PIG CLUBS FORMED IN BRITAIN

Southland Times, Issue 24237, 21 September 1940, Page 13

PIG CLUBS FORMED IN BRITAIN

Parish councils, young farmers’ clubs, women’s institutes and other rural organizations in Britain are co-operat-ing in the Ministry of Agriculture’s efforts to establish village pig clubs on a co-operative basis to utilise household and vegetable waste, says the agricultural correspondent of The Daily Telegraph (London). By forming clubs, allotment holders, owners of large and small gardens and smallholders can make a valuable contribution to the nation’s food supplies. Specialist pig breeders are being forced to reduce their herds through lack of imported feeding stuffs, and the clubs could provide an alternative source of pig meat besides giving the specialists an outlet for their young stock. It is estimated that, if one out of every five allotment holders and rural householders fattened only one pig, a year, 500,000 pigs would be available for food annually in addition to those fed on farms. Mr Alec. Hobson, secretary of the Small Pig Keepers’ Council set up by the Ministry, said that there had been a most encouraging response to the scheme. People in all parts of the country were seeking details about it. Small pig-keeping has great advantages in war time. The clubs can feed their pigs largely on waste food and vegetable matter which they can arrange to collect from householders. The little meal needed is being made available by the Ministry of Food. Formation of pig clubs around the large towns will receive a fillip by the lifting of restrictions on pig-keeping imposed by local authorities.