Show L ive cock la i fc olt U a I 1 6 I 1 ul v L A caf c los angeles union stock yards may 29 I 1 recently had the pleasure of attending a meeting of the california hog feeding association which has as its function the protection of the swine industry in III california in view of the lack of knowledge of the swine industry on oil the part of the general public which makes our laws an organization such as this is essential to the welfare of the industry and merits the support I 1 of those engaged in producing pork when a state such as california must import about 60 per cent ot of all its pork supplies it is apparent that the swine industry within the state can be expanded As long as california imports part of her pork products from the central west there will be a shipping advantage to western swine raisers ral sers equal to tile the cost of transportation transport aion and shi lukage of hogs front from the middle wes west t ample grain supplies chiefly barley a multitude of 0 products byproducts by and a favorable climate combine to make the west an ideal quality pork pro section many swine raisers are supplementing grain N with ill cull and substandard fruit skim milk grain screenings cull beans and many other feeds that otherwise might have practically no market value the use of irrigated pasture saves greatly in feed in tact fact several tests made with modern type hogs have shown that where pasture Is available lbs ibs of gain can be put on hogs with consistently less than lbs ibs of concentrates with this in mind it is apparent that there is a great opportunity for swine kaising in the west inasmuch as population in california is increasing steadily it is doubtful if we need worry about producing too much pork in the west for example the population of metropolitan los angeles shows an increase of per cent from 1920 to 1930 gaining from to 21 at the same time the population of california increased 61 per cent jumping from to there has been a corresponding growth in tile the packing industry in the vicinity of los angeles in there were logs hogs slaughtered in this section while in 1938 the slaughter totaled head total hog slaughter tor for the united states for the past few years has been as follows 1937 head 1938 lead head esti mated 1939 slaughter is head and it is predicted that by 1910 1940 our hog slaughter will have reached the 1932 33 levels of head while this increased slaughter in prospect indicates that the price structure on hogs will in all probability be weakened our western swine raisers will continue to be in a better marketing mai position than those of the middle west use ot of product byproduct by feeds and pasture will permit the production of hogs on a profitable basis in many cases even though prices should not be so high as they are now As long as pork is shipped into Calfo Cal tomia inia our western hog raisers will enjoy a margin in price received over swine growers in other sections |