It Is What The Eye Does Not See That Counts In Buying A Sow

Taranaki Daily News, 30 September 1940, Page 23 (Supplement)

It Is What The Eye Does Not See That Counts In Buying A Sow

Which of the two sows shown in the accompanying photograph taken on a Taranaki farm would you say was the better brood animal? Nine out of ten farmers would choose the larger and better conditioned one on the left. They would be wrong. Biddy is on the left and Ginger is the sow on the right. The former is a Tam-worth-Berkshire cross pig and the latter a pure Tamworth. Both are progeny of Taranaki club sows. Here are their records. Both produced litters of 13 piglets last year. Ginger weaned 10 and Biddy only seven showing that Ginger was much the better mother. At three weeks, Ginger's litter weighed 1141b, while Biddy's totalled only 631b. This indicates that Ginger gave of her condition a plentiful supply of milk to her young. She had a larger family to feed and she fed them better as is demonstrated by the fact that the average young pig in her litter at this

stage weighed 11.41b, whereas Biddy's youngsters could only turn the scale at 91b. From this point, Ginger's litter, equipped with an excellent start in life, ran right away from Biddy's. At eight weeks, her progeny with an average of 36.81b per pig reached a total weight of 3681b, but Biddy's family averaged 101b a piglet less at 26.71b each, with a total litter weight of 1871b, just half that of her neighbour. Ginger's pigs were placed in grade 2, that is, the grade allotted to sows capable of producing litters weigh-

ing at least 1001b at three weeks and 300 | ib. at eight weeks. Biddy's litter was. allotted no grade at all. In connection with the grading of sows, j the lowest grade is grade 5 which includes sows whose litters attain 701b at three weeks and 2101b at eight weeks. Biddy's litter did neither, yet, on appcarance, she would command more respect than her companion. The differcnce of sows in their ability t.o produce pig meat as regards numbers of litter, conformation and the facility to turn food into livc weight gain has long been accepted. Last year, the Taranaki District Pig Council made a start in a system of recording to enable farmers to check up on the performance of their animals. The comparison of Ginger and Biddy is one of the results. It is sufficiently striking to prove the value of litter recording as the only real means of checking the worth of a sow. Beyond the weaner stage, the com-

parison of Ginger and Biddy as pro-; ducers is even more impressive. The recording figures are as follows:—

From a practical point of view, the net result is that Biddy's pigs will have to be held on the farm and fed for at least six weeks after Ginger's have been killed and converted into first class bacon.

Age in Weight of Average weeks litter, lb. per pig, lb. Ginger 16 875 87.5 Biddy 16 469 67.0 Ginger 22 1174 146.75 Biddv 22 758 108.28