The domestic pig is important for its efficiency in converting surplus grain and vegetable scraps into meat. Pigs became established during the main settlement of the 1840s; pork was included in the first shipment of frozen meat in 1882.
Before successful dairy and meat industries were established, pigs were fed mainly on grain and hence flourished up to 1886 in the South Island grain-growing districts. After 1886 these districts declined, while the North Island dairy farming expanded. By 1900 there were only 100,000 pigs in the South Island and this has been the average number since then. The North Island increase did not offset the South Island decline for many years after 1900; the total number of pigs in New Zealand increased slowly from 1900 to the early 1920s, with a temporary drop during the First World War.
The establishment of the New Zealand Meat Producers' Board in 1922 began a new phase for the pig industry. The Board, with firms interested in developing the export trade, built up a demand in Britain for New Zealand pigmeats. A drive was made to encourage the production of pigs in the dairying districts and particularly the production of porkers (which had been specially praised by the trade) for export. Export killings increased from less than 30,000 in 1922–23 to almost 160,000 in 1928–29 out of a total kill of about 517,000. In the five years from 1924–25 to 1928–29, 82 per cent of the pigmeat produced was consumed locally. Production did not rise again until the depression of the 1930s. Pig-recording clubs had prepared the way for an appreciation of the pig's value in turning what was little more than dairying waste into a profit which helped the dairy farmers to keep solvent. The following table gives some idea of the potential production (and the previous waste of dairy byproducts); the number of pigs slaughtered and the weight of pigmeat produced were doubled in the four years from 1932–33 to 1935–36.
Pig production in New Zealand is a sideline of dairying, consequently based on small production units scattered over the dairying areas, especially where milk is separated at home. There are a few larger units near cheese and casein factories, either run by the factories or merely supplied with whey. The 1949–50 Census of Farm Production (the most recent figures) shows that almost 88 per cent of the pigs were on dairy farms. Mixed farming, where pig production was more than a sideline, accounted for only 2·2 per cent. Specialised piggeries, including those based on swill as well as dairy by-products, accounted for 6·4 per cent of the pigs. The few others produced were “household” pigs. Though tanker collection of whole milk for cheese or casein manufacture has resulted in entire groups of farmers ceasing pig production, this has been partly balanced by the increased production by suppliers conveniently placed for delivery of whey, by one or more specialised whey-feeding piggery units, and by factory piggeries.
The reasons for the declining trend in pigmeat production since 1940–41 must be examined in any attempt to evaluate efficiency in producing pigmeat. The table clearly sets out the change in composition and the reduction in quantity of dairy by-products available for pig feeding.
Approximately one-third of the skim milk, and all the buttermilk from buttermaking, is used for making milk powder or casein. The skim milk available for pigs has decreased by 175 million food units (gallons). Meantime, whey available has increased by 83 million food units. The whey is not so valuable a food as skim milk, and not as readily available to the farmers; therefore it is not all being used. It is thus clear that efficiency has increased in terms of pigmeat produced from the shrinking, basic dairy-by-product feed supply. This could be improved especially by better farm husbandry and by wasting less whey.
Pigs are mainly concentrated in the dairying (especially buttermaking) districts. Thus, since the industry expanded in the thirties, between 55 and 60 per cent of all pigs have been produced in the Auckland Province. The general pattern of distribution has not changed in the last decade; and though intensive dairying areas have changed to milk tanker, the later settled districts in Northland, Coromandel, and the Central Plateau of the North Island balanced the trend. In the last year or two the proportion of pigs produced in the South Island has increased slightly, due to expansion in Marlborough, Nelson, and Westland. The production in the southern half of the South Island remains much below the prewar figure.
Pig-recording clubs, sponsored by the Government and the agricultural colleges, functioned from 1929 to 1936. Producers, feeling the need to apply quickly the lessons learnt by the recording clubs, approached Government to set up a national advisory service. The National Pig Industry Council resulted. Its main aim was to improve pig husbandry through an advisory service. It was active between 1936 and 1952. An officer of the Department of Agriculture acted as executive officer and supervised the work of nine district supervisors who were employed by district pig councils.
In 1952 reorganisation took place with the setting up of the New Zealand Pig Producers' Council, a purely producer body working under the aegis of the New Zealand Dairy Board. The Council works closely with the Department of Agriculture and depends on it for most research and technical guidance. The Department has a representative on the Council.
Exports of pigmeat rose rapidly in the early thirties until 1937–38 when over 28,000 tons were exported to Britain. Porkers, in demand in London, made up the greatest part. During and after the war baconers predominated, but, as fewer were produced and more eaten locally, exports have quickly dropped to the present very low level. Those still exported are mainly the heavyweight (161–180 lb) carcasses not preferred locally. The few thousand tons of fresh pork now being exported goes to Pacific markets rather than to Britain. Proprietary freezing works and bacon curers market most of it with enough cooperative marketing to ensure competition.
Though per capita consumption of pigmeats in New Zealand is well below that in Europe and North America, there has been a tendency for a more rapid increase here, in spite of an already high meat consumption. Present per capita consumption is approximately 19 lb of bacon and ham and 13 lb of pork, or a total of 32 lb of pigmeat a year. This compares with 65 lb in the United States, 51 lb in Canada, and 43 lb in Britain. Pigmeat, however, is only 14 per cent of all meat eaten in New Zealand – proportionally far less than that in those countries mentioned above.
The future outlook for pig production is hardly optimistic, for milk solids are being increasingly used for other products and there is a general labour shortage on dairy farms. Production will probably be maintained under present economic conditions. If, however, these change in favour of pig production, one could expect a large rise.
by Alexander Longwill, B.AGR.SC., Advisory Officer (Pig Husbandry), Department of Agriculture, Wellington.