§ 18. Mr. de Freitasasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he is aware of recent developments in the artificial insemination of 13 sows in ordinary commercial herds; and what he is doing to encourage this.
Mr. AmoryYes, Sir. An artificial insemination service for commercial pig herds is being provided on a limited scale by several cattle A.I. centres. Various technical problems have to be overcome, however, before a full commercial service can be developed and research on these is being actively conducted by the Agricultural Research Council.
§ Mr. de FreitasWhat is the Minister doing to encourage this, as it may do as much for pigs as artificial insemination has done for cattle?
Mr. AmoryI agree in thinking that this is likely to prove a very important development indeed. Research work into this problem is being actively pursued in the Agricultural Research Council's unit on Reproductive Physiology and Biochemistry at Cambridge, and will be, I hope, shortly at my own artificial insemination centre at Reading.