KILLING STOCK IN N.Z.

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28792, 13 January 1959, Page 8

KILLING STOCK IN N.Z.

U.S. Methods Faster But More Costly

New Zealand freezing works have failed to impress a party of American woolgrowers and fat lamb raisers, who are touring the country. More mechanisation would speed up the killing rate and increase the output a man, they consider. “I can’t understand it, you use more men and less mechanisation than we do in the States but, heck, you do it a lot more cheaply,’* Mr Leonard Nadasdy, the leader of the party, said last evening. The American killing rate was much faster and the works much larger, he said. “Mind you, the New Zealand freezing workers work really hard and they all seem awfully happy. They sang all the time we were at the works.” Mr Howard Waters, of Danville, lowa, h fat lamb raiser, agreed with Mr Nadasdy; but emphasised that their remarks were made in the spirit of comparison rather than in criticism. He said that American lamb killing chains were definitely faster with fewer men but what had impressed him was the lowering of slaughtered cattle to the 'floor for skinning and gutting. He was surprised to see handsaws used for cutting the brisket. With both cattle and sheep killing the odd points men had to push the carcases .along a beam or around a corner seemed to be bottlenecks. “The New Zealand producer i.® very fortunate to .have his killing done so cheaply,” Mr Nadasdy said. “In, the United States the producer gets a much smaller proportion of the dollar the consumer spends for meat.”