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\ 4 The Guardian - The Evening Patriot

Kingston hog breeder leads in achievement

Experience at the all-Canada swine show at Brandon, Mani- toba. in 1957 where he took a reserve grand championship and was the third highest point win- ner was perhaps the highlight in the career of Stirling Willis, Kingston, but this successful breeder of purebred Yorkshire swine has had many interesting *xperiences, and has many ach- ievements to his credit.

Right y he’s the first Island man who has ever become the

president of the Canadian Swine | Breeders Association. He has been a director on the national association since 1957.

With the Brandon’ exhibit from this province. in - addition to Mr. Willis. were Harrison Green, Kingston and Russel! Buell, Abney s

Hogs shown from the herd of Almon Boswall. Dunstaffnage. also placed well up, both men had only.oene animal that was

- Bot in the money, and they sold

practically every hog they took west, Mr, Willis recalled last week Stirling showed 13 pigs

Competition at Brandon was tremendously strong with 70 to 89 animals in mostly every class.

The Brandon show was an all- breed affair though they were Yorkshires. Tamworths and

“Landrace for the most part. The:

Teserve grand champion for Mr. Willis was a daughter of a pig he had purchased from Preston Hooker, Ormstawn, Quebec, who was killed in a highway accident about a year ago.

There are three in the Willis family. Mrs. Willis is the former Florence Beer from the _ Ban- nockburn Road. Their daughter Lillian; is qa student at Prince of Wales College.

It’s about .20 vears since Mr. Willis started to show pigs on his own. but he had gained a great deal of valuable exper- | ience prior to that, showing with his brother Charlie Willis who lives now in O'Leary. The fall show circuit lasted about six | weeks ir those days before the | Second World War

The Kingston mar purchased |

“two” BosFs “it Ontario several Almon Boswalt-was-snld-for $507

‘Lacombe hog breeders

by hoelt in the-matter of scoring

To the unitiated the slayghter test scores in advanced registry are based on the points which the test litter carcasses score on a rigid bacon hog standard With the actual slaughter test. though, “go two other figures which discerning hogmen watch carefully They indicate the number of days it took the test litter animals to reach maturity and the feed conversion, how many pounds of feed were re- quired to register a pound gain in body weight

Highest score record) on this Island has been 99. J Colwill, New Haven. for example. had a Yorkshire score 99 points. and W.A ‘Moase and Son. Kensing- ton, have had Landrace sows score 99 a OWN ASSOCIATION

Incidentally the Landrace and - have their own national association. _All_of the others are’ with the Yorkshires in the Canadian —

Swine Breeders Association. which Mr. Willis heads The Prince Edward Island

Swine breeders association put up a challenge trophy. The Har- old W. Clay Memorial Trophy, which goes, annually to the breeder with the highest scoring sow in advance registry In the scoring for this trophy the so called ‘free’ or “extra” points for additional. barrows are not allowed. The test. litter score js based on ‘the standard of the two _ Bilts and two_bar- rows

The feed conversion also , considered in the scoring for Clay trophy award. The st

td feed conversion is taken as 31§ pounds -One point is sub- tracted from the score for every additional 10 pounds of feed re- quired. One point is added <for ; every five pounds less feed con-

Woodstock Duke 4A. is-_rem- embered as the sire of,so many test litter that hit chter | test se scores of W for the ir dams \that he became nationally fam- ous. The boar that was bred by

_—- ago which were not relat- j a Western Province. and that

gilts of the rec went grand champion and reserve at the Royal Winter Fair in 1961. One boar— he bought him from Dr. Jim Pickney. Cookville. On- tario— was first in his class at the RoVal. the other animal didn’t place, The first animal : proved successful in the Willis herd but the other one didn't

It was the first boar Mr. Wil- iis crossed with an imported Scotch sow with rather spectac- ular results in “‘days to matur- ity,”” and feed conversion in the ROP testing. The test litter ma- tured in 142 days, and this com- pares to the average of 170 days. The feed conversion was 297 and this compares with the average in this province of 34, (This means that it took 297 pounds of feed to register 100 pounds of gain live weight).

The provincial average on, days to maturity is 170. The av- erage feed conversion is 344. So

the litter fro mthe Scotch sow -

represented rather sensational improvements in both of these categories.

