LONGER BACON PIGS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 21 October 1938, Page 3

LONGER BACON PIGS

OBSTACLES TO PRODUCTION. IMPORTANT ORGANS CRAMPED. An English authority on bacon pigs, Mr Bodinnar, is reported to have said that if producers would increase the length of the body of their ideal pig by an inch, and reduce the depth of the shoulder by an inch, curers could stand before the world with a perfect article. This appears to be asking a tot of Nature, as well as the pig-breeder. If the balanced proportions of an animal are altered by selective mating, we must expect weaknesses to develop as a result of the loss of balance. Especially is this so when we reduce the capacity of the chest—which houses the vital organs of heart and lungs—and increase the size or length of the frame which they must supply with rich oxygenated blood. Although we appreciate that the after-end of a pig is the most valuable as bacon, we should also appreciate that the fore-end is the most important during life. The heart and lungs may never cease their work during life, and if they are cramped within narrow confines they must work doubly hard to maintain even an insufficient supply of nutriment for the full and healthy development of all parts of the animal’s body.

It is as improbable that the ideal pig of Mr Bodinnar’s dream will ever prove a profitable product for the pigfarmer, as that the output from a factory can be improved and cheapened by reducing the power in the engine room and increasing the number and size of the machines to be driven. Mechanics know that such a policy promotes constant breakdowns. Farmers should realise that the same holds true of the animal.