The Pig: Breeding, Rearing, and Marketing

by Sanders Spencer

It may be that one of the many changes which have been brought about by, and which will also follow, the war will be a return to the more simple and less luxurious manner of living. It is certain that a more economical system will have to be followed, and one of the means of effecting this may be a return to the keeping of pigs during their growing stage on the house and garden refuse, and then when the pigs have been fattened, by the killing and curing of the carcase for home consumption.

Much has been written during recent years about the folly of allowing so many millions of sovereigns to go out of the country in payment for the vast weight of bacon, hams, and lard which we import from foreign countries. Residents in the country have been blamed by town residents and literary men for their alleged want of enterprise in not breeding and fattening the few extra million pigs which would furnish an amount of pig produce equal to that imported, and thus, as they declare, save the country that outlay which is a dead loss to these islands.

It may at once be frankly admitted that a very considerable increase in the number of our pig population is possible without any very greatly extended cost of food, but when it is contended that farmers and even cottagers are grossly neglectful in not producing sufficient pork and its products for the use of the whole of the population of these islands, an injustice is done, as the breeding and feeding of pigs is a business calling, not a philanthropical pursuit. Farmers and cottagers are like other manufacturers of necessary articles; they produce in order to live, and they cease to manufacture an article when its production ceases to repay them for their outlay and trouble. They must of necessity do so, or they come to grief and are unable to carry on their farms or businesses.

It matters not what the cause be for the ability of the foreigner to produce and land on our markets articles cheaper than we can afford to offer them at, the result is the same—the home production is automatically reduced. There are many causes which have helped to render it possible for foreigners to supply us with a certain proportion of the pork and bacon which we require at a less cost than our home breeder and feeders of pigs can supply it. These include help to the farmers from the Governments of certain countries such as Denmark, where assistance is given in the purchase of pure bred pigs for the improvement of the native pigs, in the reduced railway and other rates on the transit of pigs, foods, and bacon, in the provision of certain foods, and in carrying out experiments in order to show how they may be utilised in the best manner. Stud farms have also been established from which pure bred boars are distributed, whilst the whole industry of pig breeding and bacon curing is carried on under the supervision and with the advice of many Government officials appointed for the purpose. The intrinsic value of this assistance is perceptible, as in no other country are pig-keeping and bacon curing carried on with greater monetary success than in Denmark.

It is also asserted that the general system of farming in Denmark has also contributed very largely to the phenomenal prosperity of the pig industry, in that a very large proportion of the land is owned and farmed by comparatively small farmers, men who have a direct interest in the improvement of the land, and who with their families perform the major portion of the work on the land and in attendance on the stock. The land is almost certain to be well managed and the stock to receive the best possible attention with, comparatively speaking, little cost as to labour. The animals on the farm are likely to be of a higher grade and the returns from them of an increased character, than when strangers and disinterested hired labour attend and feeds them.

Another of the great advantages possessed by some of our foreign competitors is the very much better supply of feeding stuffs and their very considerably lower cost. Take the United States, for instance, the enormous supply of maize alone enables American pigmen to manufacture pork at a cost which enables the packers to land bacon, hams, and lard on the British shores which our home pig producers cannot approach. Although it cannot be said that the cost of labour is less in the States than in England, yet there are some countries from which we import pork products where the labour is far more plentiful and less costly. In the future the allowance for labour will have to be on a more liberal scale than hitherto when estimating the cost of producing pork, unless the number of persons owning and occupying small holdings is greatly increased.

It has been stated that our home producers of pork and bacon will obtain a considerable advantage in the future in that the freight on the imported meats will be so much higher. It is most probable that this will increase the expense of landing bacon, etc., on our markets; on the other hand, as we import so large a proportion of the pig fattening foods, the cost of food will most likely be increased to quite the same if not to a greater extent. The only plan to reduce this extra expense will be to lessen the outlay on imported foods by paying more attention to the growth of various foods suitable for pigs, attending more carefully to our pigs and feeding them on common-sense lines. In these particulars there is room for much improvement in many piggeries.

By reducing the cost of the production of pork and by the more general adoption of the system of home curing we shall not only obtain our bacon at less cost, but we shall have a far greater amount of the finest quality of bacon and hams generally available. We imagine that the reader of the earlier portion of this book will experience little difficulty in producing fine quality pork at a minimum cost—it will then remain to cure and dry it properly.

The fattened pig should not be fed for some twenty-four hours before it is killed; after slaughter the carcase should remain hanging until it is thoroughly cooled. The manner of cutting up will depend on the custom in the particular district. In some parts of the country the pig is split down, the head, feet, and tail taken off, the leaf and kidneys and the skirt taken out, the loin and the crop with a certain proportion of the lean cut off, and in some cases the shoulder blade is drawn; after the necessary trimming a Wiltshire side remains.

In other districts the ham and the shoulder are cut off and the side is converted into a middle, a ham and a shoulder or fore-ham. The jowls are taken off the head and salted with the bacon and hams. The upper part of the head, or, as it is commonly termed, the scorf, is usually used with the feet in the manufacture of brawn, or, as it is sometimes called, pork cheese—presumably from its being cooled in a form, and then turned out on to the dish on which it is served at table.