tell us that they require a long-sided pig of about six months old and weighing alive some 200 to 220 lb. The pig must be fine in bone, skin and hair, with as little offal as is possible, light in the fore-quarters and with well-developed hams. The flanks must be thick, as this indicates a large proportion of lean to fat in the carcase, and the absence of those thin bellies which the public taste objects to. The bacon pig should not be too deep in the carcase, as such a one is likely to be too gutty and to produce a thin belly. In attempting to breed a pig ot this description it is essential to have at least one parent of the formation and character described, and this must be the sire, as, he is credited with having a far greater influence on the formation of the joint produce of the boar and the-'sow - than the. latter. Of course, if both the parents are of the correct form and character, the chances of breeding pigs such as are required would be greatly increased, but the boar can beget fifty litters of pigs during the time the sow is building up one litter; the one good boar is more easily found that the fifty good sows. The curer requires a young pig to enable him to compete successfully with his foreign rivals. This requirement extends „to the pork butcher, -so that the pig-breeder who sets out to satisfy the.needs of his customers must pay great attention to the feeding of his pigs from their youth up. The old-fashioned idea of growing and then a fatting period in the life of a pig has been thoroughly exploded, and this for two reasons, with it you are able to provide the butcher and bacon curer with w r hat is to them a necessity, a young fat pig and the other is that the system is unprofitable. It , must be remembered that each day in the life of a pig a certain amount of food has to be given to it merely to keep it alive; therefore, the shorter the life the smaller amount of tood is consumed for mere -maintenance or continuation of the life of the pig. The amount of maintenance food required is 21b of meal for each 1001 b of live pig, so that each week a 1001 b livo weight pig continues alive in excess of requirements a stone is wasted, and each two months the value of a cwt of meal is lost. It is therefore imperative," in order to render the pig the most profitable to its owner and the bacon curer, to feed it liberally on the most, suitable food from the time of its birth, so that it may the sooner manufacture flesh of the best quality at the least cost and the greatest profit to its owner.