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HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT
specialist officers. This scheme has been enthusiastically adopted by farmers and will be further extended in 1959.
ANIMAL INDUSTRIES
Pigs and poultry are the principal food animals reared in the Colony. Cattle are mainly used for draught purposes. There is insufficient land for extensive grazing practices.
A census of the livestock population completed in November 1958 yielded the following numbers of animals and birds:
Dairy Cattle
Brown Cattle
Buffaloes
Sheep
Goats
Pigs
Fowls
Ducks
Geese
Turkeys
2,935
13,818
1,938
17
326
106,631
1,158,170
125,876
2,500-
300
Pigeons
Quails
1
80,000
1,500
Pigs. The pigs of Hong Kong are mostly Chinese types of Fa Yuen, Wai Chau and Lung Kong breeds. The Department maintains herds of pure exotic, strain pigs such as Berkshire, Mid White and Large White' for experimental purposes and distribution for the eventual improvement of the Colony's pig stock. In the villages pigs are often kept under primitive condi- tions, but due to the influence of the Department and the Kadoorie Agricultural Aid Association there has been a decided improve- ment in husbandry.
In 1958 the number of pigs of local origin admitted to the local abattoirs for slaughter was 325,890. This represents an increase of 30% over last year and amounts to 27.8% of the total pigs slaughtered in the Colony for food. The comparative figure for 1953 was 64,000. The value of pigs raised in Hong Kong in 1958 is estimated at $32,000,000.