MEAT CONSUMPTION

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXX, Issue 4812, 22 February 1936, Page 5

MEAT CONSUMPTION

TE KUITI’S LOW FIGURE. Apparently the people of Te Kuiti are not particularly carnivorous, for the figures of the killings at the local abattoir is low compared with that of other towns, according to information received by the Taumarunui Borough Council for a report on killing conditions at their abattoirs. A careful inspection for disease is always maintained at the abattoirs, and the number of beasts each month found to be infected with disease varied from 10 to 17. The following schedule shows clearly this information: —Taumarunui wages £525, bodies killed in past year 5510; Waihi £525, 5542; Thames £429, 5869; Taihape, £390, 4836; Te Aroha, £459, 4121; Paeroa £336, 3127; Te Kuiti, £307, 2991. The seasonal variation in the amount of meat eaten in Te Kuiti does not appear to vary a great deal, according to the figures of killings at the local abattoir. For instance, 284 head were killed during December, as against 245 in June; the higher figure for the summer month being due to the Christmas trade and the large number of lambs killed’. Sixty head of cattle, 188 sheep (including 55 lambs), and 36 pigs were killed in December, as against 66 cattle, 133 sheep and 37 pigs in June. Perhaps it would be better to take November as a month for comparison; then 60 head of cattle, 121 sheep and 33 pigs were killed. The greatest number of cattle killed during 1935 was recorded during what one would think to be the most unlikely month —January, when the total rose to 73, while the number of sheep and pigs then killed was also high, 146 and 37 respectively. Most sheep were killed in December with the demand for Christmas lamb, and most pigs in April, the total then being 42. The revenue from the abattoirs remains about the £7O mark for each month, not varying greatly.