THE PIG INDUSTRY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8861, 22 October 1907, Page 3

THE PIG INDUSTRY.

The agricultural authorities in Australia are striving to encourage farmers in the various States to develop the export trade in pork; and sufficient arguments have been set forth to convince all unprejudiced persons that given the proper attention, and carried out with as much -energy and skill as is devoted to the mutton and lamb trade, porl' would soon figure very largely among the list of Australasian exports. New Zealand offers special facilities for the production of high-class pork, and even in spite of the somewhat disappointing trials that have been made in the past, pork can be, and should be, profitably raised in this country, and shipped to the markets of the world in very large quantities. If it had not been that during recent years sheep raising in New Zealand has paid so well, there can be no doubt that we should be now shipping to Great Britain pork in proportion to our output of butter, for pig-raising is naturally an industry that should march side by side with dairying. It is a remarkable fact, however, that although dairying in this country has expanded during the last ten years at a greater rate ihan any other agricultural industry, pigraising has made scarcely any advance. In 1895 New Zealand possessed 239,778 swine,; in 1905, 249,727, ,an increase for ten years of under 10,000. Recent statistics show a rapid decrease, so that it is quite •evident that dairying is being cartied on quite independently of pigraising; for while in 1895 our farmers exported £423,622 worth of dairy produce, they exported in 1905 £1,695,030 worth. If the number of .pigs had increased, in anything like the same degree as the output of ■dairy produce, we should have had in "1905 fully a million swine in the country and could at the same time have shown a considerable yearly -export of pork. It is quite certain that at the present time New Zealand farmers are not taking full advantage of the increased demand for pork, say 3 the Auckland Herald. In London the market price for English-raised ..pork is about the same as for mutton, and only a little le3S than for besf, and is averagely higher than -imported frozen beef or mutton Of .course the main question is, whether ..in this country pork can be raised ;as cheaply as either beef or mutton. While pig breeders imagine that -stye-feeding on the most expensive foods, in the most wasteful manner, is the proper thing, or that the ■pig thrives when fed on repulsive -offal in filthy enclosures, there is not much likelihood of building up a New Zealand pork export trade. There are, howevex', one or two facts which are generally recognised. The .first is that more pigs can be kept . per acre of land than any other of our domestic stock, and that they multiply more than five times as rapidly as sheep, consequently it should be possible to raise pork as cheaply as any other kind of meat, . and to produce more to the acre. Secondly, that under a proper system of farming pigs can be fed altogether on the produce of the land, and that either alone, or in conjunction with dairying, this can be done with less loss of soil fertility .than under almost any other .system of farming. There is at the present time a very large demand for a good class of , porker or bacon pig in New Zealand, .at a price that would pay the pro • -ducer well. That there is also a - tremendous market overseas no oris -will deny. Bacon, mess-pork, fresh, • or frozen always in demand. Britain "pays more annually .for pig and pig products than for butter, her bill for the former last year reaching a total of £24,000,000. No one argues that farmers should give up raising sheep or cattle, in order to take up pig-breeding, but tthere are two classes of men who might engage in it. Dairymen, who have areas of ploughable land, and who have supplies of skim milk, or '•whey, by the production of such crops as clover, lucerne, green maize, roots, pumpkins, peas, beans and ■ other similar things, could not only raise a good number of pigs each .year, but could largely benefit their -herds by supplying highly nutritious . feed to supplement the usual grass. In this way a dairy-farmer, even in a very small way, might have for sale, -at the begining of winter, from £IOO to £2OO worth of pork. It is possible also for an industrious man, with a small amount of capital, and a limited area of land, to make a living out of pig-raising. In this case we would advise him to make a specialty of a good class of stores. A healthy sow will in two years easily produce thirty or forty pigs 'so that it is easy to see how quickly a man's stock can be increased. Well-bred stores at the beginning of the dairying season are always in demand, and always command a satisfactory price. It should be sufficient to show the numbers of small farmers, always on the lookout for something to add to their income, the possibilities that lie before them in the pig-breeding industry. If, however, there is any fear of over- . production, the fact that the Auckland Farmers' Freezing Company in • tend to take up the work of exporting pork should be carefully noted. This company being compo&ed of practical farmers, possessed of a practical knowledge of the overseas meat trade, should know something about the prospects of exporting pork. The chairman of directors, Mr J. Barugh, announced at the recent general meeting that his company contemplated putting up a slaughtering department for pigs at the Glasgow works. If this is done, and there seems little doubt but what it will- be done, and when once the overseas trade is organised, it is that pig breeders, besides finding a large and profitable market in this country, will find in Great Britain an immense and constant demand for this class of meat. If the fact that hitherto we have not built up any export trade in pork as an outlet for our surplus products scares them, let them solace themselves with the knowledge that there never has been, since refrigeration made the export of meat possible, any surplus of pork, nor is there likely to be for many years to come.