The Management and Utili- Zation of Pasture by Pigs

The New Zealand farmer who breeds pigs tends to place either too much emphasis upon the value of pasture, with rather dire effects, or too little, with the result that he deprives himself of a valuable addition to his basic feed supply. In this paper an attempt will be made to assess the value of pasture in the New Zealand pig keeping economy over the whole production cycle from the mating of the sow to the marketing -of the finished product. The feed costs of producing a pork or bacon carcase commence when the sow is mated. The feed eaten by the sow during pregnancy and during lactation plus that eaten by the litter while suckling is ‘refered to as sow overhead. This feed cost must be debited to the litter. After weaning, each pig has a personal feed requirement or fattening cost. There are thus two distinct phases in the production of a marketable carcase-the feed required to produce a weaner, which is the sow overhead cost, and that required to raise the weaner to pork or baconthe fattening cost. In the first part of this paper an attempt will be made to evaluate the part pasture can play in reducing the amount of dairy by-products and meal needed: (1) To produce a weaner pig, and (2) To raise a weaner to market weight.