Extension Of Killing Season Advocated

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31227, 26 November 1966, Page 3

Extension Of Killing Season Advocated

(Neto Zealand Press Association* INVERCARGILL, November 25. Much more efficient use could be made of the tremendous amount of capital invested in freezing works if the main killing season was extended, Mr B. Ryan, of Bayswater, a member of the Meat Board, told more than 180 farmers and drafters at a lamb competition at the Ocean Beach Freezing Works today.

In Southland the four freezing works had a capacity to kill 1,000,000 head a fortnight and should therefore handle Southland's total kill of 5,000,000 in 10 weeks, instead of the present season of more than seven months.

This problem should be taken up by research workers, Mr Ryan said.

Research had resulted in earlier maturity of lambs and this tended to increase the problem. The last freezing works built in New Zealand in Southland by the Alliance Freezing Company—cost more than £4,000,000. A similar works today would cost close to £6,000.000. “Can we afford to spend £6.000,000 on facilities that are needed only during a few weeks each year?” Mr Ryan said. If sufficient lambs came forward the four existing works could handle double the present provincial kill in 20 weeks.

The industry had no option but to accept the cost of about £4,000,000 in capital improvements needed to meet recent hygiene regulations, and the big cost of ageing and conditioning lamb for the United States market, but if research workers could provide a farming system that

would give a longer killing season big savings would result.

Mr Ryan said it could be worth while to process more meat products before they left New Zealand. The demand in Britain—the main lamb market was still mainly for lamb carcases, but elsewhere there was a big future for a more sophisticated product, even if it meant boning out whole carcases.

"In lamb, we have the greatest raw material available to us and the meat industry is the biggest in New Zealand," he said.

The Japanese had developed techniques for presenting lamb as boned, rolled sides, and moulded like pressed hams. “If we processed our meat like this we could get 30 per cent more value for it before shipping,” Mr Ryan said.

New Zealanders should not be reluctant to undertake such developments on the grounds of the shortage and high cost of labour. The Japanese meat industry’s pro-

blems in this respect were greater, he said. It had to thaw the carcases and refreeze them after processing. The job should be more economic if done here.

Mr Ryan said it was difficult not to be optimistic about future lamb exports to Japan. It was “a market at our doorstep” but should be given the products in the form in which it required them. There was a big demand for low-cost protein in Japan. Whale meat, horse meat and, more recently ewe mutton, had filled much of the need, but the demand was growing and lamb appeared to be the most promising product with which to meet it.