SCOTCH CAN HELP

Mr. Willis would like to get some of the Scotch breeding in- to his hogs, perhaps one-quarter “Ontario men tell me,” he said, “they like a hog with 25 percent Island breeding, 2 percent Large English White and 50 per- cent Ontario’ breeding.” He thinks 25 percent of the Scotch breeding might help, particular- ly if the feed conversion and days to maturity figures he got are indicative of what could be expected from that type of hog:

The Scotch sow is a “Large English White’ ‘which corres- ponds in the United Kingdom to the Canadian Yorkshire.

And ‘this brings up a_ contro- versial subject which relates to slaughter test scores in advanc- ed registry ‘ROP).

When a breeder wants to test a litter, to put a slaughter test score in his sow, the standard pracice iso take wo gilts and two barrows for the test. But four extra points are allowed if an additional barrow is put in for test. instead of gilts. It means that eight extra points are allowed if all four test pigs are barrows : ‘That makes a possible. score ef 108. instead of 100 which is available if the two gilts and fwo barrows are put in. Many breeders. including Mr. Willis. are uwnhappy about these “free” points as they term them, and would like to see them eliminat- é@d. Several scores of 107 have been recorded which is non-

_gense._ The standard of perfec-

tion traditionally is 19

‘There have been severa! scor- es turned in of 107, which is completely ridiculous, the crit- fies believe. A national swine conference was called for Ot- tawa on April 29 and *—Mr Willis was attending—‘‘and he

. hoped something might be done

about this. among other .things There have been several sows tm Canada qualify with a perfect score of 100 with the two gilts and two barrows litter One of them was in Saskatchewan. an- other in Alberta and there have been either one or two in Ontar- i. Willis believes. Practic- y month now, Mr. Wil- . @ sow scores 100, but

this is with the margin of the

a ceodeee we ok ae ae wide margin in scores of qagnitude. The margin s@ great that 45 to 2 vears

stood almost

That was: about the time Stirl- ing Willis was starting in and he had purchased fro ber MacPhail, New Haave lives now in Cornwal Mr. MacPhail had from Mr. Boswall.

Mr. Boswall was later looking for some young gilts and the late Harold Clay saw four in the Willis litter that looked _ really good. Stirling was keeping one of them for himself and agreed to sell the other three. All four Sows were bred to “144A” and all of them farrowed litters that qualified them with slaughter test scores of 90 and more. .That

thee

STERLING WILLIS

is the interesting story of how the Woodstock Duke 14A animal first achieved fame

Test scores of-%9—and-hicher— are common now bu! they were practically unknown . outside Prince Edward Island at the time, and there were mighty few of them in this province either at the time

It was the Stewarts from she

S.C. Stewart and Son family. a the registered name was cee then, who sold 14A. | :

Reference was made earlier im this story to a Scotch sow. She was part of a group-of one boar and “several sows import- ed ‘from Scotland several years ago by the provincial depart- ment of agriculture :

It was an experiment to test the effectiveness of such a cross with Island Yorkshite — The ‘Large English White” as they are known in @iitain are the same as the Yorkshires of Canada.

ADVERSE REACTION 3

As is fairly. generally known a-tonzg period of breeding exclu- Sively from Island stock reacted adversely when undesirable characteristics started showing up in some Island herd: Some Island breeders — like Mr. Wil-

Tis aid AlMmon” BoswattDunstat-

fnage,. for example — brought in

OES INE. StHe nutside province. and kept their herds stronz as a result

But Starling emphasized to me he never brought in boars that were a complete outcross. There was always some of the King- Ston breeding in their pedigrees.

The Scotch boar. as he is gen- erally referred to. did not sire good litters here One voung breeder with excellent reputat- tion for producing high scoring | stock used the Scotch boar on a! sow and the slaughter test drop- ped from a most creditable 87 to a disastrously low 37

Freezer Section

with food

‘Mr. | Willis fared better and he had

of 82 frem him. Other breeders used him but the scores were sot available at the time this was

written The anima! was sent to the packers

There most interesting stor¥ linked with the, Scotch sow Mr Wil still has tm ais barn Look for the Farm Colutin next week for the interesting te-

tails A part of the story is com-

pleteis unique

The Scotch boar was an unus- ually long anima length is soucht in bacon hogs — but his

pizs for the most »2rt were-short,

thick. and junky Mr Willis said. Most people cezard pigs as stupid and stubborn animals,

hard to handle and almost com- pletely devoid of understanding Mr. Willis doesn t agree I think a pig 1s one of the eas-

est anima’s to train.” he said. “Once you_have trained a young gilt fora show ring. for example, you find she is easy to handle later when her time comes to far- row a litter” ence to back Mr Willis’s think- inz. \ bunch of pigs. for instan- ce. always choose one end of their pen in which to make t manure and urine. The is ‘kept clean for their eating and living quarters

