INDIAN CORN AND PIG FEEDING.

Waikato Times, Volume XV, Issue 1239, 8 June 1880, Page 2

INDIAN CORN AND PIG FEEDING.

(By Cincinxatus.)

The use of Indian corn in the fattening of pigs for bacon has always been resorted to in America, and the large supplies of ham and bacon sent every year accross the Atlantic to the mother country is "corn fed." While, however, corn is a quick fattener, it by no means makes the best bacon. In England, for instance, pigs are largely fed on dairy refuse, roots &c., and the quality of the meat is undobtedly higher than that produced in America. Authorities in England, while they do not fear that American competition will ever drive the English product out of the market so long as the quality of the latter is maintained, recommend a judicious use of both systems of feeding in conjunction : — The English public (says a writer in the Live Stock Journal) will still have to depend on English farmers for the freshest of pork and the finest of bacon, and it may be that the bulk of the lower qualities will come from other countries. The English farmer's vocation is not, in pigfeeding any more than in anything elese, likely to be swallowed up by America, but he will not have to produce only the best of its kind if he is to hold his own and make it pay. Dairy farming, to which pigs especially belong in this country, promises to flourish in the future as it has done in the past, and it is more than probable that our farmers will be able, with the aid of American corn, to successfully compete with those of the United States in the production of all kinds of fiesh meat. It seems strange that farmeis in the Waikato, more especially those who possess large dairies do not devote more attention to this subject. When the district was yet in its babyhood. Waikato bacon obtained an excellent name, but latterly the art of bacon-curing seems to have been lost, and the consuming portion of the community have to depend on outside supplies. It is really surprising to see in a district like ours, Canterbury bacon sold over the shop counters. This is one of those matters which only requires a little enterprise to develop, and I shall, as occasion serves, refer to it again from time to time.