PRICES FOR PIGS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 14 October 1924, Page 4

PRICES FOR PIGS.

(To .the Editor). Sir, —Just a few lines m reply to your footnote to my letter, in Saturday’s Star. I was glad that you had referred my letter to the representatives of the various companies. There is nothing like getting both sides : of the Question. With the same object in view, I referred the matter of the wholesale price of bacon to a retailer, and he informed me that he pays the same price all round, whether it be t, medium, or heavy. Of course I recognise that there should be a. weight limit; but it is cutting it: a. bit too fin? to say that a. pig which is only 101 b over weight is worth a halfpenny per lb less. What is 101 bin the weight of a pig? The whole thing is absurd. I know a little bit about bacon, as I have cured mv own for a good many years. Give me a weighty pig every time. The bacon from this »' keeps much better than from a small pig, the sides from'the.latter, if •icpt any length of .time, shrivelling up and becoming, dry and hard. With regard tc the statement that the companies were prepared .to take pigs all through the winter, if that is sc. why did they not advertise the fact? I interviewed one buyer, who informed me that none of the companies were ouying. The statement is* also madethat- Canterbury pigs ([ are:,' also better than ours on account of /being grainfed. My pigs are grain-fed, not mere•V tapped off on grain,; hut from a time before they are wearied. Tlie buyer who has secured most qf them has been very complimentary, saying that they are the best pigs he gefcs. If that, is so it naturally follows that they are worth a bit more, but the company has not yet recognised that fact. * With regard to the wastage, I have -no dc.ubt that the companies are right with regard to many of the pigs they buy. My contention is that the deduction of per cent from a properly topped off pig is too great. My main complaint is that the companies do not recognise quality. In other lines of live stock,.the animals showing quality always -command a higher price, so why not the nig?— I am, etc., ' * PRODUCER.