Some of the things he told me would be unbelievable except that they came from a man of Mr. Williss known reliability. TRAVELS BOAR

He spoke.of one man in’ New Brunswick. for 'etample, who travels a boar much as

used to travel stallions in this country when horse. breeding Was in vogue.

z

WINNERS AT ATLANTIC FAIR

These four Ayrshire cows won the Senior Get of Sire class at the

The mes becks hs truck op f' the barn, the >oar jumps into it himself and «hen the servicing

job is completed. the boar jun = back ixto the truck for the trip back to the home iarm

And here's an interestinz the- 1. Athol Roberts. Southoort | toid Stirling “you can't learns

about animals out of a book. You either have the ability or you haven't It's imside of vou And here's an even more inter- esting idea from Mr Roberts : “If man knows one class of livestock well, he can pick out good animals in other types of

livestock too’’ Mr. Willi: agrees with that idea “T've noticed good horsemen come into my hog barn. for example. and pick out some of my best nics”, the Kingston man_ reports

The »reeding of rediste red

Yorkshires was a good paying business in this province when sales were being made regular- ly to outside points But there 1S BO Money in if now, Mr. Wil- lis reports. “I haven't made any money in it for the last two or three years”. he said

They get really big prices in the Old Country. he said Prices of from $600 ‘to $1,000 each for good breeding stock is common. he reported attractive than $1,000

The Kingston man does make sales of breeding stock outside the..proyince. He sells some in _the province too. But it’s not like it used to be, he emphasizes

With all of his stock pure bred from dams and sires resulting from the most careful culling and

Boars—run—to—more

T | selection over the years, it would

be natural to expect the Kinzs- ton man would have some exce!- lent. bacon hogs for market. He does feed many for the com- mercial market.

The range “A” for top car- casses is in the 80's, he said. But it would be considerably higher if he could control the animal's feed intake.

For example he fed and mark- eted 21 barrows last fall in one lot, and he had 20 “A” carcasses out of the 21. “But you can't do

Atlantic Winter Fair last vear for Ke ith Boswell

lands Farm. Left to right are Bryce Boswell, Keith Boswell, one test litter of 86 and another Boswell, George Bruce and Mrs. May !ea Manning.

And that would be

that on hopper fecting™ he = served

In hopper feeding the animals | eat as much as hey want Wita

controlled - feeding the nogmas can .ive the animals as muca or as little as he thinks they need.

When he was slop feeaing. for example. he could and did con- trol the feed nlak anc 70t higher “A” percentazes. He got 9% perceti of “A” carcasses ‘0 1958. for example. when mes mar- keted 1 pics

But you cant slop feed when you have as many igs as ae has. There's something like 250

limais i the p >3ra re- ee He's not exactly. sure. The sgumber keeps fluctucting as pigs are sold and other litters are born

Swine breeders in this provin- ce urged classificatiom be adopt- ed when they discussed the prob- lem ai their annua! meeting @ few months ago. The idea. is dis-

eussed—in—détail “elseuhere ia this edition

Island swine breeders showed - many hogs in the. market clas- ses at the Roval Winter Fair 10 to 15 vears ago. At that time the animals favered in the-breeding classes were unlike the Island Yorkshire For the most part.

the: short-nosed type of hog went to ‘the top of the class

But Island . swinemen - have done a great deal for the Royal's swine show, fer the breeders in | Qntario and other provinces,” Mr. Willis suggests

After seeing Island hogs and seeing them consistently top market classes — on the rail —

ed with conviction.

Royal. The judge who

CONSTANT FEMALE CHAMPION Heather Matheson, Hunter River is holding Miriam's Lass, the Hereford.

cow that was the senior and grand ch ampion Hereford female here for the last several years. Lass is now in the Shed Acre Hereford farm establish-

ment owned by Island Development Com

the others started breeding sim- year. He's of Ontario breeding | ilar traits into their animals. It’s and has a short, rather chunky a really good show at the Royal | nose. The boar placed eighth in today. the Kingston man observ- | his class. 10 to 15 years ago he | would have won the class, Stir- There used to be about three ling observed, .for the animai’s was jconformation is otherwise real-

doing the placing would’ put at; ly good.

the top the type he liked best. types of hogs showing at the Now there is one type, and it's good, he added_

A proof of the shift in empha- sis away from the short-nosed | anima! is what happened to a Willis boar at the Royal last

and Sons and their Lea- Mrs. Bryce

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