16 Australia : The Dairy Country. 



be realised from pigs reared almost wholly on lucerne, for half an 

 acre suffices for the sustenance of a brood sow and her progeny of 

 about 20 per annum till they are fit for market. Well-bred animals 

 pay best, especially in the case of the sire, for which a Yorkshire 

 is recommended. Mr. Jacob is prepared to submit his books and 

 returns to those interested, as he did to the writer. ... It has 

 to be observed that pig raising does not require either the capital 

 or experience demanded in the case of sheep." 



These facts relate in a general way to the industry as it is pos- 

 sible to be carried on in all parts of the Commonwealth, A dairy 

 man or mixed farmer finds that the carrying on of his work at a 

 maximum of profit involves the growth of a number of different 

 crops with which to supplement the rations of his dairy herd. Peas, 

 .'barley, wheat, maize, pumpkins, carrots, mangolds, lucerne, rape, 

 ;and other crops are more or less used for a succession. Each one of 

 ^these is of special value from the pig-raiser's standpoint. Both 

 peas and barley have a high value for fattening purposes, and some 

 of the successful breeders maintain that the addition of wheat con- 

 tributes largely towards rapid development. Similarly the root 

 crops play an important part in the general rations, whereas lucerne 

 and rape make an admirable pasture for the running of stores and 

 breeding sows. General experience has shown that when pigs which 

 are being fattened for market have the run of a good pasture of 

 these crops they do better and fatten on much less food. Conse- 

 quently with some one or another or several of these crops to sup- 

 plement the skim milk provided by the dairying operations, no more 

 favourable conditions could well exist for the development of this 

 adjunct to the dairying industry. 



With suitable root and pasture crops there is no reason why pig 

 raising should remain merely as an offshoot of dairying and farming 

 operations. It is sufficiently remunerative even when all food has 

 to be purchased on the open market to justify attention being de- 

 voted to raising alone. But such circumstances do not enter into 

 the operation of the industry as managed in Australia. The close 

 proximity of separating factories would in many districts make it 

 possible for a breeder to entirely ignore the dairying side of the 

 -question. From these sources such supplies of skim milk as were 

 -considered an advisable supplement to the ordinary rations might 

 easily be obtained. With only very limited supplies of skim milk 

 pig raising and fattening affords wide scope for the investments of 

 men with limited capital, F. C. Grace, of Warrnambool, Victoria, 

 who recently went into the matter of the cost of producing pork, 

 indicates the possibilities of the bacon industry in a report furnished 

 to the State Department of Agriculture. In this account he states : 

 " Over 6 tons of live pork have been produced, and the average cost 

 per pound for all rations with pigs of all ages has been 4 cents. The 

 actual selling price has been 10 cents per pound, but a number of 

 the pigs were sold as studs, somewhaKabove market price. Taking 

 7th e average of all pigs sold in*'. the open ^ards for bacon purposes, 



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