BRUISES ON PIGS

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30711, 29 March 1965, Page 3

BRUISES ON PIGS

Truck Drivers Blamed

(N.Z. Press Association)

AUCKLAND, March 28.

Rough handling of pigs by transport drivers is devaluating New Zealand pig meat and causing a good deal of concern in freezing works, according to a senior meat inspector of the Department of Agriculture. The inspector’s concern was supported by the senior technical officer for the Pig Producers’ Council, Mr E. J. Kirkeby, who said he was “disgusted” with the marks on carcases exhibited at the Auckland porker and baconer championships. “That, of course, is not the fault of the farmer,” Mr Kirkeby said. “It is usually the handler in the truck that brings the pigs to the works.

“In other countries, the farmer is heavily penalised for marks on carcases.”

The inspector said pig handling had improved recently, and the source of the main trouble was not usually due to owner-drivers.

The main problem, he said, was casual drivers employed by large transport concerns. They were usually in a hurry, and as long as they unloaded their animals in a hurry, they “couldn't care less” what happened to them.

“We cannot stand over them all the time,” he said. “Pigs are very easily bruised by sticks, shovels or pipes, which are quite often used to hurry the animals out of the trucks.”