The Pork and Bacon Industry

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVIII, Issue 180, 14 July 1928, Page 12

The Pork and Bacon Industry

Co-operative Factories Needed Methods Employed In Denmark By “SUNDOWNER” (Written for the “Tribune”— All Rights Reserved.) The absurdly small number of pigs being carried in New Zealand in proportion to the number of our dairy cows means that somewhere a very big wastage of skim milk and whey is taking place. In Denmark, in spite of many drawbacks with which we in New Zealand have not to contend, they make their dairying highly profitable by using every ounce of by-product from their cows, and they find that the pig is the best medium for turning these by-products into prolit.

HUGE PORK CONSUMPTION. riViHE demand for pork is almost ”*■ unlimited. The annual turnover in England and Wales alone of pigmeats and their by-products approaches one hundred million pounds per annum, and but a very small proportion ot tins is supplied by the English farmer. The development of the bacon and pork industry is inseparable from dairying. tn Denmark some 12,000 creameries manufacture into blitter the milk from the farms, and tiie by-product—separated milk—is available to the farmers for pig feeding. To this is added a ration off bailey and green fodder, and thus Denmark is able to produce a finished hog quickly and cheaply. The Danish farmer studies his market and gives his consumer exactly what he wants, and tills lies at the root of his success. HOW DANISH UNIFORMITY IS SECURED. One very important factor in the success of Danish pig-feeders is the uniformity of their product. This is secured partly by breeding, largely by feeding, and ultimately by a system of co-operative bacon factories which handle 70 per cent of the total production of the country. There are about 50 such factories, with an individual membership apptnachiug 200,000. The Danish bacon industry rests upon certain basic principles. The capital is subscribed or guaranteed by the producers, and ownership and control are vested in them. The factor}- works in the members’ interests, and belongs to them not as owners of capital, but as producers marketing in common. The members contract jointly an severally for the liabilities of the factory, and they contract to supply al] their pigs to the factory for a stated period. Ruling prices are paid for the pigs upon delivery, according to grade and weight Pigs are generally delivered direct to the factory or are collected locally from the producer. In outlying districts they are collected on specified days at receiving stations. It is a general practice for regular consignors to employ a number stamp for marketing with their own registered number the metal ear-tags by which the pigs are identified at the factory. After being slaughtered the pigs are weighed and graded, and the farmers’ accounts credited accordingly. BIG FACTORY TURNOVER. The average Danish bacon factory handles some 1,500 pigs each week. Die characteristic feature of the Danish factory is one which it holds in common with the motor industry—that of stationary workers handling a moving pronct. The pig goes in alive at one door and comes out at another as sides of bacon, with no more than a trifling amount of walking movement by the workers. A FURTHER AVENUE FOR COOPERATION. The principle of co-operative manufacture and marketing has been so very successfully developed amongst dairymen in the disposal of their butter and cheese in New Zealand,

that it would seem to be but a normal widening ot the scope ot their business to establish bacon factories on the same lines to deal with their pigs. We, equally with the enterprising Danes, have all the necessary tooustulfs in skim-milk, barley, lucerne, and other farm products, but through lack ot knowledge in breeding, feeding and handling we turn out an inferior article, and much ot the byproducts which might be converted into valuable pork or bacon are wasted. FEED FARM PRODUCE ON THE FARM. The man who makes the greatest success of farming uses all the fodder -and gram that he grows on his own farm. He has none tor sale, for he can make all the profit there is in it by feeding it to his animals, thus saving cartage, handling, brokerage, and middleman’s profit. The system at present too widely adopted in New Zealand is for the small farmer to sell all the grain, hay, roots, etc., that he can possibly spare from the maintenance of his dairy cows. This is the most wasteful system he can employ. Now that the co-operative veal marketing business is being taken up by the Dominion’s dairyfarmers. there should be less milk, both full and skim, needed to raise inferior-quality calves. All of this, combined with barlev maize and lucerne grown on the farm, could far more profitably be used in raising quality pigs. BUSINESS ORGANISATION NECESSARY. It would be of no use, however, producing the pigs suitable for the Home market unless the organisation were established to handle them at a minimum nf cost a-vl turn out a highgrade nroduet. This, in the writer’s oniniqn could best he secured by adopting the Danish plan of establisliing co-operative bacon or pork factories. There is tremendous soope for bacon and pork production in Nsw Zealand if we only go tho ght iay about establishing tha business on modern lines. The following table gives some idea of the relative positions of the dairying and pig-raising industries in the Dominion and Denmark NEW ZEALAND.

Dairy cows. Pigs. 1920 893,454 266,829 1921 1.004,666 349,892 1922 1,137,055 384,333 1923 .? 1,248,613 400,889 1921 1.312,589 414,271 192.5 1.323,432 440,115 1926 1.303,856 472,534 1927 1,303,225 520,143 DENMARK. 1920 1,195,733 1,115,992 1921 1,271,514 1,429,908 1922 1,310,893 1,899,019 1923 1,339.357 2,854,854 1924 1,368,548 2,868,139 1925 1,390,925 2,517,087 192G 1,479,812 3,122,326